Jobs Archive

Our people are at the heart of National Museums Liverpool. Colleagues from across the NML team make a difference every day, creating memorable experiences for everyone and challenging expectations. We pride ourselves on being a place for everyone, but we are always aiming higher, aspiring to be representative of the communities we serve. Through our people, we are building a culture which embeds trust, respect and inclusion and an organisation in which people are engaged and empowered to enable National Museums Liverpool to evolve. You could be just the right person to join us.

We currently have the post(s) of Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology available.

The Vertebrate Zoology collection, originating from National Museums Liverpool (NML)’s founding collection bequeathed by the 13th Earl of Derby, has remained at the heart of NML’s purpose. The collection has evolved into unique, globally significant, sociocultural objects, mirroring Britain’s historical relations with the rest of the world, and highlighting humans’ connections with, and perceptions of, the Natural World. This is in addition to its role as a key source of biological records, documenting, and facilitating investigation of, the diversity, distribution and change in the living systems with which we share our planet. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the team that take care of this extraordinary collection and work to make it as accessible as we can.

RBG Kew are currently recruiting staff to work on an exciting and unique project to digitise Kew’s 8.5 million plant and fungal specimens and create a complete catalogue of our internationally significant collections, making specimen records and images freely available online and accessible to researchers across the globe.

The outcome of this project will provide a unique, world-leading resource making accessible data from more than 260 years of scientific exploration, placing them at the centre of efforts to combat urgent global challenges such as habitat degradation, climate change and human health.

In addition, RBG Kew are recruiting staff to support the implementation of a new collections management system to ensure efficient and effective integrated management of the Science and Living Collections and the data describing them.

The Integrated Collections Management System will allow more efficient tracking of the use of specimens to meet legislative requirements concerning access to genetic resources and benefit sharing, including the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity and plant health legislation.

This is an exciting and challenging role and will suit those with a successful track record of operational/logistical leadership within organisations of similar scale and complexity. Likewise, you will bring experience of effective financial management and resource planning as well as a track record of leading transformational change and ensuring robust project governance. You will also bring outstanding interpersonal skills with a proven ability to engage and inspire diverse teams and forge collaborative and productive relationships with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels, across the organisation and externally.

Essential skills and experience required for this role include, educated to degree level or equivalent, experience of digitisation projects within a science / museum environment, experience of manging teams, good knowledge of Microsoft Excel skills & knowledge of reporting tool, and excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

This project aims to make specimens from the Economic Botany Collection accessible and useful to local communities of relevance and to communities across the globe. It is focussed on plant specimens from south-east Asia. The Research Assistant will provide support for the Project Leader by improving documentation for the collection, working with the collection database (CMS) and scanning plant specimens. They will also contribute to participatory workshops and facilitate access to digital images for the co-production of extended, multimedia – blogs and promote the project via social media.

The Hunterian
The oldest public museum in Scotland, with collections spanning arts, sciences and humanities, The Hunterian is at the forefront of university museums around the world.
Since it opened at the University of Glasgow in 1807, The Hunterian has proved itself an invaluable academic and community resource. Enriching student and staff experience and sharing the University’s teaching and research priorities, for over 200 years it has provided a platform for strategic and international collaborations, civic engagement and academic impact.

Job Purpose
To develop, care for, and engage audiences with the Mineralogy and Petrology (Min/Pet) collections of The Hunterian. The postholder undertakes and promotes research, teaching and learning initiatives and knowledge co-production with stakeholders on these collections, and promotes their use in community and public engagement in line with the stated objectives of The Hunterian as outlined in the 2021-25 Strategic Plan.

Main Duties and Responsibilities
To work with Collections Management and Curatorial colleagues to ensure that the collections are efficiently managed, documented and interpreted for their long-term well-being.
To work collaboratively with Audience Engagement, Collections Management and Curatorial teams to facilitate physical, digital and intellectual access to the collections for HE and other groups, and to encourage engagement with the collections by the widest possible learning audiences, including through exhibition, digital media and other means. This will include contributions to ongoing digitisation programmes in relation to content management systems, and the creation of suitable administrative, descriptive and interpretative content to enable this access.
To advise and be involved in the development of the collections in accordance with The Hunterian’s strategic development objectives for academic and public engagement.
To acquire and keep current a broad and deep subject-related knowledge and provide, as appropriate, expert advice to UoG and related organisations on matters pertaining to the collections, and to participate in national and international activities related to the collections.
To undertake, facilitate and partner in innovative research in the Hunterian collections and to participate actively in international scholarship relating to these collections. The post-holder will be required to write up research findings for publication in leading peer-reviewed journals and through other appropriate media.
To develop and sustain forms of engagement with university and local stakeholder communities, where possible exploring the relationship between the collections and strategic concerns such as colonialism and environmental change.
To be a lead provider and source of expertise in Hunterian laboratory practices relating to microscopy, photomicroscopy and identification, analytical and preparatory techniques (e.g. sectioning, XRD, SEM, pXRF), and their safe management and use.
To engage with faculty in cognate Schools in the University, in particular Geographical and Earth Sciences (GES), maintaining existing teaching and research relationships; initiating and leading on new partnerships across disciplines in order to develop and deliver innovative and multi-disciplinary collections-based teaching and research programmes.
To work with the Curators for Palaeontology, Life Sciences, and Science and Medical History Collections to develop new strategies for the future conservation, display and interpretation of the Min/Pet collections; to work with Audience Engagement and Experience on public engagement and knowledge exchange programmes, using the collections in innovative ways, collaborating with colleagues/researchers as required.
To identify potential sources of funding and secure such funds through grant applications as appropriate, either as an individual or team member, and to manage resources effectively and be accountable for their use in relation to the collection.
To support The Hunterian’s development of decolonial approaches to museum practice and collections work as part of the Collections & Curatorial team.