Museum Staff
Current staff:
Curators:
Emma Hughes (2017- present)
(she/her)
Dr Emma Hughes is co-curator in charge of the Alfred Denny Museum and leads our Public Engagement Programme. She is a Teaching Specialist in the School of Biosciences with a particular interest in promoting and improving access to field courses for all, natural history literacy and applied ecology skills. Emma teaches field biology, R programming, conservation, and ecological identification skills at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level.
Prior to this, Emma worked at the Natural History Museum at Tring within the ornithology collections. Here she utilised 3D scanning techniques to build a unique database of bird beak scans. She used this database in her Doctoral studies (2016-22) to explore current and future global avian trait diversity and concluded that we face a greater than expected loss of species functions (e.g. pollination, scavenging) if the global extinction crisis continues as predicted.
Emma is also an amateur entomologist, and utilises the skills she learnt during an internship with the Coleoptera Department at the Natural History Museum, London, to teach curation of the Museum's insect collections.
Gavin Thomas (2019- present)
(he/him)
Dr Gavin Thomas is co-curator in charge of the Alfred Denny Museum and leads the administrative side of the Museum. He is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biosciences whose research focusses on how and why present day biodiversity has arisen over time. Gavin teaches evolution, biogeography and ecology at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level.
Gavin's research group works closely with the Natural History Museum where they have collected extensive data on bill shapes and plumage colouration from all extant (currently alive) bird species (approximately 10,000 species). This highlights the power Museum collections hold for answering contemporary research questions.
Digitisation and Communications Officer
Kane is a fourth year Zoology student (MBiolSci + Placement Year) with an interest in science communication, particularly the use of digital technology improve the accessibility and availability of information.
They are undertaking their placement year at the Museum as the Digitisation and Communications Officer. Working to increase the museum's online presence and reach. They hope to improve the accessibility of the collection through developing a digital archive of the unique specimens on display. As well as working with other volunteers and staff to establish a database to house the various collections stored within the museum.
Their main work has been creating this website, a process which has involved researching the museum's history, writing up informative pages about the collections, specific specimens and summaries of the different animal groups for educational purposes. Alongside taking lots of photos of the interesting animals on display to share digitally to a wider audience.
They are also leading a project to digitise a portion of the University Herbarium and develop a virtual tour of the museum, as well as working alongside volunteers to develop more materials for tours, events and workshops.
Throughout their time working as a tour guide and volunteer at the Alfred Denny Museum Kane has become passionate about the use of museums in education - both within academic and public settings. Developing a particular interest in the use of digital technology to enhance the accessibility and availability of information. They built this website with the hopes to introduce more people to the museum so viewers can gain a greater appreciation for its past and present history as well as show off the vast diversity of animal life captured by the museum collections.
Kane Dibb
(they/them)
Tour Guides:
Guides are responsible for showing you round our collection of animals in the museum, ranging from taxidermy birds, skeletons and preserved specimens. During tours you can expect an overview of the history of the museum, information about the various animals and opportunities to ask the guides any questions you may have. They all specialise in different areas of natural history and ecology, so no one tour will ever be the same - there will always be new facts to learn!
Many of our tour guides also volunteer in the museum and undertake specific projects there.
Emily Piepgrass
(she/her)
Emily is a second year Ecology and Conservation Biology (MBiolSci) student with an interest in evolutionary ecology and practical conservation, especially the study of complex organismal networks to understand how we can conserve them more effectively and naturally.
She has been helping database the museum's insect collection and tour guiding.
Laura Millward
(she/her)
Laura is a second year Biology (BSc) student with an interest in evolutionary biology and genetics, and the application of modern biological techniques to help understand and prevent the effects of climate change.
In addition she has an interest in science communication and social media- helping Kane to design the website and brainstorm what pages and information it should include
Tom Barker
(he/him)
Tom is in his second year of Ecology and Conservation at the University of Sheffield. He is a big fan of birds and taxonomy: how we classify and refer to individual species in the tree of life. It is his belief that we need to go out, find and describe as many new species as we can before we lose things we didn't even know we had.
He is also interested in the issues posed by invasive species and enjoy sharing his interests with people during museum tours and learning from visitors and their experiences in the process.
Laura Edwards
(she/they)
Laura is in their second year of Zoology (BSc) at the University of Sheffield.
She is passionate about following a career in zoology and conservation as well as making science and education more accessible for disabled people.
During disability history month Laura helped set up sensory friendly tours and continues to advise the museum team on how we can keep tours accessible for all.
Volunteers:
We have many student volunteers who take on different projects in the museum from specimen identification, updating displays, managing the museum social medias and databasing collections.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please email admuseum@sheffield.ac.uk to ask about opportunities or propose a specific project you have in mind.
Please note that you must be a student or staff member at the University of Sheffield to volunteer.
Read more about our volunteers and the work they do below:
Curatorial
Mads A W
(she/her)
Maddy is a third year Zoology Student with a variety of interests in evolution, genetics and science communication. She has a love for wildlife media and is passionate in working within the documentary industry.
Maddy has worked with other volunteers on the databasing of the insect collections. She has recently installed a paper-taxidermy art collection in the museum.
Thomas B.G
(he/him)
Tom is a second year Ecology and Conservation Biology (MBiolSci) student with a passion for animal conservation. He has an interest in how genetics can be utilized in conservation and how species can be effectively reintroduced into areas.
He's mainly been helping to database the museums insect collection and organizing some of the main displays.
Sonal Ladwa
(she/her)
Sonal is a PhD student studying the evolution and physics of butterfly wing colouration and colour-producing nanostructures. Her research interest's focus on natural history, evolutionary ecology and entomology.
During a funded placement she led the efforts to re-curate and reorganise the insect specimens in the museum. Involving fixing specimens, entering their information into databases and designing new displays.
Cheen Teng H
(she/her)
Cheen Teng is a second year Biology (BSc) student with a passion for wildlife conservation. She is particularly interested in entomology and herpetology.
She’s been working with other volunteers to organise the museum’s insect collection
Sorrel Lawrence
(she/her)
Sorrel is in her second year of Zoology (BSc) at the University of Sheffield. She has a keen interest for the natural world and in particular the study of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies).
Sorrel has been mainly focused on the organisation of the insect collections within the museum. Leading the work identifying and databasing the Packer collection.
Kat Assersohn
(she/her)
Kat is a fourth year PhD student interested in how evolutionary and ecological factors influence reproductive biology in animals. Her PhD research explores the maintenance of variation in fertility traits in females, using birds as a model system.
She is currently working in the museum to help curate and database a large and valuable collection of bird eggs.
She also created paper taxidermy insects as an art instillation, informative display and treasure hunt in the museum.
Social media
Kate Whiteway
(she/her)
Kate is a masters student studying science communication. She was inspired to work with the museum while studying animal diversity as part of her undergraduate degree in biology.
Her main interests are animal diversity and palaeontology. In the future she would like to work in science journalism, making science documentaries and video content.
She is helping to manage the social media for the museum, photographing specimen and making short videos.
Taylor Harris
(he/him)
Taylor is currently doing a MSc Science Communication at the University of Sheffield and helps manage the social media of the Museum, alongside photographing the specimens. He did his undergraduate degree in marine biology and has a love of everything in the sea, but is particularly interested in sharks and rays. He aims to be a science journalist in future following stories related to natural history.
In his spare time he also enjoys watching films and documentaries!
Previous staff members
Curators :
Oskars Lusis (1948-1981)
Oskars was a highly accomplished taxidermist and a popular member of the teaching staff, with many records of students calling him a ‘fountain of knowledge’ and ‘well loved’.
Prior to coming to Sheffield, Oskars had been a curator at the Riga Zoo in Latvia then became a displaced person in Germany following WWII.
He was appointed to a technical staff post at the University in 1947, then appointed to an academic post in 1953 with the title Curator of the Alfred Denny Museum. In 1963 he was made a Lecturer in Zoology with the additional title of Honorary Curator of the Alfred Denny Museum.
Oskars worked hard to maintain a 'teaching collection' as funding for the museum became limited and the university refused to pay for it's previous space in firth court. This collected consisted of life history jars, skeletons, anatomical dissections and other teaching resources which can still be found in the museum today. He created many new displays and teaching material for the museum as well, most notably his double specimens: a combination of skeleton and taxidermy.
Tim Birkhead (1980s-2019)
Professor Tim Birkhead took up position as lecturer at the University of Sheffield in 1976, becoming Professor of Behavioural Ecology, in 1992.
Nationally and internationally, Tim Birkhead is known both for his excellent science communicator and his passion for ornithology, with a reputation as a leading expert in the field, especially regarding bird mating systems and reproduction.
Birkhead was responsible for re-opening the museum to the public during the 2012 Festival of the Mind. Refurbishing displays, checking species were correctly classified, organising new items and cataloguing an impressive collection of bird eggs.
Public Engagement Officer.
Nicola Hemmings: (2012-2017)
Dr Nicola Hemmings was lead coordinator of the Alfred Denny Museum's Public Engagement Programme from 2012, when the museum was first opened to the public during The University of Sheffield's Festival of the Mind. She stepped down from the role when she had her first child in 2017.
Highlights from Nicola's time working with the museum include welcoming several thousand visitors to numerous events and tours, welcoming over 1500 local school children to attend 'Be a Scientist for the Day' workshops and 'Young Explorers' clubs, hosting several unique public talks about the museum's history and specimens, and showcasing the museum as one of Sheffield's hidden gems on the popular BBC TV programme Great British Railway Journeys.
Nicola is currently a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield School of Biosciences, studying the reproductive behaviour and physiology of birds and implications for conservation. She still loves using the museum for teaching and recently supervised a Masters project examining the colonial history of its collections.
Previous tour guides:
Meryl Varty
Meryl obtained a BSc Zoology degree at The University of Sheffield and then studied a MA in Science Communication. Since realising how much she enjoyed the educational aspect of being a tour guide, she perused a career in science education, where she continues to teach people about science, the importance of conserving nature and the fascinating natural phenomenon that occur on our planet
Her favourite item in the museum was the taxidermy tree pangolin
Chloe Armstrong
Chloe studied a MBiolSci Zoology at The University of Sheffield. She was particularly interested in animal welfare and conservation and has gone on to study veterinary medicine after completing her degree.
Chloe enjoyed showing visitors around the museum's intriguing collection of specimens and sharing her enthusiasm for natural history.
Her favourite item in the museum was the porpoise double specimen.
Previous interns and volunteers:
Lauryn Elliott-Kerswell (Summer placement: Skeleton collection and displays). BSc Zoology, 2024.
Dan Paling (Summer placement: Skeleton collection and displays). BA English Literature, 2023.
Rebecca Ford (Curation of the egg collections, Decolonisation display, and tour guide).
Sadie Cole (Cataloguing of the Sorby slides).
Alex Pryke (Tour guide, worked on the insect collection).
Duncan Jackson (Museum assistant and previous web designer and photographer ) MBiolSci Zoology 2012.
Henry Ellison
Tanith Hackney-Huck
Sonora Hills
Peter Richards (Eggs).
Francesca Turner
Rachel Clark
Heidi Neale
Cindy Cosset
Will Burn
Ben Evans
Emma Hazelwood
Sam Kite
Isaac Stirling
Amber Wagstaffe
Camille Lee-Own
If you volunteered in the Alfred Denny Museum, please let us know so we can credit your work.