Tag Archives for NatSCA Digital Digest

Digital Digest – August

Compiled by Glenn Roadley, NatSCA Committee Member, Curator of Natural Science at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

Welcome to the August edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences and training opportunities. We are really keen to hear more about museum re-openings, exhibition launches, virtual conferences and webinars, and new and interesting online content. If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

NatSCA Conference 2021: Environmental Breakdown and Natural Science Collections

In case you missed it, the NatSCA 2021 Conference: Environmental Breakdown and Natural Science Collections, which took place in May, is now freely available to view online, through our website or YouTube channel. This year’s conference focussed on how we can address global issues such as climate change and habitat loss with our collections, and featured some amazing talks and fascinating tours from across the sector. All talks, tours and Q&A sessions have captions available.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – July

Compiled by Lily Nadine Wilkes, NatSCA Volunteer.

Welcome to the July edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences and training opportunities. We are really keen to hear more about exhibition launches, conferences (live or virtual) and webinars, and new or interesting online content. If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

What To See & Do

The ‘Insectarium: Fascination and Fear’ exhibition present artwork on the feelings that insects inspire in us. If you can’t make it to Aberlady, Scotland, you can view the art online here.

If you’re looking for something crafty to do there are plenty of online workshops to take part in. With the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on 14th July at 8pm participate and enjoy ‘Drawn to Nature: Conservation’. In this online event you will hear about the art of conservation before taking a chance to draw some natural history specimens. The Natural History Museum are offering making sessions where you can create a crochet dinosaur or make your own plant pot.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – June

Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Natural Science at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

Welcome to the June edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences and training opportunities. We are really keen to hear more about museum re-openings, exhibition launches, virtual conferences and webinars, and new and interesting online content. If you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Where to Visit

The Museum Association is hosting a series of webinars including: Future of Museums: Curation on June 10th and Coronavirus Conversations: Learning and Engagement Manifesto on June 17th.

The Science Museum invites you to a climate talk: How are our oceans responding to climate change? It is a free online event from 19:30 – 20:45 and you can book your place here.

The European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists (EAVP) will be having their 18th Conference (online) starting July 6th to 9th – more information about the event can be found here.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – August

Compiled by Glenn Roadley, Curator (Natural Science), The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

Welcome to the August edition of NatSCA Digital Digest!

What Should I Read?

We’ve got three great NatSCA blogs to read this month. Donna Young, Herbarium Curator at World Museum, Liverpool, writes of her quest to map and document botanical models manufactured by the Brendel Company of Berlin, now found in collections across the world. Be sure to fill in the survey if you have any in your institution.

A blog by Jack Ashby, Manager of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, tells us about the aims and processes behind a new art exhibition at the museum, ‘Evolution as Inspiration’.

Christine Taylor, Curator of Natural History, Portsmouth Museums, writes about the HLF (or NHLF) funded project to share and raise the profile of the city’s natural history collections, ‘Wild about Portsmouth’.

The Museums Association has published articles covering a range of political issues affecting the sector. Nicky Morgan has become the latest Culture Secretary through the rotating door of cabinet members, and further cuts to local authorities have put museums in Bradford under threat of redundancies and closure. The sector-wide discussions surrounding the decolonisation of collections, human rights and corporate sponsorship continue as Ahdaf Soueif resigns from the British Museum’s board of trustees, citing the museums lack of a ‘clear ethical position’ on such issues.

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NatSCA Digital Digest

Hectors swallowtail butterfly extracting nectar from a flower. © Cláudio TimmWelcome to the weekly digest of interesting things from around the web with relevance to natural science. We hope you find this useful and if you have any articles of interest, please contact us at blog@natsca.org

1. Blog: Crime scene micropalaeontology

Natural History Museum, London

Synopsis

‘Micropalaeontological evidence is increasingly being used to solve major crimes. Read on to find out about [curator of micropalaeontology] Steve’s involvement in Crime Scene Live, how our collections could help forensic studies and how our co-worker Haydon Bailey gathered some of the evidence that was key to convicting Soham murderer Ian Huntley’- Giles Miller

Click here to read the whole blog.

2. Museum altruism: Trip Advisor

Anyone, anytime!

Synopsis

Now that the sunshine is here (I hope I don’t jinx it by writing that) potential museum visitors will be looking ahead at inspiration for how to spend their weekends, days off, school holidays, etc. In this day and age it seems the way to find such inspiration is on websites such as Trip Advisor, on which you can read other people’s reviews of places they have visited. Obviously popping on a review of your own collection, if you work in one, would be a bit naughty, but if you have been anywhere else lately, why not help their visitor numbers out by inspiring people to visit too?

Click here to find out more.

3. Now open: Sensational butterflies at the NHM

2nd April to 13th September

Synopsis

It’s back for another summer of beautiful live insects, screaming kids and irritated academics in the offices above. Sensational butterflies in the garden of the Natural History Museum London is now open, complete with exhibition trail, and is well worth a look.

Click here for more details

 

Compiled by Emma-Louise Nicholls, NatSCA Blog Editor