Natural History Museum funds 12 organisations across the UK to host planetary emergency-focused activity

The Natural History Museum, London, announced today that it has funded 12 regional museums, heritage and cultural partners across the UK to run events and activity focused on creating advocates for the planet. This follows the recent announcement that a free permanent gallery, Fixing Our Broken Planet, will open at the Museum in South Kensington in April 2025 where cutting-edge research and collection items will explore the threats to, and solutions for, the natural world.

Through this initiative, the Museum is providing grants ranging from £2,500 to £10,000, to the partner organisations as well as resources including Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery content. The Museum’s research into the planetary emergency combined with the expertise and reach of the regional museums will inspire conversations nationwide on topics such as biodiversity decline, climate change and pollution.

A wide variety of trusts, foundations, companies and individuals are supporting the Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery and programme including Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation, Wellcome, GSK, John Ellerman Foundation and Ørsted.

Tom Bevan, Head of National Programmes at the Museum, said, “We’re proud to support the fantastic work our partners are doing to empower communities to connect with issues facing the natural world. Across the country, we interact with nature in different ways. This programme is perfectly placed to amplify stories from different communities and drive meaningful action for a future where people and planet thrive.”

Four of the 12 organisations will be delivering activity as part of the Museum’s free youth climate programme, Fixing Our Broken Planet: Generation Hope. These will include the ‘Patchwork of Belonging’ project, a collaborative project with farmers, landworkers, and others in the Welsh food system led by Global Diversity Foundation. Furthermore, workshops for secondary school students will take place in Newcastle using palaeontology collections from the Great North Museum: Hancock to draw links between the past and the future.

Other organisations such as Hastings Museum and Art Gallery and Cromarty Courthouse Museum will use Fixing Our Broken Planet content from the new gallery in bespoke pop-up displays sharing the NHM’s world-leading science with their local communities.

Find a summary of the activity taking place across the 12 organisations, here.

The funding opportunity was made available to members of the Fixing Our Broken Planet: Community of Practice. This museum sector network was established in September 2023 and is part of the Museum’s mission to create advocates for the planet. Over the coming years, it will continue to support 200+ organisations to connect communities at a local, national and global level with the science surrounding the planetary emergency to build a truly global advocacy movement. Find out more, or to join the community, here.

[ENDS]

Notes to editors

Images available here.

Press contact

Natural History Museum Press Office

Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799690151

Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and one of the world’s most visited museums. Our mission is to create advocates for the planet – people who act for nature.

Our 400 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency - from reversing biodiversity loss to resourcing the green economy.

We are seeking an additional £150 million to transform our South Kensington building: placing our groundbreaking research at its heart, revitalising four existing galleries, opening two new magnificent galleries and delighting 1 million more visitors a year with the wonders of the natural world.

Natural Environment Research Council
NERC is the custodian of the UK’s environmental science. It ensures the UK has the diverse talent and skills, the facilities, and the infrastructure needed for world-leading research. NERC researchers diagnose environmental issues, mitigate risk, and support solutions to major challenges such as air quality and climate change for the UK and beyond.

Wellcome

Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we're taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

GSK
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together. Find out more at gsk.com/company.

John Ellerman Foundation

John Ellerman Foundation is an independent endowed grantmaking charity, set up in 1971, currently run by a team of seven full time staff and eight Trustees. Our strategy for 2022-25 calls on us to deliver our organisational aim to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world with 100% of our assets – namely our grantmaking, our investing, and our operations. Through our grantmaking, we currently support nationally significant work in the arts (including museums and galleries), social action and the environment.

Ørsted
Ørsted are one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies that takes tangible action to create a world that runs entirely on green energy.