Ecsite spoke to Helen Jones from the Science Museum, about which interesting topics and trends caught her attention this past month!

Listening –

Laura Marling’s latest album, ‘Patterns in Repeat’. Her music is so understated, clever and beautiful. I’d heard some tracks on TV and radio and this question reminded me to go to the full album.

Reading –

‘The Giant O’Brian’ by Hillary Mantell, prompted by a team visit to the recently-reopened Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. It’s a fictionalised account of 18th century human spectacle, Charles O’Brian (or Byrne, the ‘Irish Giant’), and avid anatomist, John Hunter, who acquired the former’s skeleton against his express wishes. The skeleton was only removed from public display in 2023.

Following –

I’m not a great social media user, but a stereotypical ‘Mum on Facebook’. I do follow several organisations in our STEM arena, such as IFL Science, the Royal Institution and the Royal Society.

Things keeping me up at night –

Although I’m generally an avid news-consumer, the various conflicts, natural and unnatural disasters, and political shenanigans mean it’s difficult at the moment. I can’t imagine being a woman in Afghanistan, where the latest news is that women are barred from the last educational route open to them – medical training. It sure puts our more local issues into perspective.

Somewhere I’ve been recently –

My team looks after the Science Museum Group’s international partnerships, so I get to travel a lot for work, including to some places I wouldn’t necessarily get to as a tourist. I’ve been to Saudi Arabia twice in 2024 as we developing a partnership with the Ministry of Culture and a wide professional network. Working with the Kingdom is not without challenges, but the pace of change is astonishing, and we feel we can make a positive contribution to developing the STEM and museum sectors.

Somewhere I’m planning to go –

The Science Museum Group also works extensively in India, where our core partner is the National Council of Science Museums. Our co-created touring vaccines exhibition, ‘Injecting Hope’ has already been seen by over 1.5 million people just in India (3.7 m including the other partners China and the UK). I’m looking forward to returning to India early in 2025 and my archaeology background means I’m very excited to have the chance to visit the ancient site of Hampi.