Jobs Archive
Collections Manager
Museum introduction:
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is the Rocky Mountain region’s leading resource for informal science education. Located in the heart of Denver’s City Park, and neighbor to the Denver Zoo, the Museum offers a variety of exhibitions, programs, and activities that help Museum visitors experience the natural wonders of Colorado, Earth, and the universe. More than 300,000 students and teachers are served by Museum each year. The Museum houses artifacts and specimens in its collections from around the world.
Job Description
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science seeks a Collections Manager in the Department of Earth Sciences to curate and manage approximately 1.2 million specimens in the areas of Vertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Paleobotany, Palynology, Ichnology, Research Casts, Gems, Minerals, Rocks, Micromounts, and Meteorites. The position supports the effort to grow the scientific output of the Department, to curate and expand its collections, and to help inspire diverse communities’ understanding of, and involvement in, science and the natural world.
The Department of Earth Science is an outwardly focused and collegial team that engages in international fieldwork but has strong emphasis on the geology and paleontology of the American West. The current staff has expertise in invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology and paleobotany, and each curator has at least one scholarly project in Colorado. The Department’s collections are sizeable and are growing; their composition and history are described at http://www.dmns.org/science/collections/. In addition to one full-time collections manager (this position), the Department has five curators, two fossil preparators who run a preparation laboratory that operates 364 days per year, and nearly 400 volunteers who engage in science, collections, and outreach.
Essential duties:
Practices professional collections management for department collections, including knowledge and application of laws and regulations pertaining to collections.
Facilitates the accession, deaccession, documentation, registration, and preparation of collections.
Organizes and systematically stores specimens for ease of access, and for long-term preservation.
Facilitates internal and external access and use of collections for purposes of research, education, loan, and exhibit.
Oversees the work of volunteers (approximately 75), provides trainings as required and mentors/supervises volunteers, students, and interns.
Provides information and expertise on collections to internal and external audiences.
Coordinates with Museum departments to support and deliver 5 – 10 (or more) internal and external educational programs per year.
Minimum qualifications:
Master’s Degree in Museum Studies, earth sciences or a related field required. Collection management experience can be substituted for education.
3 years’ experience handling museum collections required.
3 years’ experience with relational databases required.
Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Office suite required.
Ideal candidate will:
Be a great team player.
Extremely organized, highly motivated, proactive.
Have supervisory experience.
Be able to positively connect with a wide range of people.
Be able to work across diverse communities.
Desire to learn international, federal, state and local laws and protocols for specimen care, and understand the goals and needs of natural history collections.
Core values:
We love science.
We are curious, creative and playful.
We cultivate relationships with each other, diverse communities, the environment and for our future.
We think critically and act with empathy.
Director of Collections
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) seeks a Director of Collections, an individual with a Ph.D. degree or equivalent experience, and the ability to provide a vision for the development, growth, enhancement, direction, and management of the Museum’s vast and diverse natural and cultural collections.
NHM is the largest natural history museum in the western United States and home to one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history. These collections are world-class in size, quality, and research importance, and they sustain award-winning research, education, and exhibit programs. Included in the collections are more than 35 million specimens and objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. These collections encompass those at the main Natural History Museum in Exposition Park, the world-famous La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, and the historic William S. Hart Museum in Newhall, as well as collections maintained at several off-site facilities.
Reporting directly to the Vice President of Research & Collections, the Director of Collections will assist and advise the leadership of Research & Collections on policy development and implementation. He or she will guide collections plans, funding initiatives, strategic growth, digitization efforts, inventories, space allocation, and performance metrics. The Director of Collections will work closely with (but not directly supervise) the curatorial and collections staff, the registrars, conservators, and database managers to oversee a wide-range of collections activities and programs aimed toward making the Museum’s collections more relevant to research and education while increasing their accessibility and use. The successful applicant will have excellent communication skills, a talent for collaboration across disciplines, and the ability to engage and excite both our colleagues and public audience through the relevance of our collections. This position will also be responsible for maintaining and strengthening NHM’s presence in key professional and governmental networks, and for establishing active internal NHM collaborations and cross-departmental initiatives.
The qualified candidate will have a strong background in collections care, management, digitization, and records documentation. He or she will have experience in generating external funding via competitive grants and/or other external sources to support collections. Experience in conducting collections-based research would be an advantage, as would an interest in creative ways of engaging the public in collection support initiatives (e.g., citizen science collections-based activities).
Associate professor in systematic entomology
There is a vacancy for a permanent position as associate professor in systematic entomology at the University Museum of Bergen, Department of Natural History.
The museum staff execute research, collection management and public outreach in natural and cultural history. The department of Natural History has the scientific and curatorial responsibility for botany, geology and zoology at the museum. There are currently employed 13 scientific and 30 technical and administrative staff in this unit, in addition to temporary project staff.
Work tasks/research field:
We are recruiting a productive and innovative researcher in systematic entomology, with emphasis on taxonomy and phylogeny. Research topics are limited to evolutionary relationships, taxonomy and diversity in arthropods (except crustaceans), including evolutionary processes that leads to biological diversity.
Applicants need to document excellent research skills in one or more of these areas. We emphasize competence in both molecular and morphological methods in phylogenetics and taxonomy. The research profile must have a global perspective, but nevertheless targeting organismal groups that are common also in the Nordic region. Research on lesser known and highly diverse groups is preferred, such as parasitoid wasps, mites, and flies.
The position involves the curatorial responsibility for the entomological collections which currently includes 1.2 million objects. We will recruit an entomologist with a sincere dedication to collection development. The selected candidate will also take part in the production of new exhibitions on biodiversity, entomology and related activities at the museum. A genuine interest for public outreach is therefore mandatory. It is also expected that the employee will teach in his or her area of expertise and contribute towards a successful development of the research school in biosystematics (ForBio).
The new employee will be an active partner in the systematics research group and submit extramural grant applications. There is currently a strong focus on lesser known species in Norway and the department continue to provide data for the Norwegian Biodiversity information Centre (Artsdatabanken), BoLD and GBiF.
Qualifications and personal qualities:
•Doctoral degree in systematic entomology or equivalent qualifications
•Experience from research beyond the PhD level: projects and publications during the last five years are given particular attention
•Extensive research and collection networks
•Work independently and in a structured manner, and have the ability to cooperate with others.
•Basic pedagogical training is a requirement for the position. The successful applicant will be offered training if this requirement is not met prior to employment.
We can offer:
•A good and professionally challenging working environment
•Salary at pay grade 57 (code 1011/ Pay range 24, alternative 1) in the state salary scale. This currently amounts to an annual salary of NOK 486.100 before taxes. Further increase in salary will depend on seniority. A higher salary may be considered for a particularly well qualified applicant.
•Enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
•A position in an inclusive workplace (IA enterprise)
•Good welfare benefits
Your application must include:
•A brief cover letter expressing your research interest and priorities
•CV
•Diplomas
•References
•Complete list of publications
•List of academic work that the applicant believes should be taken into consideration in the assessment, maximum 10.
•List with appendices that document your pedagogical qualifications
The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded at JobbNorge.
General information:
Detailed information about the position can be obtained by contacting: Head of department, Bjarte Jordal, tlf. (+47) 55582233 / e-post bjarte.jordal@uib.no.
Principal Curator in Charge (PCiC) – 3 Permanent positions in the divisions of Insects, Invertebrates and Vertebrates
This is an opportunity to take up a collections leadership role in a world-renowned institution with a unique scientific mission and public profile.
The successful applicants will join a large science group that comprises a group of approximately 300 scientists, that houses some of the largest and most significant scientific collections in the world, that is home to an internationally important natural history library, that includes a suite of advanced analytical and imaging facilities, and that has the opportunity to communicate science to a huge national and international audience.
Applications are open to collections-based scientists across the breadth of the NHM’s activities in Life Sciences to take up newly developed roles as Principal Curator in Charge (PCiC), in each of 3 of the following Life Science Divisions: Insects, Invertebrates, and Vertebrates; a PCiC position has been filled already in the Division of Algae, Fungi & Plants. We are especially interested in applicants who combine disciplinary expertise with a demonstrated ability to use that expertise to lead access to and development of collections.
PCiC positions are available in the following Divisions: (a) Division of Vertebrates, (b) Division of Invertebrates, (c) Division of Insects
Salary: £43,350 per annum plus benefits
Contract: Permanent role as Band 3 Principal Curator; 5 year rolling appointments as PCiC
Closing date: 9am, Monday 17 October 2016
Role competences: Qualifications:
Relevant higher qualification (MSc or relevant postgraduate experience is required, a PhD is desirable) or equivalent experience with an emphasis on taxonomy or systematics, collections care and the use of natural history collections in science.
The skills and experience required:
1. Collections management, development, conservation and care
In depth knowledge and extensive experience of collections management, care and developmentDemonstrable high-level experience of working with internal and external researchers and facilitating collections-based research projectsExperience of collection digitisation, databases and digital curation
2. Collections scholarship and leadership
A deep knowledge of one or more relevant phyla, their key taxonomic/diagnostic characters and interrelationships, the relevant literature, and with proven ability to describe and delineate speciesTrack record in publishing scientific articles as lead author and experience of taking an executive role in an international society and/or for an academic/professional journalTrack record in supervising PhD/MSc students and/or teaching/training
3. Income generation
Experience in developing applications for external funding to support collections development and/or scholarly collections-based research.
4. Public-facing activities
Demonstrable experience of significant contribution to public-facing activities.Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; presenting, writing, working with the press office and media
5. Management and leadership
Substantial experience of successfully managing and leading teams in line with strategic prioritiesDemonstrable experience of successfully leading and delivering major projects Wide experience of working with a wide variety of stakeholders (internal and external researchers, public engagement, visitors, students, volunteers), as a team leader/member with good interpersonal skills
Online application process: You do not need to complete your application online, but we ask candidates to email their application to Jan Manthey, Recruitment Officer at hrrecruitment @nhm.ac.uk
Identification Trainers for the Future Traineeship
Do you regularly record wildlife either at home or as part of a recording scheme? Are you keen to develop a career in the UK biodiversity sector and to be at the forefront of the resurgence in species identification and taxonomic skills in UK wildlife professionals? If so, you may be exactly the candidate we are looking for.
Funded by the HLF’s Skills for the Future programme, the Natural History Museum, in partnership with the Field Studies Council and National Biodiversity Network, has an exciting new traineeship opportunity to address the decline in species identification skills in the UK biodiversity sector. Between 2015 and 2017 we will be offering fifteen 12-month long traineeship posts based within the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. We are now looking to recruit the third group of 5 of these trainees, who will be starting with us in March 2017.
Anyone who can demonstrate a passion for developing a career in wildlife recording, species identification and environmental education is welcome to apply. We do specify however the following restrictions to applicants as the traineeship is intended for early career wildlife professionals:
Minimum qualifications: 3 A-levels or equivalent· No more than 6 months paid employment in the UK biodiversity, ecology or conservation sector (no previous paid employment is fine).
· Not previously undertaken a similar traineeship in the UK biodiversity, ecology or conservation sector.
Contract Type: 12-month traineeship
Bursary award: £16,500 per annum (tax exempt) plus benefits
Application Close Date: 9am, 17 October 2016
Selection day: Week commencing 5 December 2016
Role competences: As part of the on-line application, you must provide answers to the following questions. These will be used to short list applicants who will be invited to the selection day. Don’t forget that there is a ‘hints and tips’ sheet on the traineeship webpage (www.nhm.ac.uk/idtrainers) to help you develop your answers to these questions.
1. Describe your areas of interest in UK wildlife. Which groups of species are you particularly interested in?
2. Using relevant examples, describe your involvement in recording UK wildlife. This may be through local or national recording schemes, undertaken as part of a voluntary role you have been doing, a private research project, a project undertaken in school, college or university, or simply recording the wildlife that comes to your garden, local park or nature reserve.
3. Why do you think it is important to support and train people to record wildlife in the UK?
4. The traineeship programme focuses on developing your ability to teach and train others, as well as your species identification skills. Using your own experiences of courses or classes you have attended as examples (whether wildlife-related or not), what do you think are the key features of a good training session?
5. How do you think undertaking this traineeship will benefit you and your future career?
Online application process: Apply on-line before 9am on the 17th October 2016 through the NHM website: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/search-vacancies. For internal applications please apply through the Internal NHM website
Complete the on-line application form. In the ‘Other Information’ section, please provide specific examples from your achievements, knowledge, skills or experience to illustrate your answers to each of the application questions (section 3) for the role. You must complete this section. Please use one field per application question, you can use a maximum of 140 words per field.
Please note:
You must fully complete your on-line application, CV’s are not being accepted for this traineeship
Partially completed applications with CVs attached will be rejected.
Individual cover letters and CVs submitted outside of the on-line application system will not be considered.
The ‘Other Information section’ the system runs on a 35 minute cycle and you will lose any unsaved information. To avoid this, save your application frequently or write your answers in a word document and paste them into the answer fields. Please be aware that anything entered onto the form will not save unless text has been added to all mandatory fields
Herbarium Curator
Department: Natl Resources & Env Sci
Department Web Address: http://www.unr.edu/nres
Full Time Equivalent: 100%
Position Type: Administrative Faculty
List Rank/Range(s):
Tenure Track: Non Tenure Track
Job Description:
The University of Nevada, Reno is ranked in the Top Tier of the best national universities by U.S. News & World Report, with plans to add up to 250 tenure-track faculty positions in 2015-2020. As integral components of the University, the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station and the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources invite applications to fill a full time administrative faculty position as Herbarium Curator within the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science.
The successful candidate will provide expertise emphasizing the taxonomy of plants and plant communities of Nevada and the Intermountain west.
This position creates, maintains, and curates a central plant identification and documentation resource, the Herbarium, which is used directly for research by undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and other institutions via loans and online databases.
Additionally, this position is engaged in ongoing taxonomic work, including completing a comprehensive collection of plant species in Nevada and the first ever checklist of Nevada's plants.
The position also oversees the ongoing herbarium database and imaging efforts to post the entire collection online.
The successful candidate will also serve a role in formal university teaching and informal mentoring and instruction.
This position supervises undergraduate and graduate interns in the Herbarium and provides training on taxonomic skills, herbarium procedures, plant science, as well as the database imaging and efforts.
Additionally, this position requires occasional travel and working a variable schedule. A valid driver's license is required at time of appointment and as a condition of continued employment.
The University is a Carnegie Research University/High institution, placing it among the top 200 colleges and universities in the United States.
Located in the picturesque Truckee Meadows at the base of the Sierra Nevada, the University of Nevada, Reno is located 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe, numerous hot springs, and within four hours from San Francisco, the Napa-Sonoma wine country, and Yosemite National Park. The region offers an array of festivals and cultural activities including museums and performing arts centers. For more information on Reno/Tahoe, please visit: http://www.unr.edu/about/reno-and-lake-tahoe.
Required Qualifications:
Bachelors Degree with two years of relevant work experience; Or Masters Degree with one year of relevant work experience.
Relevant Experience: Plant identification of Nevada Flora, taxonomy, and nomenclature; associated database management.
Preferred Qualifications:
Contact Information for this Position: Elizabeth Leger eleger@cabnr.unr.edu 775-784-7582Lindsey Barnes lbarnes@cabnr.unr.edu 775-784-4835
Special Instructions to Applicants: Please attach a cover letter, resume & contact information for three professional references.
Redisplay Project: Natural Sciences Curatorial Consultancy Brief
Chelmsford Museum Redisplay Project: Natural Sciences Curatorial
Consultancy Brief
Initial discussions may be held with the Museums Manager, Nick Wickenden. Telephone 01245 606301, email nick.wickenden@chelmsford.gov.uk
Chelmsford Museum (part of Chelmsford City Council) is working through a Stage 1 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to redisplay parts of the Victorian Oaklands House (archaeology, natural history, coins, decorative arts) as well as interpreting the history of the House, and introducing new displays, such as costume and toys. It is also intended to unite the Museum and the Park in which it sits to create a single visitor destination. The Stage 2 application is due to be made to the HLF in March 2017, with implementation work taking place in later 2017 and the first half of 2018.
HLF Project Description
The project aims to:
Redisplay the parts of the Museum not changed in the Phase 1 extension project of 2009/10, namely natural sciences and geology, archaeology, coins and decorative arts
Loan archaeological material from the British Museum
focus on family friendly displays (following an audit in 2012 by Jo Graham)
Augment the museum with new areas of display, including costume and toys and dolls
Introduce more interactive exhibits and up-to-date digital technology
Return the House to a more original Victorian feel, with suitable interpretation of the rooms and their original uses.
Work to the Mechanical and Electrical services (eg heating and LED lighting), for the improved comfort of visitors, for better environmental control for the benefit of the collections, and for the improved presentation of the Victorian House.
Improving links between the House and the public Park in which it sits (with Green Flag and Green Heritage status), particularly with natural history trails etc. to tie into the museum displays
Enable parts of the museum collection to be made publicly accessible on-line using the existing collections management software, Emu, thus increasing our wider user audience
Provide a new café for the museum and the park, for which there is growing public demand
Evaluation and appointment
The Museum is looking to appoint an experienced natural sciences curatorial consultant to advice on new natural science displays, by examining the current displays, and the reserve collections in store. Being conversant with HLF projects would be an advantage. Because the café will result in less room being available for displays, it is intended that the new natural sciences offer will result in the following:
Small Ice Age mammal feature at start of the Story of Chelmsford
Small display of local fossils, answering the public’s main enquiries (e.g. ammonite, belemnite, fossil sea urchin)
Relocated observation beehive
Live cam feeds for bird and bat box in the Park
Small display of urban wildlife taxidermy ((target audience young families)
Changing display of treasures of the natural sciences collection (e.g.tropical shells, coco de mer, minerals etc.)
Natural history flora & fauna trails in the Park
Chelmsford City Council will evaluate submissions on the basis of: price; qualified references; and experience of the person undertaking this work.
Applicants will be expected to provide fully detailed CV’s of related experience with the submission.
Qualified References – applicants should provide the contact names and details of at least two clients.
Curatorial Assistant – Natural Science
The Curatorial Assistant – Natural Science will support the Curator of Natural Science to facilitate access to the Natural Science collection through collections management, enquiries, displays, events and digital platforms. This role will focus specifically on achieving Accreditation targets.
The Natural Science collection comprises taxidermy, cabinet skins, shells, osteology, corals, herbaria, entomology, rocks, minerals and fossils. It also includes several important digital datasets, including biological records and the meteorology database for Weston Park Weather Station.
This is a 37 hour fixed term post until 31st March 2018 working in our Curatorial Services department. The role is funded by Arts Council England.
The closing date for applications is Friday, 21st October 2016 (NOON)
Interviews will take place on Tuesday, 15th November 2016
Apply online at www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/about/working-with-us
or for further information contact Sue Wheeler at
sue.wheeler@museums-sheffield.org.uk / 0114 2782620
Please do not send CVs
Assistant Professor in the area of evolution
The Department of Biology at Stanford University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the area of evolution. We seek outstanding applicants engaged in answering fundamental questions in evolution, and welcome a wide spectrum of applicants employing theoretical, empirical, and/or interdisciplinary approaches. The successful candidate will hold a Ph.D., and is expected to develop a vigorous research program and to participate in the Department’s teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. More information about the Department and the University can be found at http://biology.stanford.edu/.
Applicants should submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae including publication list, a statement of research accomplishments and future plans, a statement of teaching experience and interests, and three letters of reference. All materials must be submitted electronically to AcademicJobsOnline
. Inquiries may be directed to maychin@stanford.edu.
Applicant materials and reference letters must be received by October 15, 2016. The appointment is anticipated to begin September 1, 2017. Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty. It welcomes nominations of and applications from women and members of minority groups, protected veterans and individuals with disabilities, as well as others who would bring additional dimensions to the university’s research, teaching, and clinical mission.
Museum Collections Manager
The University of Alberta is seeking a dynamic museum professional for the leadership position of Museum Collections Manager, University of Alberta Museums. The University of Alberta located in Edmonton, Alberta, is one of the largest collecting institutions in Canada with more than 17 million objects and specimens in disciplines ranging from art to zoology. There are 29 academic museum collections that comprise the University of Alberta Museums which are integral to the University's teaching, research, discovery learning and access programs. Museums and Collections Services leads the development and implementation of a campus-wide operational, administrative (policy) and exhibition/program delivery framework for the University of Alberta Museums.
Reporting to the Executive Director, Museums and Collections Services/University of Alberta Museums, the Museum Collections Manager is accountable for leading and shaping the U of A Museums Collections Management area including:
◦ Leading, planning and managing the Collections Management Program for the U of A Museums
◦ Planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating collections management services and policies in compliance with legislation, and in accordance with established museum standards
◦ Ensuring the Collections Management Program and the U of A Museum’s collections management system and web strategies are aligned and integrated
◦ Ensuring the University of Alberta Museums are compliant with regulatory areas such as the Cultural Property
◦Export and Import Act, CITES (endangered species legislation) and Copyright legislation
◦ Identifying and securing significant new resources to support the Collections Management Program and strategies
◦ Leading the development and implementation of a museum emergency/disaster preparedness and prevention strategy for the U of A Museums
◦ As a member of the U of A Museums leadership team, contributing to planning major strategic initiatives within the University of Alberta Museums vision
◦ Oversees Collections Management Team
The successful candidate will have:
◦ A graduate degree in a discipline familiar with object-based research and/or museum collections management
◦ Five years of progressively responsible leadership experience in a museum/university museum setting or museum management and advisory settings
◦ Excellent writing, planning, research, communication, organizational and project management skills
◦ Demonstrated knowledge of the museum community, not-for-profit sector and government services, locally, nationally and internationally including funding sources available for museums and related projects
◦ Evidence of ability to interact effectively with all levels of campus personnel and especially academic curators, faculty, and senior administrators
◦ Comprehensive and current knowledge of museum theory and practice
◦ Core competencies including: achievement orientation, analytical thinking, conceptual thinking, flexibility, impact and influence, organizational awareness, business insight, planning and initiative, self-confidence, self-development, sense of urgency, and team leadership and team cooperation
This regular continuing position is in accordance with the Administrative and Professional Officer agreement and offers a comprehensive benefits package (which can be viewed at www.hrs.ualberta.ca) and an annual salary of
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, CV and a list of 3 professional references addressed to Janine Andrews, Executive Director, University of Alberta Museums.
If suitable Canadian citizens or permanent residents cannot be found, other individuals will be considered.