Visiting Scholar is an honorary position. Scholars from around the world are welcome to apply and receive privileged access to the ZSL Library & Archives for a period of time, providing an opportunity to study rare or unique items in the collections.
ZSL Library holds many historic and fine books relating to all types of animals, their biology, conservation and discovery. ZSL Library also contains photographs of animals dating back to the 1860s, many watercolours and prints as well as the Archives of ZSL.
Visiting Scholars have studied the handwritten travel journals of William Baird; the provenance and history of ZSL’s volume of Mark Catesby’s The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, 1731-43; Brian Houghton Hodgson’s drawings of Indian birds.
Our Visiting Scholars past & present
Simon Pooley is our current Visiting Scholar, he works at Birkbeck College where he is Lambert Lecturer in Environment (Applied Herpetology). He is researching in ZSL Library & Archives to uncover our 'hidden histories'.
Miles Kempton is a recent Visiting Scholar, he was a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. He is used ZSL Library & Archives to research ZSL London Zoo and natural history TV in the 1950s and 1960s. Miles has blogged for us about his research including "Congo and the biology of art" ; "How ZSL entered the competitive age of broadcasting Part 1 and Part 2"
Dan Phillips is also a recent Visiting Scholars, he carried out research for a PhD at Exeter University using our collections to look at ZSL's imperial networking 1847-1903. Dan has blogged about Hamet who accompanied Obaysch, the hippopotamus from Egypt to London Zoo.
David A. Lowther, was a Visiting Scholar when he was a PhD student at the University of Newcastle, he subsequently moved to the University of Durham. He used ZSL Library & Archives to assist in his research into the development of zoology in Britain c.1820-1850. He blogged for us about "Hodgson and 'The Zoology of Nipal'"
Application information
If you would like to be considered for the honorary position of ZSL Visiting Library Scholar, please submit a Curriculum vitae, with appropriate references, outlining your planned research topic and length of proposed stay.
Please note our Library & Archives well-used and hence applying some time in advance of your visit is recommended.
This is an honorary post only and no remuneration is payable.
For further background information about ZSL and to make an application for the position of visiting scholar in the library please contact library@zsl.org or write to:
Ann Sylph
Librarian
The Zoological Society of London
Regents Park
London
NW1 4RY
Contact us for more information or to submit your application