‘It could be the death of the museum’: why research cuts at a South Australian institution have scientists up in arms

<https://theconversation.com/it-could-be-the-death-of-the-museum-why-research-cuts-at-a-south-australian-institution-have-scientists-up-in-arms-228193>

"In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of
rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the
reins last June, declared the museum is “not a university”, and will gut its
research capabilities, starting this July.

In Australia and abroad, hundreds of scientists and friends of the museum have
expressed their horror at the proposal, to the media, in letters to the state
government, and in interviews with the author.

“It could be the death of the museum,” says renowned mammalogist Tim Flannery,
a former director of the museum.

Palaeontologist Mary Droser of the University of California, Riverside, spent
two decades working on the museum’s collection of half-billion-year-old
Ediacaran fossils. “To say research isn’t important to what a museum does –
it’s sending shock waves across the world,” she says.

Critics say the changes will make the museum “more of a theme park”, and make
South Australia “the laughing stock of the scientific world”."

What a terrible idea.

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics