Jobs: Collections Assistants at MAA, University of Cambridge

The Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (MAA) is hiring nine full-time Collections Assistants for an ambitious and complex project to relocate all collections in offsite storage to a new facility in central Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge is supporting the relocation of MAA's off-site collections stores to a former Cold War bunker; with refurbishment works to be complete by the end of 2020. Over 5 years the Project Team - a Move Manager, Collections Team Coordinator and Collections Assistants - will inventory, hazard check, and make digital images of approximately 250,000 archaeological and ethnographic artefacts; pack appropriately for removal and storage; and ensure their safe transport and rehousing in the new store. Our goal is to ensure that the collections are both appropriately stored and made physically and intellectually accessible: to researchers, students, stakeholders and audiences in Cambridge and worldwide, through visits to the new store and online through MAA's catalogue.

Details of the nine positions can be found at the University of Cambridge Jobs pages: 

This will be a really intensive project with challenging objectives, and team cohesion in a respectful working environment is a priority. MAA and the University of Cambridge Museums are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion within our institutions and across the sector, and we particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within the Museum and the University. We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

The closing date for applications is Monday 2 March 2020 with interviews expected to take place on 13 and 17 March. It is hoped that the successful candidate will take up the appointment on 20 April 2020.

SWICH Conference: Exhibiting Cultures, Exhibiting Empire, Exhibiting Europe

11^th July 2018 – 13^th July 2018

King's College, University of Cambridge

We inhabit a time not only of global warming but increasing political heat. Across Europe, battles over citizenship, belonging and culture are intensifying. Ethnographic and world cultures museums are in a contradictory situation. On one hand, they are seen as bearers of appropriated heritage and unresolved colonial legacies. On the other hand, such museums are supported because they already connect, or have the potential to connect, diverse postmigrant communities.

This conference builds on the five-year Creative Europe project, Sharing a World of Inclusion, Creativity and Heritage. SWICH has connected museums of ethnography and world cultures across ten countries. A network embracing museum curators and other staff, researchers, artists, activists and community representatives has reflected on what ethnographic museums do and can do, in increasingly conflicted European societies. They have considered in what senses museums can decolonise. Hosted by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, the conference aims to take these issues from the realm of critique and reflection into that of action.

Presentations and panel discussions will explore recent examples of how museums of world culture are tackling legacies of empire and colonialism and issues of belonging in this landscape of intense debate. Case studies and perspectives from across Europe and beyond, and from across the spectrum of museum practice, including public engagement, exhibition, and collections management, will raise challenges for institutions and stakeholders, and debate ways forward.

Speakers include:

- Arapata Hakiwai (Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa, Aotearoa New Zealand)
- Sharon MacDonald (Humboldt University, Berlin)

Booking closes on the 20th June 2018. For full details and to book online visit here.