Biography
As the Collections Manager for the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, I am responsible for the day-to-day management of the Museum’s collections and the development of our computerised documentation systems to recognised professional standards.
I also coordinate and support research enquiries and visits, administer the specimen loans service and support specimen-based teaching within the Department of Zoology.
Background
After gaining a first class MESci in Earth Sciences in 2002 I worked as a geotechnical engineer before gaining a position at Manchester Museum as a natural history assistant - documenting specimens from the zoological, entomological, palaeontological and botanical collections.
In 2005 I was fortunate enough to gain a position at the Sedgwick Museum as a Palaeontological Assistant and by 2007 I had moved across Downing Street to become the Collections Manager for UMZC. Between 2012 and 2018 I was heavily involved in the Heritage Lottery Funded redevelopment of the Museum, especially the packing and moving of over 2 million specimens to new purpose built stores.
I am a member of Natural Sciences Collections Association and in 2018 was nominated and elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society.
Publications
Although I am not an active researcher, I have been fortunate enough to publish three papers involving the Museum’s collections:
Lowe, M.W., Brooke, M. de L., Rookmaaker, K. and Wetton, L. 2009 Charles Darwin's tinamou egg. Archives of Natural History, Volume 37 Issue 1, Pages 165-167, ISSN 0260-9541
Anderson, L.I., Lowe, M.W. 2010 Charles W. Peach and Darwin's barnacles. Journal of the History of Collections, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 November 2010, Pages 257–270
Lowe, M. 2018 A moving experience: The redevelopment of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. Journal of Natural Science Collections, Volume 5, Pages 125 - 134