Senior Digitiser for the Danish System of Scientific Collections (DaSSCo)

The Natural History Museum of Denmark (NHMD), Faculty of SCIENCE, University of Copenhagen is leading a multi-institutional project to digitize all Danish natural history collections and is looking for a fixed-term Senior Digitiser to work with us. The position is available from 1 May 2024 to 31 August 2026.

About us
The Natural History Museum of Denmark is the national museum for nature, and contains more than 14 million objects of preserved animals, plants, fossils and minerals. Natural history museums have never been more important for monitoring the impact of climate change and the direct human threat to plant and animal life.

DaSSCo, Danish System of Scientific Collections is a five-year project financed by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The Natural History Museum of Denmark is leading the project that also involves a series of other Danish institutions; the Herbarium (the Science Museums, Aarhus University), the Natural History Museum in Aarhus and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The aim of DaSSCo is to digitise the approximately 19 million natural history objects stored at the combined collections. Through digitisation of our collections, we will make information presently only accessible on site in natural history collections available to everyone around the world: for researchers, educators, conservation programmes, nature management, businesses, the general public, and many others. Given the size of the collections, the task cannot be finished in five years and the project is expected to run for longer. The data produced by DaSSCo will be integrated in the Pan-European DiSSCo initiative (https://www.dissco.eu/ ) of which the Natural History Museum of Denmark is a founding member. DiSSCo involves 120 institutions in 21 countries, ultimately giving the public access to 1,500,000,000 records.

The Natural History Museum of Denmark offers a friendly and thriving international research and work environment. Copenhagen is one of the top-ten livable cities in the world, famous for its cultural life, green spaces, food, and sustainable ambitions (https://www.visitcopenhagen.com ).

Main tasks and responsibilities
Senior Digitisers are front-line staff who are pivotal in realizing the dream of making millions of Danish specimens digitally available to a global audience. They will work on a number of digitisation pipelines which are optimized to the type of specimen, helping develop these pipelines through a close working relationship with the Technical Team Leader. They will:

Spend 50% of their time digitising specimens:

• Handle a wide range of types of natural history specimens, including sheets of pressed plants and dried insects on pins
• Prepare collections for digitising e.g., through labelling, mounting, organising and moving them
• Load and unload specimens and associated labels onto automated digitisation pipelines (e.g., imaging conveyor belts)
• Use a variety of techniques, equipment and software (e.g., DSLR cameras, CT scanning equipment, barcode scanners) to image specimens and capture specimen data, depending on specimen type and workflow
• Interpret and transcribe information into spreadsheets and bespoke software
• Follow detailed workflows, ensuring safety of themselves and others and minimising risk and damage to specimens and equipment
• Monitor and record progress and contribute to improving efficiencies in workflows
• Work as a team to optimise output and meet targets

Spend around 40% supporting the Technical Team Leader:

• Test and refine existing workflows and/or workstations (including relevant documentation), suggesting solutions and innovations to optimise throughput whilst ensuring specimens/data are safe and digitisers are not overwhelmed
• Help develop new workflows and/or workstations based on existing requirements
• Actively seek solutions and investigate how other institutions have solved similar issues
• Present data and recommendations in a structured way
• Collect, manipulate and analyse data (such as statistics) and summaries in written report form
• Work with a variety of internal and external staff, acting as an advocate for digitisation and helping ensure a positive, supportive and productive work environment
• Help promote digitisation activities to external stakeholders

Senior Digitisers will be part of a new digitisation section, which is in turn part of the Collections division (https://snm.ku.dk/english/organization/ ). The Collections division consists of two collection management sections, a conservation unit, a Botanical Garden, and the new Digital Collections section. You will interact with colleagues across the museum, including curators, collection managers, public engagement and administrative staff.  

Qualifications, skills and experience
We are looking for practical individuals who have a talent for identifying issues and finding and communicating solutions. They will be team players who are equally as happy contributing to the digitization of specimens, working quickly and efficiently to meet targets, whilst mentoring others as they are assisting the Technical Team Leader develop new and existing digitization activities. Individuals should have a high degree of competence in dealing with data. We are particularly interested in strong team players who constantly seek to improve their own performance and that of their team.

We expect the following qualifications, skills and experience which should be clearly demonstrated via examples in a cover letter:

• Academic degree in a relevant subject or extensive relevant experience
• Ability to follow complex instructions and detailed workflows and to identify ways to help revise and improve them
• Ability to work quickly and to a high standard whilst performing repetitive tasks
• Excellent attention to detail
• Excellent IT skills, including experience working with spreadsheets and databases and a demonstrated ability to adapt to new software
• Experience of working with museum specimens and/or in specimen digitization would be advantageous
• Technical expertise and experience relevant to museum digitisation
• Knowledge of, and experience of dealing with, natural history data such as the classification of organisms
• Proven ability to handle and manipulate a wide variety of objects including heavy, unwieldy and extremely fragile objects safely and with minimum risk or damage to the objects or others
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, but equally able to work on own with little supervision
• Confidence to use and operate a variety of equipment following training such as trolley lifts
• High level competence in English (written and spoken) and ideally in Danish as well
• Excellent communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to solve problems and suggest practical solutions in a fast-paced environment
• Willingness and ability to provide support and guidance to others
• Highly organized
• Ability and willingness to promote the project via official social media channels

Terms of salary and employment
The employment and salary is made in accordance with the Circular on the Collective Agreement concerning academics in the state sector concluded between the Ministry of Taxation and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations).

The working time is 37 hours per week on average, although part-time will be considered.

Your application
If you find the job interesting, please send an electronic application with attachment via Jobportalen (click on the link "Apply Now" at the bottom of the post) no later than 31 March 2024.

Interviews will take place week commencing 22 April 2024.

The University of Copenhagen seeks to reflect society and encourages applications irrespective of personal background.

Further questions
Any questions about the position may be directed Pip Brewer ([email protected] ) and Kim Steenstrup Pedersen ([email protected] ).

The Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen – or SCIENCE – is Denmark's largest science research and education institution with 4,000 employees and 9,700 Bachelor and Master's students in 11 departments and one museum. The Faculty has an annual budget of DKK 3 billion.

Learn more about The Faculty of Science at www.science.ku.dk

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.