Dr Jenny Newell has been working at the Australian Museum since 2016 and was appointed as curator for climate change when its new Climate Solutions Centre (CSC) launched in 2022.
Newell is a curator, researcher and writer specialising in the cultural aspects of climate change, particularly in communities in Australia and the Pacific. Her work strives to increase engagement in environmental stewardship through the use of museums.
The CSC is the first centre of its kind in the Australian museums sector and aims to enhance public engagement with climate change by leveraging cutting-edge research and expert insights. To this end, it delivers exhibitions, touring exhibitions, events, workshops, digital resources and school programmes.
Recent highlights from its programme include the Future Now exhibition, which presents inspiring ideas for sustainable living, and the exhibition Spark: Australian Innovations Tackling Climate Change, which looks at technologies and approaches offering positive solutions to the climate crisis that are being developed in Australia.
Newell has a background in environmental history and has worked with Pacific communities and collections at the British Museum, National Museum of Australia, American Museum of Natural History (New York), and Australian Museum to amplify ideas around climate change for a wide range of audiences.
In addition, she is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Working Group for Sustainability. This considers how ICOM can mainstream Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement across its varied activities, and assist its members and member museums in making positive contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals as well as to climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Newell also convenes the Museums & Climate Change Network, an international group sharing ideas and inspiration for conducting effective outreach, telling captivating stories, and promoting an understanding of the concerns of global environmental change.
She co-edited Curating the Future: Museums, Communities and Climate Change (Routledge) and Living with the Anthropocene: Love, Loss & Hope in the Face of Environmental Crisis (NewSouth, 2020). Newell holds a PhD in History from The Australian National University.