Vinay Kumar Singh

Biography

Vinay Kumar Singh works as Numismatic Officer at State Museum Lucknow where he oversees the coin collection which includes over 140,000 silver and copper coins and about 2,100 gold coins. Vinay is also responsible for overseeing 7 galleries out of the museum’s 14. Vinay’s day-to-day tasks include cataloguing and documenting objects and organizing exhibitions and workshops for schools and the general public. In addition, Vinay contributes to the museum’s policy making for collection management and education programmes.

Vinay is also responsible for Kannauj Archaeological Museum, an independent museum home to over 3000 objects and is particularly known for its collection of 10^th to 12^th century Pratihara dynasty sculptures.

Vinay has completed his BA (Hons.), MA and PhD from Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archeology of Banaras Hindu University, where his thesis considered the cultural study of coins of ancient Indian foreign dynasties. Vinay’s research interest is in numismatics and he has published several research papers on various aspects of ancient Indian coins.

At the State Museum, only 500 coins from the collection are currently on display, and Vinay is keen to increase access to those in storage through digitization and temporary exhibitions, therefore creating learning opportunities for the public.

During the ITP, Vinay looked forward to learning more about permanent and temporary exhibitions to improve the State Musuem’s current offering. He was also interested to understand the ways in which technology can be utilized to create engaging and interactive displays.

At the British Museum

During his time at the British Museum, Vinay was based in the Department of Asia and his UK partner placement was spent at Manchester Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and Whitworth Art Gallery.

Vinay’s participation on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation & Charles Wallace India Trust.