Born and bred in Newport, Emma returned to her roots after a brief stint in Liverpool. She has worked in the museums and heritage industry for eight years with Newport Museums and Heritage Service and Amgueddfa Cymru: National Museum Wales. Her work has focussed on community engagement, learning and marketing.
Emma has given presentations at high profile conferences organised by the Oral History Society, GEMS and the Museums Association. She has played an active role in the heritage sector in Wales through her involvement as a committee member for the Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales since 2008, where her responsibilities lie with social media, updating and maintaining the website and all learning enquiries.
Emma has recently completed a Masters in Museum Learning and Visitor Studies through the University of Leicester. She is currently community coordinator for the Pillgwenlly Regeneration Project, works with the team at the National Roman Legionary Museum and is a volunteer for the Newport Medieval Ship Project. Emma’s strengths lie in networking, oral history, social media and marketing and developing learning programmes for a wide range of users.
Matthew Ferg Mathias
Mat (Ferg to his friends!) is originally from Fishguard in Pembrokeshire but now lives in the beautiful village of Caerleon. Mat has over a decade of proven first class communications and campaigning experience, providing high level public relations, media and political advice to organisations, businesses, charities and senior national politicians.
Mat has recently completed his Masters in Regional History at the University of South Wales and also works with the team at the National Roman Legionary Museum. His experience and expertise in developing communications, marketing and public relation strategies ensures that projects receive the best exposure possible.
David R. Howell
David Howell has been actively engaged with the historic environment for almost two decades. Originally working in the field of archaeology, David subsequently expanded his interests into the built historic environment and the museums sector, before moving into higher education, lecturing on heritage and museums studies with the University of South Wales.
David completed his PhD in early 2014. His research has explored the impacts of political policy on the heritage sector in Wales. As part of this study, he travelled to and worked with museum professionals in Greenland and Iceland, developing a global network of heritage practitioners and expertise. In addition, he has recently published works on the themes of interpretation, repatriation and intangible cultural heritage and is currently exploring research on literary heritage in Wales.
Verdun Howells
Born and bred in Bedwas near Caerphilly, famous for its magnificent castle amongst other things, Verdun has had a continued interest in history and in particular ancient and medieval military history throughout his life.
Following completion of his Masters course in Ancient History and Classical Culture at Swansea University, Verdun worked as a numeracy assistant at St Cenydd High School working alongside children of many different backgrounds and abilities. After volunteering for a year at the National Roman Legion Museum he became a permanent member of staff there in April 2013.
Working at the National Roman Legion Museum has allowed Verdun to continue his passion for learning about history and bringing it to life for the public through education work and re-enactment.