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Mrs Helen Hardy

Mrs Helen Hardy

Science Digital Programme Manager

Department: Science Directorate
Division: Science Directorate
https://gb.linkedin.com

Summary

I am the Science Digital Programme Manager at the Natural History Museum, helping to set data free from a collection of some 80 million items. I lead the digitisation team (currently c.15 staff), developing innovative mass digitisation workflows for a wide variety of specimen types, from ancient herbaria to pinned insects and microscope slides, as well as working on the Museum's underlying data infrastructure including our Data Portal (www.data.nhm.ac.uk ), and on the policies, standards and cultural aspects around digitisation, working with national and international partners.

I came to the Museum from HM Revenue & Customs, where I held a variety of fast stream and leadership roles including tax legislation, communications with customers and stakeholders, management of teams of up to 50 staff, and major digital programmes including migrating BusinessLink content for businesses to Gov.uk. While the collections at the museum are unique, the people and data challenges have a lot in common with other organisations!

Qualifications

Degrees

BA (1st class hons), Lancaster University, Lancaster

MSc (Distinction), London School of Economics and Political Science, London, London

Employment history

Non-academic

Digital Collections Programme Manager, The Natural History Museum, London, UK, 2016 - ongoing

Various Digital Programme, Policy, Stratey & Communications, HM Revenue & Customs & HM Treasury, UK, 1999 - 2016

Grants

Creation of new, open taxonomic resources on Madagascan Lepidoptera
Role: Principal investigatorHardy H
Funding: Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
Total value £22,150 (to Museum £22,150)
Dates: 2017 - 2018

Bringing back Malaysia's Natural Heritage Held Overseas in Digitized Format (Wallace's Type Collection)
Role: Principal investigatorHardy H
Co-investigator: Livermore L
Funding: Yayasan Hasanah Foundation
Total value £70,000 (to Museum £70,000)
Dates: 2017 - 2018

Events

Conference Attendance

Invited speaker, Connecting with the Crowd Conference, (Conference),

Invited speaker, 3D4Ever - Building three dimensional models to last, (Conference),

Publications

Scott B, Baker E, Woodburn M, Vincent S, Hardy H, Smith VS (2019) The Natural History Museum Data Portal. Database, 2019 : doi: 10.1093/database/baz038

Groom Q, Dillen M, Hardy H, Phillips S, Willemse L, Wu Z (2019) Improved standardization of transcribed digital specimen data. Database, 2019 : doi: 10.1093/database/baz129

Price BW, Dupont S, Allan EL, Blagoderov V, Butcher AJ, Durrant J, Holtzhausen P, Kokkini P, Livermore L, Hardy H, Smith V (null) ALICE: Angled Label Image Capture and Extraction for high throughput insect specimen digitisation. Center for Open Science

Dixey K, Woodburn M, Hardy H, Livermore L, Smith V (null) Identification of provisional Centres of Excellence for digitisation of European natural science collections. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e57750

Hardisty A, Livermore L, Walton S, Woodburn M, Hardy H (null) Costbook of the digitisation infrastructure of DiSSCo. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e58915

Hardy H, Knapp S, Allan EL, Berger F, Dixey K, Döme B, Gagnier P-Y, Frank J, Haston E, Holstein J, Kiel S, Marschler M, Mergen P, Phillips S, Rabinovich R, Sanchez Chillón B, Sorensen M, Thines M, Trekels M, Vogt R, Wilson S, Wiltschke-Schrotta K (null) SYNTHESYS+ Virtual Access - Report on the Ideas Call (October to November 2019). Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e50354

Hardy H, Smith V, Livermore L, Allan EL, Dupont S, Woodburn M, Vincent S (null) What 5 Years of Digitisation Teaches Us About What Comes Next. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3 : doi: 10.3897/biss.3.37044

Miller CG, Brewer P, Carine M, Comerford G, Hardy H, Hart A, Long S, Price BW, Smith CL, Smith DA, Smith M, Stevens L, Thompson K, Valentine C, Vincent S, Wilson S, Woodburn M (2022) Join the Dots: assessing a collection of 80 million items at The Natural History Museum, London. Museum Management and Curatorship, 37 (3) : 287 - 306. doi: 10.1080/09647775.2021.2023900

Woodburn M, Vincent S, Hardy H, Valentine C (null) Join the Dots: Adding collection assessment to collection descriptions. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3 : doi: 10.3897/biss.3.37200

Invited and keynote speaker

Invited speaker, A crowd of specimens: digitising collections at The Natural History Museum, Connecting with the Crowd (multidisciplinary conference): Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 16/6/2017.

Guest lectures

Invited speaker, Saving the World one louse at a time: Data-driven transformation with a mission, Data Leaders Roundtable: 25/9/2018.

Invited speaker, Natural History for a Thriving Future, Exhibition Road Day of Design 2018: 23/9/2018.

Invited speaker, Digital Collections and the NHM Data Portal, Wikimedia UK AGM 2018: Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 14/7/2018.

Introduction

Summary

I am the Science Digital Programme Manager at the Natural History Museum, helping to set data free from a collection of some 80 million items. I lead the digitisation team (currently c.15 staff), developing innovative mass digitisation workflows for a wide variety of specimen types, from ancient herbaria to pinned insects and microscope slides, as well as working on the Museum's underlying data infrastructure including our Data Portal (www.data.nhm.ac.uk ), and on the policies, standards and cultural aspects around digitisation, working with national and international partners.

I came to the Museum from HM Revenue & Customs, where I held a variety of fast stream and leadership roles including tax legislation, communications with customers and stakeholders, management of teams of up to 50 staff, and major digital programmes including migrating BusinessLink content for businesses to Gov.uk. While the collections at the museum are unique, the people and data challenges have a lot in common with other organisations!

Qualifications

Degrees

BA (1st class hons), Lancaster University, Lancaster

MSc (Distinction), London School of Economics and Political Science, London, London

Employment history

Non-academic

Digital Collections Programme Manager, The Natural History Museum, London, UK, 2016 - ongoing

Various Digital Programme, Policy, Stratey & Communications, HM Revenue & Customs & HM Treasury, UK, 1999 - 2016

Projects

Grants

Creation of new, open taxonomic resources on Madagascan Lepidoptera
Role: Principal investigatorHardy H
Funding: Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
Total value £22,150 (to Museum £22,150)
Dates: 2017 - 2018

Bringing back Malaysia's Natural Heritage Held Overseas in Digitized Format (Wallace's Type Collection)
Role: Principal investigatorHardy H
Co-investigator: Livermore L
Funding: Yayasan Hasanah Foundation
Total value £70,000 (to Museum £70,000)
Dates: 2017 - 2018

Professional activities

Events

Conference Attendance

Invited speaker, Connecting with the Crowd Conference, (Conference),

Invited speaker, 3D4Ever - Building three dimensional models to last, (Conference),

Publications

Publications

Scott B, Baker E, Woodburn M, Vincent S, Hardy H, Smith VS (2019) The Natural History Museum Data Portal. Database, 2019 : doi: 10.1093/database/baz038

Groom Q, Dillen M, Hardy H, Phillips S, Willemse L, Wu Z (2019) Improved standardization of transcribed digital specimen data. Database, 2019 : doi: 10.1093/database/baz129

Price BW, Dupont S, Allan EL, Blagoderov V, Butcher AJ, Durrant J, Holtzhausen P, Kokkini P, Livermore L, Hardy H, Smith V (null) ALICE: Angled Label Image Capture and Extraction for high throughput insect specimen digitisation. Center for Open Science

Dixey K, Woodburn M, Hardy H, Livermore L, Smith V (null) Identification of provisional Centres of Excellence for digitisation of European natural science collections. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e57750

Hardisty A, Livermore L, Walton S, Woodburn M, Hardy H (null) Costbook of the digitisation infrastructure of DiSSCo. Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e58915

Hardy H, Knapp S, Allan EL, Berger F, Dixey K, Döme B, Gagnier P-Y, Frank J, Haston E, Holstein J, Kiel S, Marschler M, Mergen P, Phillips S, Rabinovich R, Sanchez Chillón B, Sorensen M, Thines M, Trekels M, Vogt R, Wilson S, Wiltschke-Schrotta K (null) SYNTHESYS+ Virtual Access - Report on the Ideas Call (October to November 2019). Research Ideas and Outcomes, 6 : doi: 10.3897/rio.6.e50354

Hardy H, Smith V, Livermore L, Allan EL, Dupont S, Woodburn M, Vincent S (null) What 5 Years of Digitisation Teaches Us About What Comes Next. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3 : doi: 10.3897/biss.3.37044

Miller CG, Brewer P, Carine M, Comerford G, Hardy H, Hart A, Long S, Price BW, Smith CL, Smith DA, Smith M, Stevens L, Thompson K, Valentine C, Vincent S, Wilson S, Woodburn M (2022) Join the Dots: assessing a collection of 80 million items at The Natural History Museum, London. Museum Management and Curatorship, 37 (3) : 287 - 306. doi: 10.1080/09647775.2021.2023900

Woodburn M, Vincent S, Hardy H, Valentine C (null) Join the Dots: Adding collection assessment to collection descriptions. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3 : doi: 10.3897/biss.3.37200

Impact and outreach

Invited and keynote speaker

Invited speaker, A crowd of specimens: digitising collections at The Natural History Museum, Connecting with the Crowd (multidisciplinary conference): Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 16/6/2017.

Guest lectures

Invited speaker, Saving the World one louse at a time: Data-driven transformation with a mission, Data Leaders Roundtable: 25/9/2018.

Invited speaker, Natural History for a Thriving Future, Exhibition Road Day of Design 2018: 23/9/2018.

Invited speaker, Digital Collections and the NHM Data Portal, Wikimedia UK AGM 2018: Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, 14/7/2018.