Emily Brown

Emily Brown

Assistant Curator of Earth Systems

Specific responsibility: Providing curatorial support across Earth Systems. Working particularly with the gemstone collection and provenance research for the non-Scottish mineral collection.

Research interests: Gemmology, Scottish Minerals; Promotion and preservation of Scotland’s geological heritage; Collections care; Science communication.

E: e.brown@nms.ac.uk

Emily Brown is the Assistant Curator of Earth Systems.

Emily studied for an MGeol at the University of St Andrews, graduating in 2018. Her dissertation investigated the novel use of copper stable isotopes as a tracer of granite petrogenesis. During her time at St Andrews, Emily completed a curatorial internship with the Museum of the University of St Andrews (MUSA now the Wardlaw Museum) where she helped curate and catalogue their mineral collection. She also worked with MUSA’s Learning and Access team to develop and deliver geology-focused family events. After graduation, Emily briefly worked in the STAiG geochemistry labs at the University of St Andrews before taking up the post of Assistant Curator of Earth Systems at National Museums Scotland in 2019.

Emily is responsible for the day-to-day care and curation of the Earth Systems collection, which includes over 70,000 rock and mineral specimens. She also assists with accessioning new donations, enquiries, research loans, tours and hosting visitors and volunteers. While her interests are broad, Emily is particularly keen on the gemstone collection and is working towards her Diploma of Gemmology with the Gemmological Association of Great Britain.

During her time in post, Emily has developed a love of the Scottish Agate collection, which she shares through her @ScottishAgates twitter account. She also shares other snippets of the Earth Systems collections through the departmental @NatSciNMS twitter account, the National Museums Scotland blog, and her personal social media channels. Emily is a Trustee and Secretary of the Scottish Geology Trust, where she works on projects to promote and protect Scotland’s internationally important geological heritage. As part of this she is heavily involved in the organisation and delivery of the Scottish Geology Festival, a month-long celebration of Scotland’s Geology