A New Zealand researcher is joining us on a four-year professorship to study the bioethics of the use, curation, and repatriation of anatomical skeletal collections
Professor Siân Halcrow, of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago, has been awarded a British Academy Global Professorship to conduct the research.
She is the first New Zealander to receive the professorship which is funded by the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for established researchers to undertake high-risk, curiosity-driven research at a UK institution.
Professor Halcrow will start her professorship with us in October 2025.
She has a long-standing research relationship with Durham, with both universities part of the Matariki Network.
Professor Halcrow has previously worked with Professor Rebecca Gowland of our Archaeology department - who is a collaborator on this project - and is a recipient of our Senior Research Fellowship.
During her time with us, Professor Halcrow intends to develop the first socially informed practice and policy guidelines for historical anatomical skeletal collections.
These collections, held in British museums and universities, are primarily used for education and research.
The outcomes of Professor Halcrow’s work will be relevant both to Britain and globally.
She said: “It is a sensitive and challenging area, and just how human remains have been acquired in the past is controversial, many of them are literally skeletons in the closet.
“Collections are largely made up of the marginalised in society – the poor and working class, women, children, the enslaved and those under colonial rule.
“Along with establishing who these remains were, and how they were acquired, I’ll be looking at how they have been used over time.
“This could be in terms of teaching, curation, display, education and outreach, and the policies, protocols and ethical considerations associated with that.”
Through a Fulbright Award in 2023, Professor Halcrow has already investigated the curation and use of anatomical human skeletal remains in universities and museums in the USA.
She also recently studied the historical human skeletal collections held within Otago’s W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum – the largest human anatomical collection in the Southern Hemisphere.
Professor Halcrow will be a fantastic addition to our department and we're all really excited to welcome her to Durham.
Main image shows Professor Siân Halcrow. Image credit: Edith Leigh Photography
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