The Otago Museum, working with the University of the Otago, has been successful in its bid to host the conference of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.
It is being held in the southern hemisphere for the first time.
The event is being staged jointly with a gathering of the Taxonomic Database Working Group, the first time these two international organisations have held a joint conference.
Museum organisers said the working group focused on data and standards, and the society dealt with looking after natural history collections.
The museum, the university and the city would host the world's leading researchers responsible for the care of natural history collections, and the Smithsonian Institution was among the bodies represented.
''It's a big deal for us,'' museum director Dr Ian Griffin said.
''It's quite a feather in our caps.''
The overall event will focus on ''Collections & Data in an Unstable World''and will incorporate five days of conference, and three days of workshops, field trips and other activities.
The event will run from August 25 to September 1.
