Natural History Museum announces first new permanent gallery in a decade will open Spring 2025
The Natural History Museum, London, announces its first new permanent gallery in nine years, Fixing Our Broken Planet, alongside a programme of events and activities in 2025 aimed at creating advocates for the planet
Fixing Our Broken Planet opens Thursday 3 April 2025 and will be free for all visitors
Fixing Our Broken Planet: Generation Hope,the Museum’s free youth climate programme, returns 29 April – 3 May 2025
Visit HERE for more information, and to subscribe to our Planet Fixers eNewsletter
Today, the Natural History Museum, London, announced the first new permanent gallery to open since 2016, Fixing Our Broken Planet, which will open 3 April 2025. The gallery and a new programme of events and activities, also launching this year, will explore the biggest challenges facing our planet and will empower people to make change.
The new gallery will bring together pioneering research from the Museum’s world-leading scientists with advice from environmentalists and young changemakers on how to better care for the planet and its future. It will be a definitive destination for those looking to explore the threats to our natural world whilst discovering where solutions can be found.
Alongside and the first of the programme’s headline events aimed at assembling a growing community passionate about speaking up for the planet, Fixing Our Broken Planet: Generation Hope returns with a series of free workshops, panels and talks createdin collaboration with young climate leaders from across the world, will return from 29 April - 3 May.
Museum Director, Dr Doug Gurr, says: “Our scientists have been working to find solutions for and from nature. Fixing Our Broken Planet places this research at the heart of the Museum, allowing us to offer visitors positive ways in which they can act for the planet.
“By combining the inspiring science and advocacy found in the gallery with the voices of Generation Hope changemakers, we’re showing that we all have the power to make change.”
This unveiling is the first milestone for NHM150, the Museum’s plan to transform its South Kensington site from a catalogue of natural history to a catalyst for change ahead of the Museum’s 150th anniversary in 2031.
Visitors will be given practical, evidence-based choices they can take to combat the planetary emergency as our demand for food, materials and energy soars. They will come face to face with over 250 specimens including a Sumatran rhinoceros, parasitic worms and whale’s earwax; each telling an important story about our fragile relationship with the natural world. The specimens, research and suggested actions throughout the gallery emphasise how our own health is entangled with the health of every living thing.
Research on display shows how fungi is used to fertilise crops, how bacteria can be harnessed to extract copper from mine waste, how bison are helping to engineer forests in the UK to store more carbon and how vital DNA analysis on mosquitos is being used to fight mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria.
The Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery is in the original 1881 Waterhouse building and required full restoration. The transformation revived its original Victorian features while using sustainable materials and methods to bring the space back into public use. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund (PBIF) awarded the Museum with significant funding to rebuild the gallery whilst retaining its heritage and charm.
Arts Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, says: “To create effective lasting change for the planet we must inspire all generations. This new free permanent gallery, part funded by DCMS, will showcase research from the brilliant scientists at the Natural History Museum, helping to educate, challenge and entertain the public on the natural world while demonstrating how we can all make a difference.”
The Museum secured a grant of £1.64m from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation, to support the ‘Fixing Our Broken Planet’ programme. NERC-funded research, including winning entries from NERC’s annual Impact Awards, will be displayed within the gallery.
Wellcome has also committed a £1.25m sponsorship over the next 5 years to the ‘Our Health’ gallery space and other upcoming activities on climate change and its health impacts.
Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair of the Natural Environment Research Council, says:"The Natural Environment Research Council is pleased to support the Natural History Museum's new permanent gallery, ‘Fixing Our Broken Planet’, with a grant of £1.64m.
“The innovative new gallery will enable visitors to understand the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet and how we can address them. It will highlight the incredible work of our scientists who are finding solutions for a sustainable future. We are delighted to be partnering on this project, which demonstrates how positive action and the strength of working together are the key to protecting our planet."
A wide variety of trusts, foundations, companies and individuals are supporting the Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery and programme including Natural Environment Research Council, Wellcome, GSK and Ørsted.
The Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery will be free for visitors to enjoy from Thursday 3 April 2025.
For more information, and to subscribe to our Planet Fixers eNewsletter, visit HERE.
Now in its third year, Fixing Our Broken Planet: Generation Hope, the Museum’s acclaimed annual youth climate programme, will return from Tuesday 29 April – Saturday 3 May 2025.
A free programme of educational and inspiring events, workshops and talks, Generation Hope has been created in partnership with leading educators, scientists and young climate advocates from across the globe. It aims to inspire a new generation of young, confident and globally conscious minds.
Camilla Tham, Head of International Partnerships at the Natural History Museum and one of the organisers for Generation Hope, says: “As we continue to face a multitude of threats to people and planet, we want to do all we can to ensure young people feel both informed about the issues and inspired and confident to tackle them. By convening a diverse range of voices and expertise in this programme, our goal is for Generation Hope to create a space where young people can truly engage and feel better equipped to take action for a more positive future.”
Fixing Our Broken Planet: Generation Hope returns 29 April – 03 May. All sessions will be free to attend at the Museum, with select events also available online. For more information and to book tickets, visit HERE.
The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and one of the world’s most visited museums. Our mission is to create advocates for the planet – people who act for nature.
Our 400 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency - from reversing biodiversity loss to resourcing the green economy.
We are seeking an additional £150 million to transform our South Kensington building: placing our groundbreaking research at its heart, revitalising four existing galleries, opening two new magnificent galleries and delighting 1 million more visitors a year with the wonders of the natural world.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund
DCMS's Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund supports the Department's arts and cultural public bodies in addressing urgent and critical estates maintenance challenges.
Natural Environment Research Council NERC is the custodian of the UK’s environmental science. It ensures the UK has the diverse talent and skills, the facilities, and the infrastructure needed for world-leading research. NERC researchers diagnose environmental issues, mitigate risk, and support solutions to major challenges such as air quality and climate change for the UK and beyond.
Wellcome
Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we're taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.
GSK
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together. Find out more at gsk.com/company.
Ørsted
Ørsted are one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies that takes tangible action to create a world that runs entirely on green energy.
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