Lifting Your Head Out of The Microscope
Kaspar Garnham, January 2025
Kaspar is a PhD student at Newcastle University in the School of Biosciences, on placement at Great North Museum: Hancock. This placement is a 3 month position incorporated into doctoral training, to gain experience and skills that would not be provided in an academic research lab.
As far back as I could remember, I’ve had two loves: science and art. And why not? Both share similarities such as creativity, imagination and observation, and each complements the other, so when I had the opportunity to undergo a professional internship placement (PIP) as part of my science-based PhD program, I jumped at the opportunity to turn my hand to event organising at the GNM: Hancock.
Traditionally, PhD students in the same science program undertake their 3-month placement in commercial labs or other science-based positions, to learn skills and techniques that the PhD program may fail to provide. In my usual, untraditional fashion, I decided to get back to my creative roots, and gain insight into what it took to organising a successful event, that would help connect members of the public to some of the research that is being carried out at Newcastle University.
During my 3-month placement at the museum, I worked alongside Ruth Sheldon (the event coordinator at the GNM: Hancock) on a series of projects at the museum, with the penultimate project being the planning and organisation of the Great North Night: Winter Wonder(Land) event on the 6th December. My first project was designing the ‘Make Your Own Mitochondria’ activities and posters for October half-term. I helped with activities during the half-term days including pipe cleaner pumpkins and spiders. All while observing the learning team, trying out front-of-house, seeing the museum library and stores, and contacting potential researchers who would be suitable for the Great North Night.
The Great North Night itself was a fantastic way to end 2024 and my placement. I got to see how months of co-ordinating had accumulated into this event, from designing the leaflets and drinks tokens, to planning how best to position the exhibitors around the museum so that the event flowed well with the museum. The best part was seeing visitors enjoy the event that I had worked hard to help coordinate.
What I’ve learned from this placement has not been scientific, and though the PhD skills, such as organisation and time-keeping has helped, the placement at the museum has provided me with so many more skills and insight than I had initially presumed before taking on the placement. It has reignited my creativity, given me a look into the complexities of how the museum functions and shown me that working alone may get you to your goal faster, but networking and working with others on a project is a much more rewarding experience when you overcome challenges together to see the final result. Lastly, it has reminded me that though my PhD project can be isolating and narrowly focussed, I need to lift my head out of the microscope every once in a while and tap into my creative side to see the challenges I face from a different perspective.
A message I would like to pass forward is that I would highly recommend volunteering with the museum. You will gain so much more in return and potentially see old challenges from an alternative point-of-view from the skills and friends you make along the way.
