Collecting Environmental Change: Case Studies from Scotland and Europe
Name
Collecting_Environmental_Change_Symposium_Report_Final.pdf
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530.39 KB
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Adobe PDF
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Resource type
Research report
Date published
September 2025
Abstract
Museum and heritage professionals with shared interests in collecting and curating environmental change met at the National Museum of Scotland on the 13th of March 2025. The aim of the Symposium was to present case studies and work in progress, and
to discuss best practice. This built upon the previous Contemporary Collecting Symposium on Collecting Sustainable Technology held in November 2023 at NMS, organised by Ellie Swinbank, Senior Curator of Technology. International and multi-disciplinary in scope, a range of papers were presented from independent artists and colleagues based at the House of European History, London Museum, Perth Museum and Historic Environment Scotland. Quick-fire Pecha Kucha presentations from collections care, curatorial and public programmes departments within National Museums Scotland, and a panel discussion from the wider Scottish sector, also offered a range of insights and perspectives.
While different approaches to collecting and curating material related to environmental change were outlined (including community callouts, citizen science, rapid response, and the commitment to building bio, culture, craft banks over the long-term) three key
themes emerged from the symposium.
These were:
• Reviewing and Recontextualising Collections (including transnational collections development and the acts of ‘forgetting’ and ‘recollection’)
• Sustainable Methods (thinking about ‘planet, process and people’)
• Participatory Practice as a model.
The symposium clearly demonstrated that museums are significant resources which document biodiversity loss, climate change and the human response to this in different contexts. Researchers and communities who are engaging with these collections are
revealing compelling stories. By building on this, museums can develop collective knowledge, empower communities and influence wider policy and practice related to environmental change. Museums are therefore critical as part of a call to action
confronting the global climate crisis.
Publisher
National Museums Scotland
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Additional information
Full text of report available via the official URL