On 6 September 2025, the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) celebrated ten years with our first ever public research symposium: Specimens, Science, and Stories—a chance to celebrate our achievements and explore how much more natural history museums can shape the future of biodiversity research and conservation! 

We were pleased to welcome almost 250 participants—from biodiversity lovers and students to researchers and curious minds! 

The symposium kicked off with an opening address by Associate Professor Darren Yeo, Head of LKCNHM. He highlighted the primary importance of the research work at LKCNHM but also emphasised its intrinsic link with museum outreach.  

“Those more familiar with our iconic building, exhibitions, and education programmes may think of us as merely a place of natural history storage, display, and education, but the Museum is first and foremost a centre for biodiversity research.” Assoc Prof Yeo shared. “The aim of this public symposium is to showcase and communicate to a wider audience the Museum’s research through scientific communication and storytelling.”   

Emeritus Professor Leo Tan, Advisor of LKCNHM, also shared about how the Museum’s research and conservation efforts have become increasingly important with the acceleration of climate change, land degradation and deforestation.

Professor Peter Ng, former Head and current Advisor of LKCNHM, gave a raw and candid presentation on the ‘Hard Truths of a Flawed Naturalist’ during the Plenary Session, detailing his experiences being studying crabs for the past forty years, and the sacrifices that have been made in the pursuit of science. He also shared his wishes and hopes for the future of the Museum. 

Session 1 of the symposium, ‘From Specimens to Science’, focused on the bread-and-butter biodiversity work. We found out how our researchers collect, identify and analyse specimens, learned all about the behind-the-scenes of species discovery, and discovered the importance of international collaboration and conservation efforts! 

Session 2 of the symposium, ’From Specimens to Stories’, delved into the history behind the Museum. Our speakers took us through the last century of biodiversity work in Singapore, which has set the foundation for much of the work we do today. 

To wrap things up, the symposium’s panel discussion was the perfect opportunity for participants’ burning questions to be answered! Our three panellists, Assoc Prof Huang Danwei, Deputy Head of LKCNHM, Dr Tan Swee Hee, Assistant Head of LKCNHM, and Mr Martyn Low, Research Associate from the Biodiversity Histories team, did their best to cover all bases within the hour! 

In between the talks, participants also got the chance to interact with the speakers, take pictures at our photobooth, and shop for our 10th Anniversary exclusive merchandise. The Museum’s very own research journal—the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology—was up for grabs (for free!) during the symposium too!   

Thank you to everyone who attended Specimens, Stories, and Science! We hope you enjoyed the talks and left feeling inspired and enriched! We hope to see you at the next one!  

If you missed the symposium, fret not! Watch the talks online here.  

For a recap of our other 10th Anniversary activities, check out this page!