Dear Friends

I met several of you at the NatSCA conference in April. I am studying for my Masters in Heritage Management at Bath Spa University and have already utilised some of the presentations given at the conference in one of my assignments (giving due credit to the presenters as appropriate). I am now working toward my next assignment which is a research project which describes, analyses and assesses an aspect of contemporary heritage practice. The topic I have chosen is:

What impact has the current decline in the number of museum curators with specialist scientific knowledge of natural history had on scientific research?

This topic is based on a recent article by Jonathon Knott in the January edition of the Museums Journal which drew attention to a significant reduction in the number of natural history curators with specialist scientific knowledge. One consequence of this situation, which the article did not address, is that curators now have to look after collections for which they may not have the requisite specialist knowledge. Their role has also broadened to include exhibitions management, fundraising and general administration. My research project aims to establish what impact this is having on future scientific research.
There are two aspects to my research. The first is to identify the extent to which natural history collections held by museums still have an important function in scientific research. The second is to measure the change in the role of the natural history curator from being the steward of the collections with specific scientific knowledge to a more generalist managerial role. 

I am proposing to gather primary data for my research by conducting a survey of NatSCA members. I have prepared a series of questions utilising SurveyMonkey and I would be very grateful if you were able to set aside some time to complete my survey. There are 10 questions and it should take about 15 minutes to complete (perhaps over a cup of tea or coffee). You will find the survey by clicking on the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6LNMJVX

In order to take full advantage of the free service provided by SurveyMonkey, you will notice that I am trying to gain as much relevant information as I can from each question. However, if there are additional points which you would like to make please feel free to email me at: 

[log in to unmask] 

I would be very happy to hear from you. All information received in this way will be treated as anonymous unless you advise me otherwise.

Thank you very much indeed for reading this email and I hope you will also find the time to complete my survey. I will circulate a summary of the results of my survey in due course.

With my best wishes

Paul Bailey