Co-Chairs
Esme Ward, Director of Manchester Museum, was joined as Co-Chair by Luke Syson, Director of Fitzwilliam Museum, in October 2024. Luke is really pleased to have the opportunity to serve the UMG community: ‘These are not easy times for museums, but the UK’s university museums face particular challenges. They also occupy a space in the sector where they can provide leadership on research, innovative public engagement, and collection histories and futures.’ Luke is ‘looking forward to working with Esme, Executive Committee members, and the UMG’s wider membership to develop a vision for our network.’
Esme’s term as UMG Co-Chair will finish later this year, with elections for Esme’s replacement expected to take place in summer/autumn. Esme was delighted that the Manchester Museum was awarded ‘European Museum of the Year’ 2025: the first time that a university museum has received this award.
Conference 2025
The annual UMG Conference took place in Trinity College, Cambridge, in May. Based around practices of ‘Innovation and Renewal’, it was a chance for UMG colleagues to showcase the vital, innovative work taking place in our university museums and collections. The conference featured an opening plenary speech, a concluding roundtable with speakers from the Bennett Institute, DCMS, and Arts Council England, and panel discussions on: ‘Visitor Experience and Engagement’, ‘Cambridge Collaborations and Partnerships’, ‘Redefining Collections and Collections Use’, and ‘Lived Experience and/as Ethics’. Read on for an in-depth summary of the day’s discussions. We will be publishing a series of case studies by our speakers, based on their conference presentations, on the UMG website in due course.
Jago Cooper, Director of the Sainsbury Centre (UEA), kicked off the day with a plenary which explored his work in redefining how the Centre conceives of its art and objects: not as property, but as living entities. Jago discussed the implications of this radical move, showing how staff and visitors alike have been able to relate to the collections in new ways. Jago’s inspiring talk was then followed by the two morning panels.
Panel 1, ‘Visitor Experience and Engagement’, showcased the various ways in which UMGs have been rethinking how to engage and serve our publics.
Jack Ashby, University Museum of Zoology (Cambridge), discussed the Museum’s pioneering use of AI to allow visitors to talk to animal, bird, and insect specimens in its collection. Kate Noble (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) explored how her ‘team of practitioner researchers are reimagining the role of the university museum in collaboration with a range of local and marginalised communities’. Rosanna Evans and Michael Corley (Fitzwilliam Museum) then discussed the process of co-designing, with an in-school youth collective, a reflection space for the exhibition Rise Up: Resistance, Revolution, Abolition: the first time the Museum has co-designed a space with young people. Gina Koutsika (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), concluded with a presentation about her ongoing work to transform her Visitor Experience team, by providing training days focused on up-skilling, enhancing interests, and collaboration within and beyond the Museum.
Panel 2, ‘Cambridge Collaborations and Partnerships’, offered a closer look at some of the innovative collaborations taking place across Cambridge University Museums.
Neal Spencer (Fitzwilliam Museum) discussed how recent projects have worked to reposition the role and scope of the curator in the contemporary university. Helen Magowan (PhD Graduate of FAMES) discussed an AHRC-funded placement she undertook during her PhD studies at the Fitzwilliam Museum, showing how university museums can benefit from utilising the expertise of graduate students in research, curatorial, and cataloguing capacities. Emily Bradfield (Fitzwilliam Museum) finally explored ‘how creative, participant-led research can renew our understanding of inclusive practice, challenging us to reconsider whose experiences are prioritised in museum spaces’.
After lunch, conference attendees were able to enjoy a guided visit to one of Cambridge’s university museums: Fitzwilliam Museum, Museum of Zoology, Kettle’s Yard, or The Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College.
In the afternoon, Panel 3—‘Redefining Collections and Collections Use’—offered insights into the creation and (re-)displaying of a diverse range of university museum collections.
Janet Stott (University Museum of Natural History, Oxford) discussed how new displays are being used to ‘illustrate and demonstrate our understanding of an interconnected life and environment, including an awareness of the impact of human activity in natural systems’. Helena Cox (University of York Art Collection) talked us through the challenges, discoveries, and joys of being the first curator of York’s Art Collection. Miranda Stearn (Lancaster Arts) explored what happens if ‘we make innovation a key part of our positioning’, considering the implications for institutional practice and perception alike. Louise Dennis (Museum of Design in Plastics, Arts University Bournemouth) discussed the recent creation of a new Research Centre—Plastics Innovation and Curation—which will ‘explore how plastics degrade over time or behave in different environments, resulting in research that will have international relevance to both museum collections and modern manufacturing’.
Panel 4, on ‘Lived Experience and/as Ethics’, explored how we can approach difficult questions and ethical issues through museum practice.
Tania Moore (Sainsbury Centre) discussed how the Centre’s recent programmes have explored whether ‘a museum be a safe space for unsafe questions’, considering ‘curating difficult subjects in an empathetic and non-judgemental way, ethics in portraying people’s lived experiences, and ensuring care for audiences and staff’. Claudia Hildebrandt (Earth Sciences Collection, Bristol) and Alyson Hallet (poet and interdisciplinary artist) discussed their ‘Migrating Rocks’ project, which ‘reimagines the role of geological collections by integrating diverse cultural narratives and creative methodologies’ in collaboration with partners in Aotearoa (New Zealand).
The conference concluded with a roundtable discussion between Emmie Kell (Arts Council England), Lucien Smith (DCMS), and Owen Garling (Bennett Institute), chaired by Esme Ward. The discussion reflected on the unique position of university museums and collections within the wider sector; where innovation needs to happen; and what our longer-term aims, values, and positions could be.
