Mathew Lowe - Collections Manager

As the Collections Manager for the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, I am responsible for the day-to-day management of the Museum’s collections and the development of our computerised documentation systems to recognised professional standards.  

I also coordinate and support research enquiries and visits, administer the specimen loans service and support specimen-based teaching within the Department of Zoology.

I had a fascination with collecting fossils from a very early age and, thanks to a fantastic geology teacher at secondary school, I pursued the subject at the University of Liverpool. At Liverpool I specialised in dinosaur trackway analysis with Dr. Phil Manning and gained a first class MESci.

After graduating in 2002 I worked as a geotechnical engineer before gaining a position at Manchester Museum as a natural history assistant - documenting specimens from the zoological, entomological, palaeontological and botanical collections.

In 2005 I was fortunate enough to gain a position at the Sedgwick Museum as a Palaeontological Assistant and by 2007 I had moved across Downing Street to become the Collections Manager for UMZC. Between 2012 and 2018 I was heavily involved in the Heritage Lottery Funded redevelopment of the Museum, especially the packing and moving of over 2 million specimens to new purpose built stores.

I am a member of Natural Sciences Collections Association and in 2018 was nominated and elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society.