Collections Assistant - Mineralogy and Petrology

The Sedgwick Museum is pleased to offer this opportunity to join the Museum's collections team working with its extensive world class mineralogy and petrology collections.

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences is the departmental museum of the University of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences. It houses a collection of over 1.5 million rocks, fossils and minerals used for research, training, teaching, and public display. The Museum receives over 130,000 visitors a year.

The petrology collection contains about 250,000 igneous and metamorphic rock thin sections and about 160,000 hand specimens. This includes about 500 meteorites. It also has about 100,000 sedimentary rocks. The mineral collection comprises about 40,000-50,000 specimens.

The role holder will assist the Collections Manager and Curator of Mineralogy & Petrology with the identification and cataloguing of specimens, organisation of museum stores, processing of incoming and outgoing loans and the provision of specimens for research, teaching and examinations.

The role will contribute to the development of policy, procedure and strategy relating to the management and use of collections.

The role holder will be required to undertake the following duties: catalogue specimens and maintain Collections Management System records for the Museum's collections in accordance with agreed policies, procedures and standards; identify rocks and minerals in hand specimen and thin section using appropriate techniques; contribute to the Museum's enquiry and identification services; carry out inventories of Museum collections and contribute to the Museum's Collections Management and Documentation strategies; undertake the movement of specimens between Museum premises and to and from external organisations, maintaining up to date documentation of all items and their whereabouts; assemble and return to stores specimens used in research, teaching and display; promote the collections and carry out reporting and administrative duties as required.

Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the following essential skills and experience: degree level qualification or equivalent in a relevant subject; knowledge of geology and an enthusiasm for mineralogy/petrology; ability to identify rocks and their mineralogy in thin section (knowledge of optical petrology); good ICT skills (word processing, image processing, spread sheets, email, museum documentation and databases); excellent communication skills; ability to work independently and as part of a team; effective problem solving skills.

The following attributes are desirable: experience of museum documentation and standards; familiarity with Health and Safety and COSSH regulations; full clean drivers licence;r ecognise and mitigate the risks of hazardous rocks and minerals.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a health assessment and a standard Disclosure and Barring Service check.

This post is part time (0.6FTE) and we envisage that the person appointed will work 3 days/week.