Working collaboratively with the Secondary and Families education officer at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and scientists from the BUBBL research group, I helped to develop and deliver public engagement activities around the science and natural history of Bubbles using experiments and handling collections delivering a series of Bubble Lab events. This also included delivering public engagement training with the scientists and supporting the lead scientist in the development of experiments, a bubble kit, scientific poster and learning resource for children. I have continued to support the museum in other bespoke engagement activities using museum collections and my knowledge of natural history to inspire, enthuse and inform family audiences.

Support the development of a range of citizen science projects, through the recruitment of, and effective engagement with new and established audiences. Examples included working on the development, delivery and engagement of Naturehood, FreshWater Watch, Capturing Our Coast and Earthworm Watch, as well as the development and delivery of Teach Earth and Discover Earth programmes to teachers, students and community groups. My role included audience development and stakeholder engagement, developing partnerships, participant evaluation and engagement strategy work, developing and delivering learning and engagement activities and events and working with communications to develop and write engaging content for newsletters, publicity and as part of social media campaigns.

• Use my knowledge of the natural world and history of NHM to develop and deliver inspiring object-rich learning activities, workshops and shows using zoology, entomology, palaeontology and geology specimens.• Inspire a passionate interest in NHM and its history and scientific research by delivering inquiry-based learning to schools and diverse public audiences in the learning spaces of ‘Investigate’, through ‘Hands on Nature’ trollies using real museum specimens and workshops such as ‘Cutting Edge’ (about teeth and diet).• Work a flexible and challenging rota of diverse activities and communicate closely with science educators, front of house colleagues and managers to ensure museum spaces are safe, welcoming, collections are well-maintained, set-up and closed down efficiently.• As the public face of NHM, offer a smiley, approachable and first-class service to visitors, using knowledge of events, activities and gallery spaces to problem-solve customer enquiries and enhance visitor experiences. • Demonstrated confidence to deliver evening tours of 'Dino-Snores' and ‘Night Safari’ facilitating inspiring encounters in the galleries working with scientists to lead 60+ child/adult visitors.• Work closely with scientists and learning colleagues to deliver outreach events to school and family audiences about NHM’s research to fire curiosity and inspire future scientists e.g. ‘Lyme Regis Fossil Festival’.• Delivered activities and workshops during events such as ‘Science Uncovered’ and ‘Big Nature Day' and worked collaboratively with learning teams and scientists to run outreach activities e.g. 'The Big Bang Fair'. • Undertake curatorial work in the museum’s entomology department, such as sorting beetle specimens to family, pinning specimens as well as assisting the Curator of Arachnids in sorting recently returned loans.

Due to my passion for the Natural History Museum (NHM) and its collections and a desire to further develop curatorial experience, I was delighted to be selected from over 400 candidates for this work-based training programme designed to address a critical and growing shortage of wildlife identification and recording skills in the UK. It is ideal for anyone who would like to develop a career in the UK biodiversity sector, museums and conservation organisations.I have gained a wide variety of skills and experience essential for designing, developing and delivering education and citizen science projects such as the Big Seaweed Search. I have undertaken research, curation and collections management activities around a nationally important collection, the UK Odonata, in NHM's Darwin Centre. I have enjoyed working as part of close-knit and cross-functional teams within the Angela Marmont Centre and wider museum to organise and delivered public engagement events and activities e.g. Bioblitz's at NHM, Tring and Lyme Regis. I have had the opportunity throughout the year to inspire, engage and develop resources and lead and train people of all ages to learn and understand UK Biodiversity. This has included placements in teaching young people at the Old Malthouse forest school in Dorset and delivering training to adult groups and my peers around UK wildlife. A key component has been undertaking fieldwork, collecting, wildlife recording and identification courses by leading field naturalists around cryptic and more well studied taxa such as Fungi, Bryophytes, Beetles, Flies and Earthworms.

Returning to RAMM in 2011, I worked closely with the Assistant Curator of Natural History (later Curator) on a number of collections management projects, the first being the unpacking and verifying bird collections to be installed into a new gallery case for RAMM’s re-opening in 2011.Re-organisation of bird collections store Assisted Curator of Natural History in ongoing project to re-organise the bird collections store (mounts, skins and skeletal material) taxonomically and update Filemaker.Pro collections database. Geological Collections Movement ProjectAssisted in the handling, documentation and planned movement of geology and mineralogy collections from Unit 24 and 13 to RAMM’s offsite store ‘The Ark. Strong manual dexterity to ensure the careful handling of heavy fossils, rocks, toxic and radioactive minerals and their cabinets. Sub-fossil Pleistocene material from Levaton CaveHandling and photography of sub-fossil Pleistocene mammal bones excavated in the 20th century at Levaton Cave, South Devon. Searched, retrieved and updated individual accession records within Filemaker.Pro and wrote summary web descriptions for South West Collections database.New Zealand Bird re-packing project Undertook short project to re-unite Moa and other sub-fossil bird bone collections by their original donors. I photographed each specimen for the South West Collections database and re-boxed them accordingly. This required strong attention to detail to handle, document and re-box fragile specimens, use accession registers to verify objects with label data and assist in updating records in FileMaker.Pro collections database.Bird and Mollusc collections Assisted curator in unpacking and re-organising the mollusc and bird collections and verifying and updating FileMaker.Pro collections database with new locations and label data where necessary.Assisted Curator and BBC NH Unit sound recordist Chris Watson to record wildlife sounds for ‘Ebb and Flow’ sound installation.

In these roles I was responsible for coordinating administrative and secretarial services to the Head of Capital Development & Waste Management, his direct reports and the engineering, waste and highways teams:• Interpersonal skills: Demonstrated diplomacy, persuasion and exceptional communication skills to build effective relationships with Heads of Service (HOS), PA’s, council officers, Councillors and private sector partners.• Ability to prioritise: managed a challenging workload with conflicting priorities using forward planning, careful diary management and excellent organisational skills to meet multiple deadlines. • Excellent oral and written communication: communicated messages on behalf of my Head of Service via telephone, e-mail, letter and face-to-face with colleagues and customers at all levels.• Proficient IT skills: Confidently used MS Office packages to support HOS in diary management, copywriting, filing and document storage, data collation, preparing agendas, papers and minutes and updating service webpages using web-editing software.• Discretion: Frequently processed and produced confidential documents including recording leave/sickness absence, Investigating Officer and performance reports and letters of a sensitive nature for the HOS. • Hospitality: Used Devon EBiz system to organise travel, car hire and accommodation for colleagues, audio-conferencing and meeting equipment, manage hospitality and assist with general events administration. • In April 2013, I returned to Devon County Council, following six months unpaid leave travelling and working in New Zealand. I subsequently moved to work as an Interim PA to the Head of Adult Care Management as well as providing business support to teams across Devon County Council's Place and People services within Central Business Support.

• Worked closely with curators, conservators and documentation officers and volunteers to handle, pack and document the movement of RAMM’s natural science collections (known as ‘EmbARK’) from the Natural History Gallery to its off-site store ‘The Ark’ as part of RAMM’s re-development.• Completed 6 month ‘EmbARK’ project as a paid casual to move other collections such as archaeology, architectural fragments and decorative arts collections out of RAMM.• Asked by conservators to undertake a condition check of RAMM’s Butterfly and Beetle collections.• Worked with geology curator to select objects and develop education resources around engaging object handling activities at RAMM’s temporary Library gallery and through outreach activities at festivals such ‘Lyme Regis Fossil Festival’ and ‘Devon County Show’. • Worked with Assistant Curator of Natural History and conducted research, selected specimens, wrote text panels and took photomicrography of Victorian microscope slides for ‘Micro Sensation’ exhibition. Assisted RAMM project team in developing content, exhibits and installation of ‘Micro Sensation’ exhibition. • Conducted searches, added records and object information in FileMaker Pro database to improve the taxonomic accuracy and information for RAMM’s moa collection using accession registers. • Scanned projector slides and uploaded images to ADLIB database linked to FileMaker Pro.

• Invited by Curator of West Exe to create a digital archive of material (personal accounts, sound and images) taken from RAMM’s ‘Living Here’ community history website. www.livinghere.org.uk • Used experience of CALM and ISADG archival standards to learn and operate new ‘Community Sites’ archival software to create and upload collections and describe them appropriately.• Worked in partnership with Curator, Digital Media Officer, Community Sites Agent and volunteers to achieve a workable archive within a short deadline, as well as train volunteers to become Editors.

• I worked as part of a brilliant and dedicated team of Archivists, Archives Assistants and Conservators to enable access, as far as possible, to the public records concerning Devon's rich history and written heritage assisting the public in their research via telephone, email and in person.• Without formal training, in a short time I was able to interpret complex information relating to Devon’s written heritage to answer house and family history enquiries from the public in a busy Search room.• I worked closely within a small team to ensure written collections e.g. parish records, tithe maps and photos were identified carefully, treated with care and produced efficiently from 8 different repositories.• Worked a flexible rota of cataloguing, preventative conservation, scanning and micro-filming of parish registers, responding to telephone, email and letter enquiries, search room duties and filing/copying.• Excellent ICT skills required to operate different online databases e.g. Ancestry and catalogues such as CALM and Access 2 Archives to search and tailor a range of historical records to assist researchers.

• Guide schools, language groups and the public on tours through the Underground Passages (a unique 14th century medieval water supply and museum attraction) ensuring a safe and pleasant visit in dark, claustrophobic conditions. Act as a key holder for the opening/closing of the attraction.• Operate the reception and heritage centre shop/sales points, tills and complete end of day cash reconciliation.• Explain the story of the Underground Passages through a pre-formatted presentation, guided tours, my own knowledge, archaeology, exhibits and displays in the heritage centre to enhance visitors’ experience.• Work collaboratively with other guides and the Attractions Development Officer to organise the movement and timings of tours and solve problems to ensure the smooth running of the attraction.• Communicate via telephone, email and letter with outside agencies, schools and groups to plan visits to the Underground Passages and complete administration of group bookings and enquiries.

• Responsible for the handling, documentation and movement of a fragile collection of over 2000 wet-preserved marine specimens donated by MBA to a new temperature and humidity controlled store.• Completed inventories of taxidermy, geology, wet-preserved invertebrates and microscope slides collections, developing knowledge of collection care standards creating Excel databases and paper records.• Gained strong practical handling experience, selecting and using specimens for inspiring family and school activities e.g. National Science Week, based around taxonomy, evolution, the rock cycle and the art of taxidermy.• Worked with Education team to deliver object handling sessions based around topics such as WW1, Egyptians, Romans, Tudors to schools and community groups as part of the portable ‘Museum in Transit’.• Delivered outreach activities using objects alongside curators for Plymouth Museum’s ‘Wild About Plymouth’ family friendly club. This involved working across Plymouth assisting children and families in identifying wildlife through Seashore Safaris, Wildlife Cruises and in-house events.

• Responsible for networking with a complex team of station staff, head office advisors and colleagues to deliver a high quality information based customer service to commuters in London and the South East, informing passengers during major train disruption and in dealing consistently with train-related customer complaints/enquiries.• I worked well in a high-volume, target-driven environment and enjoyed the challenge of promoting Southeastern products and services and consistently hitting efficiency and quality targets (measured through calls taken and correspondence completed). • Resilience, initiative and creativity were essential in negotiating solutions to challenging customer complaints across a range of train-related issues with tact, diplomacy and empathy.• I demonstrated excellent IT skills to multi-task the use of MS Office applications and varied databases such as RJIS (Rail Journey Information System) to find relevant information to answer customer telephone, email and letter complaints/enquiries and Remedy to log calls and emails, produce standard letters and award compensation.• I was able to assimilate complex information and adapt quickly to change. Due to my success within the role, I was asked by my team manager to train new advisors and visited Southeastern’s head office and rail network on an amazing Familiarisation visit.