Temporary Curatorial Assistant (Natural Science)

Doncaster Heritage Services is seeking a Curatorial Assistant to work on its wide-ranging natural science collections.

You will assist with the curation of the Museum Service’s natural science collections, particularly the documentation of the existing collection, improvements to storage and care of the collection, rationalisation and dispersal of items from the collection as appropriate.

The postholder will be the sole natural science specialist within Heritage Services and will focus specifically on tackling the historic accessioning backlog in order to achieve Accreditation targets.

The natural science collection is extensive and, in places, of international quality. There is also a long history of engagement with the local natural science community since the foundation of the Museum & Art Gallery in 1909. Numbering around 400,000 specimens this exciting yet underused collection contains, taxidermy, cabinet skins, mollusca, osteology, corals, herbaria, entomology, rocks, minerals and fossils. The geology and palaeontology collections are largely catalogued, so this post will be concentrating upon the biological collections.

You will hold a degree in a biological science, or possess equivalent experience and will have had experience of documenting natural science collections and working within a museum environment in this context.

You should have a good knowledge of British natural history as well as of taxonomy and the identification of biological specimens.

We are seeking someone who is passionate about natural history, able to work on their own or as part of a team and who is logical and methodical, yet practical and flexible.

Doncaster Heritage Services is a newly formed service, comprising Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery, Cusworth Hall Museum & Park, Doncaster Archives and Doncaster Local Studies Library. It is a friendly service committed to developing and innovating in how we deliver our service to the people of Doncaster and beyond.

Details for this post and how to apply can be found from Monday 14th December on the Doncaster Council jobs page https://www.doncastercounciljobs.co.uk/ Reference DON/15/1269

For further information please contact either Carolyn Dalton, Heritage Services Manager or Peter Robinson, Museums Officer (Human History) on 01302 734293 or 782342.