Historical anatomical skeletal collections held across Britain will be investigated by a University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka academic, thanks to a more than NZ$2 million professorship.
Professor Siân Halcrow, of the Department of Anatomy, is the first New Zealander to receive a British Academy Global Professorship, which will enable her to spend four years researching at England’s Durham University.
The Professorships, funded by the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, are an opportunity for established researchers to undertake high-risk, curiosity-driven research at a UK research institution.
Professor Halcrow was “stunned” to receive one.
“It felt like such a long shot applying, especially as there are only eight awarded per annum for the scheme with over 1,000 applicants from all over the world. It is extra special as it is the first time this has been awarded to someone from New Zealand,” she says.
She will spend the time researching the bioethics of the use, curation, and repatriation of anatomical skeletal collections – which are primarily used for education and research – held in British museums and universities.
“It is a sensitive and challenging area, and just how human remains have been acquired in the past is controversial, many of them are literally skeletons in the closet. Collections are largely made up of the marginalised in society – the poor and working class, women, children, the enslaved and those under colonial rule.
“Along with establishing who these remains were, and how they were acquired, I’ll be looking at how they have been used over time in terms of teaching, curation, display, education and outreach, and the policies, protocols and ethical considerations associated with that,” she says.
Professor Halcrow intends to develop the first socially informed practice and policy guidelines for anatomical skeletal collections, which would be relevant to Britain and globally.
“These would revolutionise how institutions handle human remains, leading to more respectful and equitable practices,” she says.
Professor Halcrow will start her professorship in October and will be based at Durham for four years. However, she will be travelling back to New Zealand regularly for continuing work on her Marsden project looking at this same topic from a New Zealand perspective.
Professor Halcrow has a long-standing research relationship with Durham, with both universities part of the Matariki Network. She has worked with Professor Rebecca Gowland, who is a collaborator on this project, previously, and been a recipient of a University of Durham Senior Research Fellowship.
Through a Fulbright Award in 2023, Professor Halcrow has also investigated the curation and use of anatomical human skeletal remains in universities and museums in the US.
She also recently studied the historical human skeletal collections held within Otago’s W.D. Trotter Anatomy Museum – the largest human anatomical collection in the Southern Hemisphere.
“The founding of the Medical School and museum has close ties with Britain, with the professors of anatomy being trained in Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
“We found evidence of the commodification and dehumanising of bodies sold from India, along with others purchased from unknown sources overseas, or from marginalised local women.
“This made me want to extend investigations to Britain, to tackle the intersecting colonial legacies in skeletal acquisition and curation in Britain and its colonies.”