The Museum Council hosted a symposium on museum research at the National Museum on November 6th.
Attention was focused on the role of research in museum work and on the role of museums in promoting understanding of the development and status of culture, art, nature and science through their research and dissemination.
The characteristics of museum research and the academic community's expectations of museums as research institutions were examined.
Olof Gerdur Sigfusdottir, PhD student in Museology at the University of Iceland and Director of Research Services at the University of Iceland: Museums as knowledge centers: a survey of the scope and organization of research in Icelandic museum work. Report of the Museum Council presented. The report can be accessed here.
Sophie Brown expert from the Danish Agency for Culture in Copenhagen: On the status of research in museums in Denmark
Sigurdur Gylfi Magnusson Associate Professor of Cultural History at the School of Humanities, University of Iceland, based at the National Museum: Time and passion – concepts in university and museum research
Orri Vesteinsson Professor of Archaeology at the University of Iceland: Archaeological research and museums
Lunch break
The value and role of research in museums:
oh Hilmar Malmquist, director of the Icelandic Museum of Natural History
oh Godny Zoega, Head of the Department of Archaeology, Skagfjorden Regional Museum
o Nathalie Jaqueminet, curator at the National Museum of Iceland
14:30 – 15:45: Collections and dissemination of research:
o Harpa Þórsdóttir, director of the Icelandic Design Museum
o Katrín Gunnarsóttir, Hafnarfjörður Regional Museum
· Discussion and summary
Moderator: Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson