'What is a Species? Hands on workshop in Natural History Museum’s Botanical Collections

This day-long event will centre natural history specimens for environmentally focused research in any discipline. Can greater understanding of scientific approaches enrich arts and humanities research and vice versa?

This training day aims to:

• familiarise TECHNE students with natural history specimen collections, which have traditionally faced the sciences
• introduce scientific research questions and methods
• open conversations across disciplines and institutions

No prior experience of herbaria or of taxonomy is required. 

Through talks, collections tours, practical hands-on sessions and discussion, this workshop day will consider the use of collections for taxonomy, the information that taxonomists generate, the approaches used to describe and name species, and the methods used to prepare specimens. Participants will respond to collections, sharing insights from their own disciplinary training and perspectives.

This event will be held at the Natural History Museum’s herbarium, which holds over 5 million botanical specimens and includes specimens collected from the early 17th century to the present day across groups as diverse as algae, lichens, mosses, liverworts, ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants.

Participants will leave with a better understanding of the questions and methods of scientific research in botanical collections. They will leave behind their impressions of possible partnerships, questions and methods from their disciplinary perspectives. They will have openings to research at NHM, including in specimen collections, and have networked with others in environmental and natural history studies.