Company: British Museum
Location: London
Posted: May 8th, 2026
Vacancy Type: Fixed Term Contract length 36 months. Is hybrid working available? Yes. If hybrid, how many days on site minimum? 3 days. Location: Bloomsbury, London (Hybrid). Salary: £36,396. Application Deadline: Wednesday, June 3, 2026. Job Profile document.
This is an exciting opportunity to join the British Museum as a Research Scientist, contributing to DYE-a-LOG, a major ERC-funded project re-examining the global history of early synthetic dyes. You will lead the scientific analysis of historic textiles from South and Southeast Asia and Latin America, using state-of-the-art LC-MS techniques to uncover how synthetic dyes transformed textile production, trade and colour cultures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Working within the Museum’s world-class Department of Scientific Research, you will collaborate closely with curators, historians and international partners, and play a key role in building a ground-breaking open-access molecular database of early synthetic dyes that will reshape research in heritage science and textile history.
We are looking for a motivated researcher with a PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science or a related field, and experience analysing organic materials – ideally dyes – using liquid chromatography‑mass spectrometry. You are confident working with complex datasets, enjoy interdisciplinary collaboration, and are keen to see scientific research inform wider historical and cultural understanding.
You communicate clearly, work well in international research teams, and are enthusiastic about producing high-quality publications while engaging audiences beyond academia. You are particularly drawn to research that connects science with global histories, sustainability and decolonisation.
The British Museum is undertaking its biggest transformation since its founding nearly 300 years ago. This physical and intellectual transformation includes large scale building and gallery transformation, new ways of connecting with audiences and different ways of working. As we look towards this exciting future, we remain guided by the words of our founder Hans Sloane - who dreamed of a museum connecting all arts and sciences, which would be accessible to everyone, everywhere.
At the British Museum, we believe our people are at the heart of everything we do and have designed a benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary. Our full list of benefits can be found here.
If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of to support you with your application, please provide details to bmrecruit@britishmuseum.org.
We may be able to provide visa sponsorship for this role, subject to meeting strict eligibility requirements. You can find out more about these here. You must have the full right to work for the duration of this contract to apply.
The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.
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