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The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is a leading plant science institute, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and major visitor attraction. Our mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth.
We are working to end the unprecedented extinction crisis and to help create a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably. We will achieve these goals by drawing on our leading scientific research, unrivalled collections of plants and fungi, global network of partners, inspirational gardens at Kew and Wakehurst, and our 260 years of history.
Join us on our journey as protectors of the world’s plants and fungi.
About the role
This internship project has two curation priorities, to support the work of the Herbarium Curation and Accelerated Taxonomy regional teams through:
- Contributing towards the Tropical Important Plant Areas project - Mozambique by for example, preparing specimens to be mounted.
- Re-curating the Acanthaceae herbarium collections to a new linear sequence.
The curation intern will work alongside the Herbarium Curation and Accelerated Taxonomy Africa teams to help with a variety of curation activities and to gain some experience working with our staff in the herbarium. They will also gain some practical knowledge in plant identification and understand how this relates to the work in the herbarium, plus the chance to interact with specialists in plant taxonomy and conservation and build relationships for the future.
Through ‘on the job training’ the curation intern will learn how herbarium collections are processed at one of the largest Herbaria.
The Kew Herbarium was founded in 1853 and houses 7 million dried and mounted plant specimens from throughout the world. It plays a vital role in providing training in areas such as plant identification techniques, taxonomic nomenclature, and conservation. It also acts as a centre for information exchange and a channel for networking between plant specialists, students, and researchers in other related areas of study from around the world.
Benefits
The salary will be £16,744 per annum.
Our fantastic benefits package includes opportunities for continuous learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, flexible working to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, an Employee Assistance Programme and other wellbeing support such as cycle to work scheme and discounted gym membership. We also offer a competitive pension, an employee discount scheme and free entry into a wide range of national museums and galleries, as well access to our own beautiful gardens at Kew and Wakehurst.
If you are interested in this position, please submit your application through the online portal, by clicking “Apply for this job”.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.
No agencies please.
Please note that applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK as we will be unable to offer sponsorship for this position.
