Dominick Verschelde

Gent University Museum, Belgium

ICOM No. 70330 (GUM)

Nominators: Andrew Simpson (Australia), Panu Nykänen (Finland)

Biographical note

Dominick Verschelde gives object-based practical courses and lessons to students. Writes out and supervises bachelor and masters dissertations on science communication and research on collection objects . He has given and promoted object-based teaching his whole career. He is convinced that the use of collection objects is not something of the past, but is very contemporary.

– 1997- present: curator/scientist of the Zoology Collections, Ghent University

– 2018-present: Sciences Research and Educations Coordinator of the Ghent University Museum, Ghent University

– 2000- present: UMAC member. He is a co-founder of UMAC: 1998, Paris conference on University Museums. Link to CV.

Qualifications for the position

As co-founder, I have been involved in UMAC from its early footsteps made in Paris (OECD Meeting) on the aspirations of Peter Stanbury, and have contributed actively in UMAC conferences on many occasions over the last 20 years. I have been the Zoology Collections Manager for over 25 years, and since five years I am also the Sciences Research and Educations Coordinator of the newly erected Ghent University Museum. For the first 20 years of my career I was responsible for the budget, and all budget affaires, of the, than called, Zoology Museum. After that, we established the Ghent University Museum, of which the Zoology Collections are now part off. I have always been convinced that however much we need to protect our collections and objects for future generations, they only have a reason of being when they are used in object-based teaching and learning, and for research. Objects shouldn’t be interred in cupboards, but should live to serve the public, students, and science.

Main goals of candidacy

My reasons and goals of my candidacy are twofold:

– I would like to play an active role in UMAC and its Board. I know that the Treasurer needs to work closely and regularly with the Chair and the board in the planning of and reporting about the budget towards UMAC and ICOM. As long standing and co-founding member of UMAC, I feel it is time to step up, and take this active role.

– Having implementing object-based teaching on-campus and online my whole career, and presently being a partner in an European Erasmus+ project on Teaching with Objects Online (six partners), I would very much like to go global and make this idea and exercise a worldwide topic through UMAC.