Senior Curator, Parasitic Worms

Deadline: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 09:00
Employer: The Natural History Museum, London
Contract Duration: Permanent
Contract Type: Full Time
Salary: £37,243 per annum

The Natural History Museum Invertebrates collection houses a large and active research focus on Parasitic worms; principally Platyhelminthes, Nematoda and Acanathocephala. Experts from the NHM and institutions across the world develop and use our collections in a friendly and inspiring environment. The Parasitic Worms collection contains over 12, 000 species and is one of the largest and most comprehensive with particular strengths in its global systematic and faunal collections. This is an opportunity for a specialist with proven curatorial experience and demonstrated high level of scientific scholarship in a field of collections-based science (e.g. taxonomy, systematics, organismal biology). The position will require working experience or knowledge of systematics, taxonomy, parasitology, modern collecting practices (including tissue collecting for downstream genetic/genomic analyses) and basic molecular systematic biology techniques. A candidate with a willingness to learn, or experience in, histological preparation and imaging techniques is desirable.

The post holder will ensure best practice in collections care, strategic development and facilitate access and use by a range of stakeholders within the museum and worldwide. The role will work closely with NHM colleagues engaged in parasitology studies, as well as undertaking their own collections-focused research. Duties will be split with approximately 20% time for research, 70% time for curatorial (which includes taxonomic and systematic skills) and collections management duties and 10% time for outreach/corporate roles, with the proportions varying according to the requirements of individual projects. This is an exciting opportunity to integrate curation and collections-based research in one of the world’s largest Natural History collections for Parasitic Worms.

The postholder will be managed by the Principal Curator in Charge for Invertebrates Non-Insects, Dr Lauren Hughes, working along side the Invertebrates non-insects collection team within the Science Directorate.