Dr JC Niala, Deputy Director & Head of Research Teaching and Collections

My work at the History of Science Museum is an amalgamation of my passion for exploring global histories, science, and the impact of museology.

Research summary

JD Niala Head of Research, Teaching & Collections

My research is centred on the social and cultural histories of science, with a particular focus on how knowledge is created, transmitted, and experienced across different communities and contexts. I work at the intersection of history, heritage, and contemporary practice, often using interdisciplinary and creative methods to explore how we understand the past and engage with it today.

One strand of my research explores the environmental and cultural history of agriculture, particularly through the AHRC-funded project Milking It, which examines the complex relationships between people, land, and livestock.

A second strand investigates the role of science in colonial contexts: through the UKRI-AHRC-funded project Colonial Standards I study mathematical practices and instrument collections in India and the UK from the 9th to the 19th centuries, focusing on how they became mechanisms of control as well as creativity.

A third strand centres on poetry, heritage and community: through collaborations with English Heritage, TORCH, and The English Faculty at University of Oxford, I investigate how poetry can reveal hidden histories of historic places and act as a powerful tool for public participation, belonging, and reinterpretation.

Together, these projects reflect my broader interest in how research can connect with contemporary communities to generate new ways of seeing both past and present.

CV

JC Niala became Head of Research, Teaching and Collections at the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, in 2022. She is also an Official Fellow of Reuben College.

She previously worked at the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London, and most recently at Cambridge University Libraries as inaugural Head of World Collections.

JC studied Social Anthropology at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, completing her doctorate at St Catherine’s College. Her project 1918 Allotment was awarded the Social History Society Prize for Public History in 2022.

Her research and practice combine history, anthropology and public engagement, with a particular focus on collaborative approaches to collections, heritage and imagination.