New Museums Victoria Research Institute Gallery to open at Melbourne Museum
Permanent exhibition to showcase the vital and ground-breaking work of museum-based research to open next month
For over 165 years, Museums Victoria’s research staff have drawn on the museum’s collections to answer questions about our changing world. Today Museums Victoria announces it will open a permanent exhibition space focusing on the pivotal work of its Research Institute from Saturday 11 March 2023.
The purpose-designed Research Institute Gallery will open with an exhibition of key research projects from the biological and geological sciences.
Museums Victoria Research Institute projects featured in the launch exhibition include, deep ocean research revealing new species and landscapes; Melbourne bayside fossils crucial in understanding past ecosystems; freshwater invertebrates and their role in the food chain of the platypus; Thylacine genome research using museum specimens; research supporting conservation of native lizards and protection of endangered mammals; and a showcase celebrating native mammals, birds and reptiles from the museum’s collection. The gallery exhibits will include specimens on show to the public for the very first time.
Museums Victoria Research Institute Director, Dr Nurin Veis said the new gallery will provide museum visitors with an insight into the diverse and innovative projects facilitated by the museum’s Research Institute.
“We are thrilled to open an exhibition that gives a snapshot of our Research Institute staff's expertise and some of their current projects. Through collection objects, film, photographs and interviews, visitors will be given an insight into the vital and exciting research that happens behind-the-scenes at Museums Victoria,” she said.
“The Research Institute Gallery provides a contemporary and welcoming space for visitors to explore the work of our palaeontologists, marine biologists, taxonomists and mineralogists, and other Institute staff. This brand-new exhibition will provide museum visitors with an opportunity to explore the big ideas and challenges of our time through the lens of natural science research.”
Future exhibits to be housed in the gallery will span other Research Institute disciplines including history, technology and First Peoples knowledge, with Victorian-centred research at its core.
Research Institute Gallery
Opening: Saturday 11 March 2023
Tickets: Entry is available with general admission ticket - available at Melbourne Museum and online via Museums Victoria website
For further information visit the Melbourne Museum website
