First day at the British Museum (Alaa Menshawy, Egypt, ITP 2022)

Over the 2022 ITP Annual Programme, we have asked the participants to blog about their experiences over their 4-weeks onsite at the British Museum. For each blog, the fellows have been asked to introduce themselves, write about something they did on the ITP on that day, an introduce another of the ITP participants.

Today we’ll be sharing the first of the fellows’ blogs, and we look forward to hearing from the rest of the fellows over the coming weeks.

Written by Alaa Menshawy, Director, Luxor Museum (Egypt, ITP Fellow 2022)

My name is Alaa Hussein Mahmoud Menshawy. I am from Egypt and I work as the Director of Luxor Museum. I think after I finish my training in the ITP, I will be very good in the supervision and management of all museum activities and pre-empting the needs of the institution. Communication with colleagues in the sector is key to achieve goals and I will plan and develop annual visits and events very well and make budget management for my work.

Alaa Menshawy giving a powerpoint presentation

Today, I made a presentation about my work and my role in my museum. My interests include exhibition development, marketing and fundraising. Other areas of interest are exhibitions, conservation, education, security, collections, libraries and archives. Currently, I am focusing on changes to the museum sector that benefit audiences and improve staff welfare. My personal research projects cover ancient Egyptian Language.

Alaa Menshawy and Nilanjana Som sit together in discussion and take notes

I would like to introduce my ITP colleague from Sudan, Altaieb Abdelslam Abdalla Ali. He is from the Institution Sudan National corporations for antiquities and in the museum, he holds the position of Museum Curator. Altaieb is interested in exchanging knowledge with the fellow ITP colleagues and discovering more about the documentation and database systems at the British Museum. He hopes to learn more about museology and documentation during his time in the Programme.

Altaieb Ali giving a powerpoint presentation