Museum Researchers

Part 3 by David Bradley

Ross feels museum researchers tend to follow a normal academic route. 'I have known a few people who were looking specifically for museum work, because they wanted to work with collections and/or they wanted to work in public education, but their training was no different,' he says, 'A few may seek training in collections maintenance, but most learn on-the-job.' At the NHM, and other museums, collections maintenance is recognized as a separate skill so there are scientific curators, looking after the collections, and researchers, working on them. 'Whether this is a happy division is a matter of debate,' Johnston suggests.

In terms of the ease of shifting from academia to the museum environment Ross is rather positive in that he feels it is not intellectually more difficult, but concedes that there can be important new skills to develop. 'Many natural history museum researchers are responsible for taking care of collections, and must learn database technology, preservation issues, and so on,' he qualifies. 'Researchers at museums are also often called upon for advice with exhibits, for programs for the public, or to give media interviews when something (even vaguely) related to their research shows up in the newspaper,' he adds. Johnston suggests, that 'Maybe science wouldn't have such a bad reputation in the public's eyes if all scientists did this more often.'

'Indeed,' adds Johnston, 'the new Darwin Centre (Phase 1), shortly to be completed to house the Zoology Department and spirit collections, has been designed to maximize scientist-public interaction.' Museum outreach programs too are extending the educational role of scientists in museums substantially and certainly many teach and mentor students in academia as part of their wider job description. 'Museum researchers often must respond to the public outreach and education role of the museum,' adds Lewis, 'This may predetermine the type of outcome or the manner of presentation of museum research to respond to other than academic and purely scientific concerns.'

In theory, the research itself and the source of funding are identical between museums and university academia but there are other pressures that might also color museum research, such as a museum's collection itself. 'Individuals are often hired who are expected to use the museum collections in their research,' explains Ross, 'and interesting new research questions are often posed through exposure to available collections, new collections as they become available, or collections from museum-administrated expeditions.' Commonly, the two communities - collections and field-based researchers - publish in different venues but there is some overlap.

Read on... Museum Research