JC Niala serves as the Head of Research, Teaching, and Collections at the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford. In this role, she leads a dynamic and research-active team, utilizing object-based learning to enhance teaching across various university departments while also overseeing the care and development of the museum’s extensive collections.
Prior to her current position, JC was the Head of World Collections at Cambridge University Libraries. During her doctoral studies in Social Anthropology at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, she employed Public Engagement with Research as a pivotal methodology. This approach continues to inform her work as both a historian and anthropologist of the imagination. Her project, ‘1918 Allotment,’ was recognized with the Social History Society Prize for Public History in 2022.
JC is passionate about the transformative potential of Public Engagement with Research, advocating for its capacity to enrich academic inquiry through meaningful collaboration with the wider public. She actively supports the public engagement programme at Reuben College alongside Janet Stott, Catarina Vicente, Hattie Warburton and Michaela Livingstone-Banks. JC is dedicated to mentoring and assisting researchers who seek to incorporate public engagement into their work, believing it to be a crucial avenue for enhancing both the impact and relevance of research.
