Suruchika Chawla

Biography

Suruchika is the Supervisor of Projects of the Archaeology and Museums Department, Haryana, having previously worked as an Educator at National Museum New Dehli. In her role, Suruchika works on the promotional and outreach endeavours of the Department, developing publications, exhibitions, seminars, and education programmes for children and the wider public.

She is interested in museums’ archaeological collections, research into the Indus Valley Civilization, and believes providing audiences with the context of heritage sites in the museum is crucial to their museum learning experience.

Suruchika has created activities and workshops to enhance the learning of school children visiting the museums. She has also developed content for the National Museum website, adding downloadable teaching aids and worksheets for learning about the collection. Suruchika has worked on various summer programmes at the National Museum, New Delhi, including Playtime at the National Museum and special events including International Museum Day.

Suruchika worked on the collections database and display of the Harappa Gallery at National Museum, New Delhi.

Suruchika has been working with the department collection to create virtual content – website data, souvenirs, a yearly calendar and promotional catalogues of the collection. She has worked on a project called Heritage Corner where department have been creating portable kits and published material for schools in the State of Haryana.

Suruchika completed her Doctorate in July 2020. She obtained at Ph.D. in Philosophy in Archaeology and Ancient History from the Faculty Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India. The topic of her research was the Role of Museum Education for Archaeological Learning in India. She is a member of ICOM and the Museum Association of India.

Suruchika’s dream for museums of the future, is for museums to create more user-friendly self-doing information kits and programmes, with a view to attracting wider audiences and generate interest in the field of museums. The repository of art and heritage should be made a fun and exciting place to visit, for every age audience.

At the British Museum
During her time on the International Training Programme, Suruchika was based in the Asia Department and spent her partner placement at Norfolk Museums Service.

In 2018 participants were asked to plan and propose a temporary exhibition, drawing on their existing museum experience and the skills learnt during the programme. Suruchika worked with Ali Al-Kathiri (Oman) on her Object in focus project, Pathfinders: Outrigger Pacific Canoes.

Suruchika’s place on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the British Museum Trust.

Legacy projects
In 2019, Suruchika took part in the ITP+ Course on Museums and Education held at CSMVS Mumbai which focused on the vital role museums can play in education, learning and social development. The workshop was attended by ITP fellows from India, Malaysia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe as well as UK partners and British Museum colleagues.

In 2020, Suruchika attended the International Training Programme’s series of online subject specialist sessions. Suruchika attended:
Collecting COVID-19

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 6 (2019), Global perspectives: Making sense of archaeology: digital engagement