Vicky Ward
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curateuol.bsky.social
Vicky Ward
@curateuol.bsky.social
140 followers 58 following 82 posts
Curator of Geology for SGGE University of Leicester.
Live. Love. Laugh. Crochet. Cats. Gin. Shiny.
All views expressed my own
(She/her/hers)
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Vicky Ward
nhm-london.bsky.social
SOS - Save our seaweeds!

Rising temperatures and disease are threatening seaweeds all over the world. Despite their importance, protected areas often overlook these vital ecosystems.

A new project aims to change this with the help of seaweed farmers. Find out how 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Vital seaweed habitats aren’t being protected by ocean reserves | Natural History Museum
Some of the ocean’s most important habitats aren’t included in protected areas.
www.nhm.ac.uk
December 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
stevecooke.org
One weird thing about working in a university is that a bunch of people who don’t teach, & don’t understand your subject area, have strong opinions about what & how you should teach, how you should assess, & the value of your courses. Same deal your research. Those people are in charge.
November 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem is? Hint: in the past gems of this mineral were called rubies, though now the term refers to corundum. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
A pink oval cabochons mounted on a metal rod on a grey shelf with a grey background. There are some fractures in it. At the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
curateuol.bsky.social
More home comforts in Bennett's Underpants 😅🤣
November 26, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
margymaclibrary.bsky.social
Have been following this blog from the Natural Sciences Collections Association for a while now… always intriguing…

natsca.blog/2024/11/28/a...
Addressing Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change Together: A Great Opportunity for Museums with Natural History Collections
Written by Henry McGhie, Curating Tomorrow, [email protected] This year has seen not one but two ‘COPs’ (Conference of the Parties), the big meetings where governments monitor thei…
natsca.blog
November 28, 2024 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
originalgcg.bsky.social
There’s still time to register for the 2025 Winter Seminar and Annual General Meeting of the Geological Collections Group, taking place this December at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery!

🚨Registration closes December 1st - don’t miss out!🚨
November 17, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
originalgcg.bsky.social
In our most recent blog post, Harry Jones, GCG assistant blog editor and palaeontological researcher, reflects on how working with museum collections has shaped his career 🦖

Give it a read here: geocollnews.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/f...
Fun with Fossils: Using Museum Collections in the 21st Century
Posted on by geocurators Written by Harry T. Jones, who is a GCG assistant blog editor and palaeontological researcher. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you have …
geocollnews.wordpress.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:44 AM
curateuol.bsky.social
Latest whiteboard challenge in Bennett's Underpants 🤣
@LeicesterGeog
@GeologyLeics
November 20, 2025 at 3:35 PM
curateuol.bsky.social
c.org/tKD9mRvRdP

Please sign 🙏🏻
To "dissolve" us is criminal
Sign the Petition
Save Geography at the University of Leicester
c.org
November 12, 2025 at 10:29 PM
curateuol.bsky.social
I've been ordered to go and spend time with my favourite rocks, to help soothe my soul
So, I'm in stores with my gabbros 😍😆❤️ @GeologyLeics @LeicesterGeog
November 7, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
skyemcdavid.com
An interesting quirk of today's taxonomic revision is that one jacket from the Jane Quarry, long assumed to contain specimens of famous species, actually contained what would become two holotypes of two distinct species — Infernodrakon hastacollis and Nanotyrannus lethaeus
"Jane" mount in the Burpee Museum Reconstructed Azhdarchid skeleton in the Burpee Museum - mostly based on "Quetzalcoatlus" lawsoni but intended to represent Infernodrakon hastacollis Selfie of me in front of Jane the Nanotyrannus lethaeus
October 30, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
hypocentre.bsky.social
I note that the university cut-backs haven’t yet extended as far as leaf-blowers 🍃 🍂
November 4, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
natsca.bsky.social
How to Get a Job Working with Museum Collections

Written by Sarah Burhouse, Caitlin Jamison, Bethany Palumbo & Vicky Ward. Compiled by Jennifer Gallichan, Vertebrate Curator, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Those of us that that are lucky enough to work with natural science collections will be…
How to Get a Job Working with Museum Collections
Written by Sarah Burhouse, Caitlin Jamison, Bethany Palumbo & Vicky Ward. Compiled by Jennifer Gallichan, Vertebrate Curator, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Those of us that that are lucky enough to work with natural science collections will be familiar with the question ‘How do you get a job in a museum’? At a time when cuts to the sector mean that museum jobs seem even fewer and farther between, I felt it was important that we share some of our combined experiences to hopefully give some tips (and hope) for emerging museum professionals.
natsca.blog
October 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
curateuol.bsky.social
Dinosaur cleaning, anyone?? 😆
October 13, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
hypocentre.bsky.social
The time to protect British science from the trashing that US science is currently succumbing to from an ultra-right-wing government is now.
chrischirp.bsky.social Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · Oct 9
🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
geooutreach.bsky.social
M6.6 earthquake, Papua New Guinea, at 11.05 UTC on 7 October 2025. Recorded in Nottingham using 'slinky' (top) and @LEGO_Group school seismometers
#earthquake ⚒️ #geology 🦕
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...
Two seismograms, both showing arrival of PKiKP-wave at about 11.24.09 UTC
October 7, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
katharinehayhoe.com
This week, we lost one of the world’s greatest advocates for people and nature. Even in her final days, Dr. Jane Goodall was urging us not to give up, and now her legacy lives on through the countless voices she inspired.

Read on Mailchimp: shorturl.at/lDxXk
Read on LinkedIn: shorturl.at/VOiPa
Jane Goodall's final lesson
Honoring Jane Goodall's life, Pope Leo's first climate address, and finding hope in action
www.talkingclimate.ca
October 6, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
tomsharperocks.bsky.social
In Edinburgh yesterday I took the opportunity to check out the fence which has closed off the Radical Road along Salisbury Craigs on Arthur's Seat for the last 6 years. Good news is that access to the classic Hutton sites should be restored next year.

www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/new...
Photograph of a green fence and a sign indicating that a path, the Radical Road, is closed due to risk of rockfall.
October 7, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
hypocentre.bsky.social
P-waves from today’s (02:37:54UTC 2025/09/13) M7.4 near east coast of Kamchatka earthquake recorded on my @raspishake.bsky.social seismometer in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England. ⚒️🧪
Earthquake diagrams. Map of wavepath from source to receiver, seismogram of vertical component of ground motion velocity and spectrogram showing frequency content against time.
September 13, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
seis-uk.bsky.social
In 2017, our seismometers were deployed to the North Island of New Zealand for an active and passive source imaging experiment.

This was aimed at understanding the location and progression of relatively shallow slow-slip seismic events.

#SeismicSaturdays
September 13, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
frankiebutler.bsky.social
Seeing an outcrop IN PERSON after reading about it/ seeing photos is pretty awesome 🙌🏼

I’ve been focussed on this area as a case study for mixing and mingling textures since the start of my PhD …
SE Iceland 🇮🇸 🌋 is spectacular!

#LASI7 #IAVCEI
Frankie smiling in front of an outcrop in SE Iceland. She is wearing a green hat and bright red rain jacket. The rocks behind her show mixed and mingled textures, Dolerite in granophyre. Frankie standing in front of the outcrop wearing red jacket black trousers and balancing with her crutches. The outcrop is mingling and mixing textures of Dolerite and granophyre Frankie standing with the outcrop behind her and black volcanic sand surrounding her in a glacial outwash/ beach area.
September 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
tomsharperocks.bsky.social
#FossilFriday: an ichthyosaur from the Lias of Lyme Regis discovered in 1833, not by Mary Anning but by her Charmouth counterpart Jonas Wishcombe (c.1787–1859), purchased for one guinea and excavated by Somerset collector Thomas Hawkins who figured it in his large (and strange) 1834 and 1840 books.
19th century illustration of an ichthyosaur skeleton, with its head to the right, tail to the left and many displaced ribs.
September 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
tomsharperocks.bsky.social
#InternationalDogDay: #MaryAnning and her dog 'Tray' in the famous portrait of 1842. Tray was probably the replacement for the dog killed by a cliff fall in 1833. Its name is not recorded, but Mary sketched it in about 1826.
Portrait of Mary Anning, February 1842. She wears a green cloak and a straw bonnet tied with a red ribbon and holds a hammer and has a basket over her arm. At her feet is a small black and white dog. Detail of the black and white dog in the 1842 portrait of Mary Anning. Ink sketch by Mary Anning of her pet dog in about 1826, probably the dog killed by a rockfall in 1833.
August 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
spahn711.bsky.social
The latest eruption of Kilauea is underway, and she's shootin' sideways this time around!

USGS live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqmp...
August 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Vicky Ward
nhm-london.bsky.social
Time for a Good News Roundup from the Natural History Museum!

This time, we’re heading back over 66 million years for a #FossilFriday special! (1/5) 🧵
A photograph of the central entrance to the Natural History Museum, consisting of two large towers flanking a large archway, in the sunshine.
August 1, 2025 at 1:40 PM