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Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, University of Cambridge

Jack Ashby is the Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. His work centres on engaging people with the natural world, chiefly through museums, and the colonial biases that museums often exhibit. His book, "Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals" (2022) celebrates these iconic animals, explores how the wider world came to know them, and asks how these histories impact on their conservation today.

Jack is interested in evolutionary biology and particularly the natural history of Australia and its mammals. He is regularly on zoological fieldwork in Australia, mainly working on projects involving mammal ecology for NGOs, universities or government departments. He is currently (2022-23) an Art Fund Headley Fellow, researching the colonial history of the Australian mammal collections in Cambridge.

He is a trustee of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA), an Honorary Research Fellow in UCL Science and Technology Studies, and author of "Animal Kingdom: A History in 100 Objects".

For many years he was the Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL.

Experience

  • –present
    Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL, University College London