News
PANAMA WILDLIFE EVENING – THURSDAY 18 APRIL, 2019
The botany staff will be supporting the Panama wildlife evening showing a selection of plant species from Panama, as well as talk about the City Nature Challenge 2019 – coming to both Panama City and Greater Manchester soon!
New year, new challenge? Funded PhD available!
A guest blog post from Hannah, Learning Manager, on our upcoming collaborative PhD that is part of the Courtyard Project at Manchester Museum:
The Courtyard Project is a great opportunity for us to reflect on, research and develop our work, and as part of this, we are keen to gain a better understanding of the impacts of cultural engagement on our audiences. In spite of our best efforts, we often to struggle to get to grips with the impact of our work and tend to rely on teacher feedback, questionnaires and anecdotal evidence. Take, for example, our work with young children; we know that young children benefit from visiting the Museum because teachers and practitioners tell us this, but precisely how young children benefit, how long such benefits actually last, and whether there are knock-on effects for caregivers or teachers are questions that have tended to be beyond our capacity…
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Got White Privilege?
Manchester Museum director, Nick Merriman, taking the White Privilege test at the Museums Association Manchester Conference 2017. This very popular stall was one of the brilliant activities on offer as part of the Festival of Change; helping museum professionals grapple with serious issues through creative interventions.
We had a great time at the Museums Association conference in Manchester, where our intervention won ‘best product’. Watch Nick Merriman from Manchester Museum talk to our activist Cherelle:
Stirring the hornet’s nest – are natural science collections even legal?
I was wrapping up a particularly difficult male peacock with a helper a few weeks ago and we were discussing natural science collections. “Do you think one day they’ll just be made illegal?” she asked, straight-faced and sincere. I was miffed – this was someone saying to a natural science curator that really, it shouldn’t be allowed. I sighed and spent the rest of the wrapping session (porcupine was also tricky) explaining how wonderful – and legal – natural science collections are.
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Unlocking the vault: making the most of scientific collections
Manchester 26-27th June. Kanaris lecture theatre, Manchester Museum
Science and natural history collections include objects, specimens, models and illustrations which are a goldmine of useful information and inspiration. They are immensely popular with the public, but are often cared for by non-specialists who can perceive them as difficult to work with. There is a danger that these collections can be forgotten, underused and undervalued.
Join us for this one and a half day conference looking at the innovative ways in which collections are being used. Speakers from historic collections across Europe will be joining us to discuss best practise in the use of scientific and natural history collections. We will be exploring ways to connect people to collections for greatest impact.
We have an interesting programme of talks from expert speakers in three sessions: ‘Connecting collections and breaking isolation’, ‘Reaching out to new audiences’ and ‘New meanings through art, history and research’.
Dr. Tim Boon, Science Museum Group. ‘Science Museum Group Research and the Interdisciplinary Culture of Collections’
Mark Carnall, Oxford University Museum of Natural History. ‘Not real, not worth it?’
Dr Caroline Cornish, Royal Holloway, University of London. ‘Useful or curious’? Reinventing Kew’s Museum of Economic Botany’
Jocelyn Dodd, University of Leicester. ‘Encountering the Unexpected: natural heritage collections & successful aging’
Prof. Dirk van Delft, Boerhaave Museum. ‘Real bones for teaching medicine’
Dr. Martha Flemming, V&A Museum. Title TBC
Dr Petra Tjitske Kalshoven, The University of Manchester. ‘The manikin in taxidermy: modelling conceptions of nature’.
Henry McGhie, Manchester Museum. ‘Beyond ‘natural history’: museums for the 21st century’
Dr. Laurens de Rooy, Museum Vrolik, Medical and natural history collections as historical objects: a change of perspective?
Dr. Marjan Scharloo, Teylers Museum. Title TBC
Dr. Cornelia Weber, Coordination Centre for Scientific University Collections in Germany. ‘Back to the Roots: University Collections as Infrastructure for Research and Teaching’
Prof. Yves Winkin, Musée des arts et métiers. ‘An amateur director, professional curators, and a desire for a cabinet of curiosities’
The conference is part of the programming to support Object Lessons, our upcoming exhibition celebrating the scientific model and illustration collection of George Loudon. Each of these finely crafted objects was created for the purpose of understanding the natural world through education, demonstration and display. This exhibition combines Loudon’s collection with models from Manchester Museum and World Museum, Liverpool. The conference is generously supported by Wellcome. Book your place on mcrmuseum.eventbrite.com or call 0161 275 2648.