Senior Curator Botany and Biodiversity Coordinator

Deadline: Wednesday, July 6, 2022 - 17:00
Employer: National Museum Cardiff
Contract Duration: Permanent
Contract Type: 35 hours per week
Salary: £27,997 – £34,257 per annum

Amgueddfa Cymru holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Welsh botany, geology, and zoology and botany specimens in the world, and this provides a unique record of the natural history of Wales, charting evolutionary and environmental change. We use these collections to deliver the Vision commitments, with particular focus on inclusivity, protecting the environment and digital presence. All of our collections belong to the people of Wales, and we want to find new ways in which we can make them a relevant and useful resource for everyone to explore and enjoy.

The museum is also home to Welsh National Herbarium which contains botanical specimens from Wales and across the world, including the British Bryophyte Society Collection. This is of international importance and represents over 300 years of collecting. These collections underpin our understanding, maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity in Wales and contribute to global research in taxonomy. Amgueddfa Cymru has eight sites across the whole of Wales, each with its distinctive natural characteristics. This role will support the development of a better understanding of these sites and seek to engage with a range of communities in exploring biodiversity and how we can work together to protect and restore nature.

You will play a major role in delivering the Museum’s goal to safeguard and increase biodiversity across the Museum’s eight sites, by planning and co-ordinating field activity to produce a rolling programme of biodiversity surveys. This will also include the involvement of community groups and special interest groups. You will be supported by the Acting Head of Natural Sciences, who will lead on the biodiversity component of the Museums Land & Nature Management Plan.

As part of the Botany Section of six staff, you will work with the Curator of Lower Plants to ensure that this collection is curated and cared for to maximise access and wider use, and through this deliver the Amgueddfa Cymru commitments. You will use your taxonomic expertise, to develop the lower plant collection though collaborative research projects. This will ensure the collection remains relevant as an environmental reference resource. Training will be provided if your taxonomic experience has previously been with higher plants. You will develop new partnerships with relevant bodies to promote use of the collection and maintain existing ones.

You will take part in public events, activities and engage with social media to promote the collection and the Natural Sciences department. Reporting to Acting Head of Natural Sciences