Summary
I am the Senior Curator in Charge of the Hymenoptera and Historic Entomology collections at the Natural History Museum. I manage a team of curators overseeing a collection of approximately 5 million specimens.I curate Formicidae, Symphta and the historic collection. I am also the honorary curator of Entomology for the Linnean Society. I am particularly interested in historic collections and their conservation and my current area of research includes Sir Josephs Banks’s insect collection. I am also the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) senior advisor for the Museum. The Natural History Museum had a comprehensive IPM strategy to protect the valuable collections against insect and rodent pest damage. Notable achievements in this field have been the implementation of risk zones across all Natural History Museum sites. The installation of a state-of-the-art quarantine facility offering an option of treatments to safeguard the museum's varied collections. I represent the Natural History Museum as a member of the steering committee for the U.K. IPM group www.pestodyssey.org as well as the U.S. IPM working group www.museumpests.net
Qualifications
Degrees
- MA Museum Studies, University College London, United Kingdom, 1999 - 2001
- BscHons Geology/Biology, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom, 1993 - 1997
Certifications
- Certificate in the Care and Conservation of Natural History Collections, University of Cambridge
Postgraduate training
- Conservation Processes and Materials Internship, Canadian Conservation Institute, Canada, 2000 - 2001
- Preventive Conservation Internship, Canadian Conservation Institute, Canada, 2000 - 2001