Natural History Museum
We are creating advocates for the planet.
We face a planetary emergency, and nature needs our help more than ever. Our future depends on the natural world, but it is now changing fast under the influence of human behaviour.
By threatening natural systems, we threaten our own future. We must act now, we must act on the scientific evidence and we must act together.
Welcome
The Natural History Museum remains a global source of curiosity, inspiration and joy. What you may not know is that we are a serious scientific research institute with 350 full time scientists and 150 PhD students. In the face of the planetary emergency, we are looking deeper into our planet’s past and present to help shape a new future. Encouraging collective exploration, participation and action. Choosing a better tomorrow, together. Find out more about how we are creating advocates for the planet here:
Our Mission: Advocates for the Planet | Natural History Museum – YouTube
We are passionate about inspiring the next generation of scientists and nature enthusiasts that will support us in our mission and vision of a future where people and planet thrive. Green Careers Week is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the huge diversity of green careers both within the Museum and beyond, as well as inspiring people with the magnificent diversity of the natural world and encourage them to make a positive difference to the global future.
Schools, colleges and Universities: Book your visit and explore our programme...
Sustainability at the NHM
Sustainability is already at the heart of the Museum, but now we’re pledging to go even further and head towards net zero as fast as we can.
Find out more about the journey that we are on to achieve this here:
What We Do
Our expertise in taxonomy, systematics and mineralogy drives our research in securing the future of our food, health and natural materials.
Projects
Find out more about some of our projects here:
Our scientists work on a huge range of projects, improving our understanding of the natural world. Find out more about there important work here:
Space Research
Meet a space researcher who’s over the Moon about her work
Young and Black in Science
Patrick Campbell has been at the Museum since 1986. When he was made a fish curator in the Zoology department, he became one of the institution’s first Black curators.
Billions of Years of History
Nadine Gabriel is the Museum’s newest assistant curator of fossil mammals.
Inspiring Women
Some of our female scientists share how they began their careers, what they love about their jobs, and their advice for budding scientists.
Take Part In Our Green Careers Week Programme
We want to support young people to be scientifically confident and literate. Nurturing the next generation of scientists and enthusiasts is crucial.
For Green Careers Week, we will be running a free programme of special events that will inspire learners with some of the important work that we do.
Find out more
Discover more in the classroom. Explore our free resources
Explorers Programme
The Explorers Programme is a three year programme that aims to encourage and support people from Black, Asian, Arab and other racially marginalised backgrounds into careers in Earth, environmental and ecological sciences.
Take part in Green Careers Week at the Museum
Session 1
10:00 – 12:15 (including 30 minutes free roving time in the Red Zone)
Capacity 110 students, Ages: KS3 and KS4 groups
Session 2
13:00 – 15:15 (including 30 minutes free roving time in the Red Zone)
Capacity 110 students, Ages: KS4 and KS5 groups
Meet Museum professionals in our fun Job Matching Game!
This session invites your students to meet six people that work at the Museum, from scientists to content producers to educators, and hear about their hobbies, work experience and first jobs. Your students are presented with six job profile cards and are challenged to match each professional to the correct role. The only catch is: our professionals are not allowed to talk about their job at the Museum!
This activity is an engaging, informal way for students to meet professionals and hear about how studies, work experience and personal interests have shaped their careers.
Activity outline:
Introduction (10 minutes) – All students are set the challenge and given the job profile cards.
The group of 120 students is split in two.
- Group A Meet the Professionals Carousel 30 mins – students work in groups of 10 and meet each professional for 5 minutes each. The professional will give a 60 second introduction to their hobbies, work experience and first job. The students are then encouraged to ask questions to learn more about them and try to match them to a job profile card. The professionals are not allowed to talk about their job!
- Group B Free roving time in the Red Zone 30 mins – This time can also be spent studying the job profile cards and is supervised by group teachers/adults.
- The groups then switch over and complete the other activity.
Conclusion (20 minutes) – All students meet back with the opportunity to ask one last question of each professional and this time it can relate to their daily tasks at work. They students make final predictions on who is who before the professionals reveal the answers and give a short description of their roles at the Museum.
To check availability and to book, call 020 7942 5555. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9.00 – 17.00.
13:30 – 14:15 – Attenborough Studio
Capacity 80 students , Ages: 13 + KS3 and KS4 groups
Meet the Scientist: Plants under Pressure
Join our science communicator who will interview Museum scientist Ana Claudia Araujo who works at the Museum in London. This event is an ideal opportunity for students to meet and ask questions to a working scientist and discover how science works in a real-world setting.
Ana Claudia is a plant’s scientist, researcher in taxonomy and plants conservation at the Natural History Museum. Having begun her career in Brazil studying tropical plants, she has over 30 years of experience with herbarium collections, collecting and identifying flowering and non-flowering plant species. She is currently working on projects related to plants extinction risk, peatland and climate change in the UK and in the tropics, plants diversity worldwide and new techniques to improve the efficiency on biodiversity discoveries applying artificial intelligence. Discover more about Ana Claudia’s research and how she uses the Museum’s vast collections to answer big questions about our planet.
Students will also be able to ask about careers in science and hear about our scientist’s own experiences of science at school and beyond.
Please call 020 7942 5555 to book this free session. Phone lines are open Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.
13:30 – 14:15 – Attenborough Studio
Capacity 80 students, Ages: 13 + KS3 and KS4 groups
Meet the Scientist: Life at a Green Energy Company
Lee Thompson works for the global green energy company Ørsted. He is responsible for managing fisheries interactions for all of Ørsted’s offshore wind projects in the UK, from market development through to operation and eventually decommissioning. Learn about Lee’s role and career path to date.
This event is an ideal opportunity for students to discover some different green career options open to them, and how science works in a real-world setting.
Please call 020 7942 5555 to book this free session. Phone lines are open Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.