Jackie Chapman-Gray

Phone: 01865 272 978/ 01865 727 972
Twitter: @chapmanjv

Role summary

Jackie works across the collections and is responsible for preventative and remedial conservation primarily of the Life collection materials on display and behind the scenes, this includes on a wide variety of Natural History specimens. Jackie’s main responsibilities include carrying out remedial and preventive conservation treatments on specimens, supervising conservation interns, work placement students and volunteers, assisting with exhibitions and answering enquiries from the public, other museums and researchers.  

Jackie is also responsible for the environmental monitoring and the coordination of the Integrated Pest Management for the entire Museum and its associated stores. 

Part of Jackie’s role as a Conservator of the Life Collections is presenting conservation to the public through a variety of mediums, including spotlight specimens and behind the scenes talks.

Jackie is particularly interested in the conservation and care of fluid preserved specimens.

CV

Jackie was previously the Life Collections Conservator between December 2015 and February 2017 and has come back to Museum of Natural History since December 2017, shortly after completing a short contract at the Pitt Rivers Museum as one of the Verve Conservators.

Jackie grew up in rural Victoria in Australia and developed an interest in the natural environment through camping, hiking, rock climbing, surfing and travelling around Australia.

Her background in museums and cultural institutions spans 27 years and 3 countries, Australia, the United Kingdom and Greece. During this period, she has worked with a wide range of collections, and her focus the past 6 years has been on natural history specimens. She studied Anthropology at Deakin University and after several years of working with collections at a variety of museums, Jackie went on to complete a postgraduate degree in Museum Studies. Following 13 years in collections management, curation and preservation, she moved to the UK in 2004 to qualify as a Conservator, completing an MA in the Principles of Conservation and MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology.