Tag Archives for natural science collections

NatSCA Digital Digest – April 2024

Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Welcome to the April 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 keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

NatSCA Annual Conference & AGM 2024

Not long now until the 2024 Annual Conference & AGM of the Natural Sciences Collections Association. Trials and Triumphs: sharing practice across the museum sector will be held next week, Thursday 18th and Friday 19th April 2024, in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This practical conference aims to celebrate triumphs and amplify successes in museums, but also highlights pitfalls and lessons learned from situations that didn’t go as planned. 

Find more information, and the programme of talks and events on the event page here.

The Unnatural History Museum

The Unnatural History Museum series of talks brings together museum professionals, creatives and academics across disciplines to platform vital conversations about the museum mediation of the natural world during the sixth mass extinction.

The series unfolds over a series of themed Zoom sessions featuring short presentations, followed by a roundtable discussion. The third session, on “Deep Time”, will feature papers from and discussion with Diana Marsh (University of Maryland), Richard Fallon (Natural History Museum, London), and Shana van Hauwermeiren (Workshop Intangible Heritage).

The talk will be later this month, on Wednesday 24th April at 5pm Irish Standard Time.

Registration is free and more information can be found on the Eventbrite page here.

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The Institute of Biology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Celebrates its 95th Anniversary

Written by Fernando A. Cervantes and Yolanda Hortelano-Moncada, National Mammal Collection, National Biodiversity Pavilion. Institute of Biology, UNAM. Mexico City, Mexico.

The Instituto de Biología (IB) will celebrate its 95th anniversary on November 9, 2024 and is a dependency of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (Fig. 1). This date coincides with the same time that the Mexican government granted “autonomy” to the then National University of Mexico.  

Fig. 1. Central buildings of the Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City (Photograph: Institute of Biology, UNAM).

The central buildings of the IB are located in the south of Mexico City, in the area known as Pedregal de San Ángel, which is characterized by a rocky substrate of volcanic origin. Currently, a large part of the IB campus is an ecological reserve that protects the flora, fauna, and fungus of the natural ecosystem of the area, which corresponds to xerophytic scrub (Fig. 2). 

Fig. 2. Xerophytic scrubland growing on volcanic rock in the Ecological Reserve of Pedregal de San Ángel, where the Institute of Biology, UNAM, is located in Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City (Photograph: Dirección General de Comunicación Social, UNAM).
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Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Museums

Written by Henry McGhie, Curating Tomorrow henrymcghie@curatingtomorrow.co.uk.

Link to the guide: https://curatingtomorrow236646048.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/mainstreaming-biodiversity-in-museums_2023.pdf

‘Mainstreaming’ is a policy and planning approach that means that we don’t just create a new programme or strand of work, but that we embed it across all activities. We can embed support for biodiversity and environmental concerns across museum activities. Why is this important? Well, for a few reasons. Firstly, biodiversity is not yet fully mainstreamed into museum thinking – in terms of their goals, actions, or evaluation. Second, museums present a massive potential to support biodiversity in different ways, notably through education, research, public awareness and partnerships. Third, museums make big negative impacts on biodiversity and the environment, through their contributions to climate change (from use of energy, waste, and visitor emissions), and their involvement in environmentally damaging activities (e.g. how their investments are used). Fourth, because biodiversity is in deep crisis: species continue to decline, major challenges are getting worse, and there is no clear prospect of a change for the better. Lastly, fifth, because people and nature are interdependent: if the environment suffers, people and communities suffer.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – February 2024

Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum.

Welcome to the February 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 keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

The Society for the History of Natural History (SHNH) Early Career Researcher Symposium – Registration open

The Early Career Researcher Symposium is an event dedicated expressly to showcase research into the history of natural history being done by doctoral and early career researchers across the globe.

This online event will be on Thursday 22 February 2024. Registration is free but required. You can find the programme along with more information here.

The SHNH have a range of other events happening throughout the year including a joint seminar with the Animal History Group, a visit to the University Herbarium at Winterbourne House and Gardens, as well as their Annual Conference. Note that their AGM will be held online and separate from the conference to ensure as many members as possible can attend.

Geological Curators Group 50 Year Anniversary – Call for Abstracts

The Geological Curators Group 50 Year Anniversary will be held from the 17th – 18th of May 2024 at the University of Leicester.

Day 1: Presentations on the theme of past, present and future of geological collections at the University of Leicester. Reception at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, followed by an evening meal.
Day 2: Presentations and tours at British Geological Survey Nottingham and Charnwood Forest Geopark

Please send abstracts of up to 250 words to events@geocurator.org and state whether it is for a poster or platform presentation. Abstract deadline is 1st March 2024. Presenters will be invited to submit papers for a special golden anniversary issue of Geological Curator.

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