David Craven

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT DAVID CRAVEN

Following a degree in geology at The University of Liverpool I went home to York and worked a range of visitor service roles at the Yorkshire Museum. In this time I also worked on exhibitions, including the BBC Walking with Dinosaurs show. We did some great field collecting, and also made a documentary called Raising the Sea Dragon for BBC Knowledge (the fore-runner of BBC4). Moved to Bolton in 2003 to catalogue the geology collection, which I finished and also did the skeletal collection and the spirit collection. I contributed to numerous exhibitions, as well as leading on Made in Africa, which displayed three hand-axes from Olduvai, and Simple Beginnings, a major exhibition about evolution. In 2009 I started a regional role with Renaissance looking at natural science collections in the region. This has lead to my work on the New Light on Old Bones project, on the Curiosities campaign, and an increasing interest in blogging, twitter, and other forms of social media. With the abolition of MLA in 2011/12, my role moved to the new ACE-funded Museum Development North West, with an increasing focus on sustainability, and on workforce development. I also lead on several collections-based projects. I left my role with MDNW in November 2013, moving to the National STEM Learning Centre in York. At first I worked on project managing two regional networks, and then I moved into a project coordination role, overseeing recognition and reward schemes, as well as working on commercial projects and bid-writing. Since February 2018 I have been with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. I manage a team that look after our reserves across the Vale of York, the East Riding, Hull and The Humber. I also represent the Trust on a wide range of stakeholder groups and work with my team to manage land for others and influence the use of land across our region. I’m also a board member of Humber Nature Partnership. I am an experienced public speaker and have presented to all types of audience both formally and informally. In my personal time I’m on the board of York City Supporters Trust. Specialties: Natural Sciences, public engagement, exhibitions, project management, developing policies and procedures, collections management, staff development, science, social media, health and wellbeing, history, art, and how history, art, and natural sciences link.