This is an exciting time to join RBG Kew as we deliver our Science Strategy 2021-2025. Science has always been the heart of RBG Kew’s purpose. With over 500 members of staff and students, Kew Science has an extensive research programme. Our collections, our people and our partnerships enable us to make an invaluable and highly relevant contribution to some of the biggest issues facing the global population, such as biodiversity loss and climate change. We do this through research, conservation, training, and inspiring others about the importance of plant and fungal science.
Although this post is currently based at the Kew Gardens site in Richmond, London, Kew is currently planning to relocate the Herbarium collections to a new, purpose-built facility at the Thames Valley Science Park at Shinfield, outside Reading. This project is at an early stage and is still subject to negotiations on public funding. If the project is confirmed as funded, this post will be moving with the collections in 5-7 years’ time.
This is an excellent opportunity to join the Herbarium Curation team in Science Collections as a Senior Curator-Botanist (Americas). The successful candidate will curate the Herbarium collections to a high standard, which includes processing new acquisitions, processing specimens before mounting, incorporating specimens, performing or overseeing sampling of specimens and working with Kew's Integrated Collections Management System. In addition to this, the role includes facilitating access for our many visitors to the collections from around the world, identifying specimens collected from Americas and undertaking individual collection-based research and/or research collaboration in line with Science Strategy. The postholder will be a key member of the Science Collections team based in the Herbarium building, working with the other members of the broader Science Directorate and visitors to the Herbarium Building. The role will be based at our Kew Gardens site near Richmond in West London and is full-time and onsite (with flexibility to work from home one day a week when appropriate).
Educated to degree level and with a proven background in a similar role with significant experience in curation, our ideal candidate will be a team player who can manage multiple priorities of the Americas Curation team, whilst being able to adapt to changing processes across curation. This person will need to be confident to lead and manage on curation tasks and staff. They will enjoy teamwork and good communication skills to bring teams from Americas curation and research together. They will have some supervision, mentoring or management experience; have experience of working with herbarium specimens and be familiar with working with databases and curation procedures, including an interest in collecting curation statistics and working with spreadsheets. It would be desirable to have knowledge of a second language used in the tropical Americas.
Interviews are due to take place on 19 May.