I am a curator, writer and editor with 25 years’ experience creating interpretation for museums, galleries and historic sites in Britain and Ireland. My clients include national, regional and local museums and cultural institutions as well as exhibition designers. My work includes planning interpretation as well as researching, writing & editing exhibition text, sourcing images and artefacts and oral history interviewing. 

Skills

• Skilled and experienced writer and editor of text for graphics, AV and websites.
• Creative in the development of exhibition themes and narratives and in using text, images, film and artefacts to support these narratives to engage different audiences.
• Experienced in the interpretation of complex, difficult and sensitive histories.
• A very broad knowledge base gained from interpreting many different aspects of history and pre-history enables me to make creative and unexpected connections.
• Able to work closely with 2-D, 3-D, interactive and AV designers to produce a multi-layered and coherent visitor experience.
• Used to working with multiple, complex stakeholder groups, facilitating debate and supporting the generation of consensus to ensure effective development and sign-off.

Selected Projects and Clients

Imperial War Museums - interviewer Voices of Service project with British veterans of Afghanistan conflict (current); curator of exhibitions including Churchill Museum (2005), War to Windrush (2008), Syria (2017); editor First World War Galleries (2014)

V&A Dundee – text consultant for exhibitions Garden Futures (current), Photo City (2024), Tartan (2023)

Royal Museums Greenwich – interpretation consultant for First Light project at Royal Observatory (2023); research and content development for temporary exhibitions including Samuel Pepys (2014), Tudor & Stuart Seafarers and Polar Worlds (2018)

Chelsea Physic Garden, London - editing and script writing for revamp of interpretation across the Garden (current); exhibition text scriptwriter for NLHF-funded re-interpretation of historic glasshouses and their plants (2022)

Titanic Belfast (2010-12) – developed all the content for this landmark exhibition

V&A; Hunterian Museum; London Transport Museum; Wellcome Collection; Somerset House; UCL: research, scriptwriting & editing for all these institutions in the last 25 years

Volunteer Roles

Trustee, Maritime Belfast Trust preserving and promoting Belfast’s maritime heritage

Co-founder West Cork History Festival www.westcorkhistoryfestival.org

Education

1993-1996 New Hall, University of Cambridge, BA (Hons) in History

Download CV in PDF