What?
CSIP (Collections Storage Infrastructure Programme)

1) Update on the current collections storage studies
2) Environmental Standards - where do you they come from and how are we implementing them?

When?
Thursday 30th May, 2013, 2.30pm-4.00pm

Where?
Flett Lecture Theatre, NHM, South Kensington

Who? Speakers:
Ben Atkinson – CSIP Project Manager
Chris Collins – Head of Conservation
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 5BD.

What’s it about?
The Collection Storage Infrastructure Programme has been undertaking an estate wide study on the Museum’s collection conditions and future steps to improve them. The first part of this session will provide an update on some of the results from the first wave of the studies, and key questions we need to ask ourselves for the next steps.

The second part of the seminar will be focusing on the specific CSIP parameters for environmental control. The CSIP standards were put in place after review by a cross museum team of collection management and conservation staff. The standards outline the parameters for environmental control in storage and display spaces where collections are held. The standards cover most museum collections and are now being used to guideline the environmental conditions to be established in new CSIP projects and a future Earth Sciences building.

The standards are different to new guidelines being established under PAS 198 and by the National Museum’s Directors Conference (NMDC).  The talk will outline where the standards come from, why they have been defined in the way they have, the differences between these and other standards being put in place and how they should be used for Natural History Collections. The talk will also review how they related to the museums sustainability and energy policies.

Who should come?
The seminar is open to all members of the Museum who are interested in getting involved, learning more about the future of CSIP and the recovery of the collections in a disaster situation. We also welcome colleagues from other institutions who would find the seminar of interest. There is no booking fee and only large parties need to notify the organiser for catering purposes.

Science Group: All senior departmental managers & collection management staff.
Public Engagement Group:  Any staff who work with and use collections or manage staff who work with collections.

Tea and coffee will be available in the lobby area after the talk.

Suggestions for seminar speakers are always most welcome.
Please contact the organiser Clare Valentine (c.valentine@nhm.ac.uk)

For additional details on attending this or other seminars see http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/seminars-events/index.html

Wednesday 22nd May 11:00
Sir Neil Chalmers seminar room, Darwin Centre LG16 (below Attenborough studio)

Polyembryony and unexpected gender roles in hermaphroditic colonial invertebrates

Helen Jenkins - PhD student, Aquatic Invertebrates, Dept. of Life Sciences, NHM

Polyembryony – the production of multiple genetically identical embryos from a single fertilised egg – is a seemingly paradoxical combination of contrasting reproductive modes that has evolved numerous times and persists in a diverse range of taxa including rust fungi, algae, plants and animals. Polyembryony is thought to characterise an entire order of bryozoans, the Cyclostomata. A molecular genetic approach was used to confirm this widely cited inference, based on early microscopy, and to test the apparently paradoxical nature of this reproductive mode in relation to cyclostomes, and will be reported here. Additional research, also presented here, has revealed further insights into the mating systems of this relatively understudied group of hermaphroditic colonial invertebrates. Mating  trials indicated a greater degree of female investment in the presence of allosperm in Tubulipora plumosa and produced evidence of separate-sex colonies in Filicrisia geniculata. If not a complete transition to gonochorism, the situation in F. geniculata indicates at least very pronounced gender specialisation. Further investigations into mating systems of this group may reveal more examples, with implications for our understanding of hermaphroditism and its related traits.

For additional details on attending this or other seminars see http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/seminars-events/index.html

Wednesday 15 May 11:00
Sir Neil Chalmers seminar room, Darwin Centre LG16 (below Attenborough studio)

Data Portal Workshop

Benn Scott, Data Portal Developer, NHM

As part of the NHM informatics initiative we are developing a publicly accessible web repository of Museum data, mounted at data.nhm.ac.uk.

In the first instance the primary dataset will be the specimen and collection records from KE EMu. In the future, the data portal will allow museum scientists to deposit research data, as well as integrate other museum datasets. The portal is intended as a tool for scientific research, facilitating exploration, analysis and reuse of data. Users will be able to browse, visualise and download the datasets. An R-based tool will allow deeper analysis of the data and DataCite DOIs attached to datasets will enable citation.

In this workshop, there will be a short introductory talk on the portal before we open up into a discussion and requirements gathering exercise, giving researchers and curators the opportunity to shape the development of the portal. We want to find out what data you'd like to see on the portal; how we can make the portal useful in your work and research; what systems & software you're using to generate and store your data. And of course if you have any questions or concerns about the portal, we'll do our best to answer them.

To find out more about the Data Portal, please see this introductory overview goo.gl/v4jOr.

For additional details on attending this or other seminars see http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/seminars-events/index.html