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The Natural History Museum (NHM) is a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre.

We use our unique collections and unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million specimens spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 17 million visits to our website. 

Our subject matter is planet earth and life on planet earth. Yet we know that life is under threat. Recent decades have seen a catastrophic acceleration in the rate of biodiversity loss. We appear to be heading for only the sixth mass extinction event in over 3 billion years of life on planet earth, and for the first time an extinction event caused by the activities of a single species: humanity. Our response has been to move from passive observers and chroniclers of the decline to active participants in the struggle to reverse biodiversity loss before it is too late. We also know that action, solutions and impact are best engendered from the basis of hope - that there is a future where both people and the planet thrive.

Against this backdrop, we set out our Vision and Strategy 2031 at the heart of which is the task of creating advocates for the planet: individuals who feel sufficiently informed, confident and motivated to make wise decisions, and to use their influence and actions to make a positive difference to our global future. Five strategic priorities will underly our activities:

securing the future of the collection
engaging and involving the widest possible audience
transforming the study of natural history
developing our gardens and galleries
creating a resilient and sustainable organisation

Following the pandemic, and with a new heightened awareness of the impact human behaviour has on the planet, the NHM has never been a more relevant and potentially influential organisation. It holds the power to inspire millions of people to care about the natural world and make the positive changes in their daily lives that will create a world in which both people and planet can thrive. 

The Museum has also secured investment from the UK Government to build a new science and digitisation centre at Thames Valley Science Park. The purpose-built centre will house much of the Museum's collection. The centre will include laboratories, digitisation suites, collaborative research spaces, computing labs, conservation labs and workspaces. It will help put the UK at the forefront of tackling global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, biodiversity loss and emerging diseases.

Moving the collection will free up space in our South Kensington buildings, allowing us to reopen major gallery spaces to the public and put more of our collection on display so we can transform the visitor experience. A major part of this job will be to raise funds to support this work.

Just less than 50% of the Museum’s funding comes from government grant-in-aid through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This funding is set for a number of years, and the Museum provides reports to DCMS on how it has met its agreed targets. The remainder of the funding for our core work comes from fundraising and the Museum's commercial activities, which are conducted through the Natural History Museum Trading Company. Further details can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts and our Strategy to 2031.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

We are ambitious. To make a difference on a global scale we are big and bold in our thinking and set goals which may seem impossibly high. We act with integrity, but we are not rigid or inflexible. We are excellent at what we do and look for opportunities to make a difference for the Museum wherever we can.

We are curious. We never stop learning. We look outwards beyond the Museum and ask questions to advance our understanding. We seek out and actively listen to different perspectives. We take time to reflect, are thoughtful and open to new ideas.

We share the wonder. We are captivated by the natural world, proud of our treasures and trusted guardians of our collections. We are passionate about the Museum, enjoy telling its stories and sharing our knowledge and expertise to inspire others. We don’t take this for granted; we feel proud to work here.

We are pioneering. We are not afraid to try something new and use good judgment and evidence to take risks. We experiment, innovate, and embrace complex problems by adapting our approach. We do not dwell on setbacks or get preoccupied with problems. We find solutions.

We team up. We respect the expertise of others and recognise that we produce the strongest outcomes when we put the best ideas together. We trust each other, keep things simple and make it easy for others to do the right thing. We share information and skills so everyone is equipped and enabled to succeed. We never let bad moments grow into bad relationships. We inspire and empower each other to give our best.

We act with pace. We focus our efforts where we know we can make the biggest impact. We take tough decisions and once a plan is set, we all get behind it to make it happen. We take responsibility and don’t wait to be told what to do. We are racing against time in this planetary emergency, so we work with a sense of urgency.