News

On April 18th and 19th 2024, NatSCA hosted 'Trials and Triumphs: sharing practice across the museum sector', the 2024 NatSCA Conference at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

This conference was recorded and can be viewed online on our YouTube channel. [External Link]

The description of each YouTube video contains the abstract for the talk.

Conference Programme

Conference Abstracts

Day 1 - April 18th 2024

First Session - Lightning Talks

Importance of natural sciences collections for biocultural research. A view from the Global South
Mariana Mondini, Florencia Agliano, M. Florencia Arias, A. Carolina Moreano, Mónica V. Pia, Daiana Coll, Camila Neveu Collado: Laboratorio de Zooarqueología y Tafonomía de Zonas Áridas (LaZTA), IDACOR, CONICET-UNC, Argentina

Imaging amber: Creating a novel workflow to digitise Natural History Museum’s amber collection
Joseph Deane: Natural History Museum, London

Suspicious specimens: a new tool to find misidentified and misnamed specimens
Sophie Roberts: Edge Hill University

The Herbarium Handbook: Collecting knowledge and expertise from around the world
Grace Flanagan: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Mining the Gaps: Geographical biases and colonial history in the Natural History Museum, London
Noah Hearne: Natural History Museum, London

Making friends and influencing people how to work together effectively
Sebastien Lherondel-Davies and Kanchi Mehta; Swansea University, partnered with Swansea Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales)

Against all Oddys – Where have all the oddy testers gone?
Amalia Lempriere, Sebastian Foxley: Royal College of Surgeons of England

Bryozoans on the move...
Abbie Herdman: Natural History Museum, London

Maximising student engagement through non major interns
Patti Wood Finkle: The Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at The Pennsylvania State University

Second Session - Learning and Engagement

Biodiversity: Inspiring teachers and KS5 students
Kathy Moore & David Waterhouse: Freelance and Scott Polar Research Institute (recently of Norfolk Museums Service)

Dead Inspiring: how to encourage secondary schools to engage with natural science collections
Clare Brown: Leeds Museums and Galleries

Discover our dioramas
Su Hepburn & Rebecca Lean: Brighton & Hove Museums / Booth Museum of Natural History

Third Session - Collections Moves

Dust in the wind: how to design exhibits with an eye for upkeep
Becky Desjardins: Naturalis Biodiversity Center

30,000 Fossils in 8 Days: From Mammoth Move to CMS Integration – Lessons for Museum Acquisitions
Spyridoula Pappa: Natural History Museum, London

Behind the Glass: Practical Lessons from Diorama Deinstallation
Anastasia van Gaver: Natural History Museum of Denmark

Fourth Session - Trials and Triumphs: gallery redisplay projects from across the museum
sector

Life, As We Know It: Redisplaying Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Mark Carnall: Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Making a Green Gallery: sustainable exhibition design
Sara Merritt: Leeds Museums & Galleries

True to form: Redevelopment at UCL, Grant Museum of Zoology
Tannis Davidson, UCL Head of Science and Zoology Collections

Day 2 - April 19th 2024

First Session - Sharing museum practices

Surprising Steedman’s Successes (and a disappointing disaster)
Claire Smith: Cole Museum of Zoology, University of Reading

From microfossils to mammoths and everything in between – how do you measure 28 million specimens?
Katherine Hudson & Ellie Clark: Natural History Museum, London

Oh crumbs! Responding to a biscuit beetle infestation within the Economic Botany Collection at Kew
Gayathri Anand and Erin Messenger: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Second Session - Decolonial practice and digital repatriation

Perspectives from an African museum: colonial legacies and the potential of thematic approaches
Charlotte Wood: University of Cambridge

Cetacean (re)sources at the Natural History Museum, London
Sophia Nicolov and Richard Sabin: Natural History Museum, London

SIGNIFY – recollecting Singapore’s historically biodiversity digitally
Lydia Gan Xinjie: Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore

Third Session - Digitisation and data management

DiSSCo UK: Unlocking the potential of UK Natural Science Collections through digitisation
Helen Hardy: Natural History Museum, London

Kew in the Digital Age
Magda Steele: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

You've got what in your collection? (or, a practical overview of the Latimer Core data standard)
Laurence Livermore: Natural History Museum, London