Dr. Christiane Quaisser

Lead Department

Christiane.Quaisser@mfn.berlin
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Area:
Collection Future
Department:
Research and Innovation

I am leading the research group on heritage and conservation science. My research interests focus particulary on deterioration processes of mammal furs and hides, handling of biocides in museum collections, and increasing the environmental resilience of valuable cultural assets.
Based on 15 years experience in strategic development and management of collections, I am also contributing to design the future of collections as knowledge infrastructure.

 

I am part of the research areas and working groups:
Conservation Research

Vita

Christiane is a biologist by profession and has a background in ornithology. After her PhD, scientific projects brought her to major natural science collections in Europe. The deep insights inspired her to move on to collections management. From the beginning, Christiane’s work has focused on strategies in management and development of natural science collections to transform them into an open knowledge infrastructure.

In 2013, she became Head of Collections at the MfN leading the change into the Science Programme Collection Future and the realization of the project Collection Discovery and Development as part of the Future Plan (see https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf6434 ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVupD7BxV-U  ; and https://youtu.be/mQCgDf3-DTU?si=mlRNUiAp7xMS5mhM ).

In 2026, she returned to research. Current research interests are focusing on heritage and conservation science, e.g. on biocides, deteriorations processes, and environmental resilience of valuable cultural assets, underpinning the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration as guiding principle and key success factor.
 

Further information

Projects

 ERHÖHUNG DER UMWELT-RESILIENZ VON WERTVOLLEM KULTURGUT IN NATURWISSENSCHAFTLICHEN SAMMLUNGEN (Project Lead)

Member of Scientific Advisory Boards


- BRAIN-be 2.0 Research Programme, Belgian Science Policy Office, Brussels, Belgium (2019-2023)
- MUSA Project (https://musa-projekt.de/) (2023-2025)

Memberships  


Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collection, German Ornithologists’ Society

 

Publications

Korun, M., Quaisser, C., Vasilyeva, Z., Dietermann, B., Kühne, N., Hermannstädter, A., Heumann, I., Kaiser, K. (2025). Internationale Kooperationen als leitende Methode. In Umgang mit kolonialen Objekten der Naturkunde. Empfehlungen – Forschung – Reflexionen (1. Auflage, 256). Dresden: Sandstein Kultur. URL: https://www.sandstein-kultur.de/shop/umgang-mit-kolonialen-objekten-der-naturkunde

Hoffmann, J., Schuster, F., Berger, F., Glöckler, F., Petersen, M., Tata, N., Herrmann, E., Hoffmann, A., Quaisser, C., Rietschel, S., Korun, M., Mützel, C., Kaiser, K., Hermannstädter, A., Kilbourne, B., Madruga, C., Strohmann, V., Abd el Gawad, H.H., Adejuwon, A.M., Antonites, A., Arfvidsson, H., Asino, W.N., Coly, P.A., Coulson, I., Dao, S.C., Dau, J., Endter, S., Funke, B., Gallé, L., Gawkowski, J.J., Hassan, N., Henning, P., Huber, A.K., Inyangete, E.M., Iyumva, M.R., Kalumne, A.S., Kapalamula, M., Karim, E.I.A., Karro, P., Kesler, M.C., Keurmeur, N.L.M.D., Khaled Morsi, N., Kuatche Fowo, B.C., Muchefa, L., Lovegrove Pereira, S., Lowe, M.C., Makongo Nsobley, Y.J., Moustafa Ahmed, N., Nafula, L.R., Ngenzi, V., Ngoma, K.T., Nobah, S., Owusu, P., Oyeniran, T.A., Rakotamanana, H.F., Rüter, J., Sagiya, M.E., Schief, J.V., Schwere, R., Abdrabo Abdelwahab, S., Shallangwa, Z.M., Šlepikaitė, S., Ssebuyungo, C., Stumpfe, W., Thobejane, M., Umuhoza, C., Walawala, B.M., Wohlfarth, S., Yonga, S., Ysebaert, S.A.O., Zindel, Y.B.M. (2023). TheMuseumsLab Digitization Workshop 2022. Museum für Naturkunde Berlin - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7479/f0gw-7403Open Access

Hoffmann, J., Quaisser, C., Hoffmann, A., Blessing, A., Freyhof, J., Fröbisch, J., Fröbisch, N., Frommolt, K.H., Giere, P., Greshake, A., Hecht, L., Heumann, I., Knörnschild, M., Mayer, F., Meier, R., Nadim, T., von Rintelen, T., Rödel, M.O., Schmitt, R.T., Sommerwerk, N. (2023). Forschungscluster für Sammlungserschließung am Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Museum für Naturkunde Berlin - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7479/7df5-b402Open Access

Quaisser, C., Hoffmann, J. (2025). Offene Wissensinfrastruktur für Natur. Museumskunde, 90(Doppelausgabe 2025), 124-131.

Petersen, M., Berger, F., Blessing, A., Glöckler, F., Herrmann, E., Hoffmann, J., Hoffmann, A., Quaisser, C., Tata, N. (2023). Nutzungsgetriebene Erschließung und Digitalisierung für einen offenen Zugang zu naturkundlichen Sammlungen.. In Becker, I.C., Lehmann, F., Meier, R., Uhde, K. (Hrsg.), Alte und neue Kontexte der Erschließung. Beiträge zum 26. Archivwissenschaftlichen Kolloquium der Archivschule Marburg. Archivschule Marburg. Marburg. URL: https://www.archivschule.de/publikationen/veroeffentlichungen

Johnson, K.R., Owens, I.F.P., the Global Collection Group (2023). A global approach for natural history museum collections. Science, 379(6638), 1192-1194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf6434

Simon, L.M., Flocco, C., Burkart, F., Methner, A., Henke, D., Rauer, L., Müller, C.L., Vogel, J., Quaisser, C., Overmann, J., Simon, S. (2023). Microbial fingerprints reveal interaction between museum objects, curators, and visitors. iScience, 26(9), 107578. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107578Open Access

Heyne, E., Kaiser, K., Kilbourne, B., von Oheimb, P.V., von Oheimb, K.C.M., von Rintelen, T., Lentge-Maaß, N., Heumann, I., Schwarz, D., Berger, F., Quaisser, C., Ohl, M., Hoffmann, A., Bilder von: Wolff, E. (2025). 1.2 Sammlung, Forschung und die Zukunft des Sammelns. In Kaiser, K., Heumann, I. (Hrsg.), Umgang mit kolonialen Objekten der Naturkunde: Empfehlungen, Objekte, Reflexionen (1. Auflage, 46-63). Dresden: Sandstein Kultur. URL: https://www.sandstein-kultur.de/shop/umgang-mit-kolonialen-objekten-der-naturkunde