Student Collections Assistant, Paleobiology

Selection process number: 2090-CMN-26-OC-059
16 weeks, January to April, 2027
37.5 hours per week
1 position
September 27th, 2026

Canada Museum of Nature, 1740 Pink Road, Gatineau

Selection process number: 2090-CMN-26-OC-059

The natural history collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) comprise millions of plant and animal specimens emphasizing Canadian wild species. This includes many historical and significant specimens from all provinces and territories. The Museum serves the research and education needs of a broad community by building, preserving, upgrading, and facilitating access to the collection, providing staff with exciting opportunities to play a role in current natural history research and collection management.

The CMN has received funding from the Leacross Foundation to provide one student in STEM who identifies as female an opportunity to obtain high-quality professional experience in natural history collections management and collection-based research. As part of the Museum’s scientific training program, this student will advance specific projects while working alongside colleagues, at all career stages, who are engaged in diverse nature research and who help build, preserve and share natural science collections.

This placement offers great potential to fuel curiosity and to provide insights into biodiversity-related careers. It also presents unique chances to experience a multi-faceted national museum ‘from the inside’, and to interact with its broader community of partners and guests. Under the supervision of experienced CMN staff, the successful candidate will acquire knowledge and skills transferable to many other natural history projects.

The Palaeobiology section at the CMN performs research in the systematics and evolution of dinosaurs and other archosaurs, fish, and mammals, among other groups. The collections include over 140,000 specimens ranging from plants and invertebrates such as trilobites to impressive horned dinosaurs from Alberta.

The student in this role will:

• Learn about best practices for collection organization, preservation and documentation;
• Inventory/organize, prepare, and/or label collection specimens;
• Participate in collection development (i.e., acquisitions) and care, and help to connect the collection with various research and education communities
• Work directly with Palaeobiology collections staff to advance specific projects (integration of new cabinets and associated reorganization of the fossil collections, final processing of large assemblage of Canadian fossil fish recently received from a German museum)
• Coordinate organizational improvement of important field collections with research staff
• Perform other tasks as needed.

Your place at the Museum

We value diversity and believe we benefit from working in a place where everyone feels included and where the unique qualities and strengths inherent in a diverse workforce are combined. We welcome applications from persons who may identify as a member of one or more other equity seeking groups (for e.g. visible minorities, disabled, 2

SLGBTQIA+, religious or cultural minority).

You have a place at the Museum!

Don’t forget to self-declare

This recruitment process is open only to female/women students
. It is therefore important that you identify yourself as a woman in your cover letter and in the “Self-Declaration for Employment Equity Groups Members” section when applying for this recruitment process via our career page, as mentioned below, so that your application can be considered.

In addition, if your application is successful, you will be asked to complete the self-identification form during this recruitment process in order to be eligible for a job offer.

QUALIFICATIONS:

The candidates…