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University of Copenhagen
Independent of management
Theme
The Natural History Museum of Denmark had 452,000 visitors in 2022. This is a tripling of its visitor numbers over the course of five years. According to museum director Peter C. Kjærgaard, the boost in numbers is due to a transformation towards using the museum as a laboratory and in understanding how reality changes.
When others went to rock festivals, Emil Blicher Bjerregård went out into the wilderness hunting butterflies. Now his hobby, and his studies, have merged together. He hopes to reverse the imminent death of the Danish butterfly, but tells himself that there are also other things in life.
As the pandemic lays waste to large parts of university life, the aquariums are still humming at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. PhD student Anna Olesen keeps the algae collection alive - and almost scared the life out of a security guard.
Just before Christmas you could find a brief story at the bottom of a newsletter about the Natural History Museum of Denmark. The news item was a small, low key conclusion to a huge conflict at the University of Copenhagen.
Employees at the Department of Biology spent months battling a now-cancelled merger between the institute and the Natural History Museum of Denmark (SNM). Now, they have sent a joint letter to the board criticizing UCPH’s management for ignoring employee perspectives.
One of the world's largest collections of amber has just been acquired by the Natural History Museum of Denmark. This means possible discoveries of new species of insects and other biological materials.
Toasts, dinner and champagne could not suppress employees' frustrations when the Department of Biology held its New Year reception. Employees wanted clear answers from the department head.
After a month of uncertainty, it is now clear how many staff are to be fired at the natural history museum. Staff representatives express disappointment in their management. It has failed them, they say.
Due to major financial problems the Natural History Museum of Denmark is to be merged with the Department of Biology and faces a round of layoffs. Staff representatives criticise management for not taking timely precautions. According to the Dean at the Faculty of Science, John Renner Hansen, it is only now that they have got the full overview of how bad things were with finances.
They are beautiful and they are dazzling. But the butterflies are also important topics for research. The Botanical Gardens has set aside a whole new area for them.
