Research is a key part of what the University Museums do. We research the collections, collaborate with academic Schools on their research, and trial innovative ways of achieving research impact, with a special focus on behavioural change.
Everything we do is created in collaboration with University staff and students.
If you have an idea for a collaboration with the University Museums and would like to work with us to develop it then we want you to get in touch. It might be turning your research into a major exhibition, an event, a small experiment or something else. The first stage in working with us is to complete a Note of Interest form (PDF).
The questions below explore further what working with us involves.
Exhibitions and programmes are an excellent way to engage the public with research, but we also aim to achieve measurable and meaningful impact. We set objectives for all our projects, setting out what we want to achieve, and carefully evaluate them to demonstrate the extent to which we’ve achieved them and how.
Museums are particularly interested in achieving behavioural and attitudinal change in visitors and are experimenting in the best ways of doing this.
A major exhibition, held in the Albany Gallery of the Wardlaw Museum. These are our biggest and most involved options and take around 18 months to prepare. Each is heavily marketed and evaluated, with a full programme of events forming a key part of the project.
A Research Studio display is a lighter commitment and involves creating a small display or conceiving of an experimental approach. Programming around these is much lighter.
A small display elsewhere in the University.
An event or events programme.
Something digital.
If you just want to hire a space you can do this by emailing museumenqueries@st-andrews.ac.uk. Each School, Professional Service Unit and Student Society is allowed one free use of the Learning Loft every year.
If you have an idea for something that’s not included above we’d love to hear it. We aim to reimagine what a museum can be, so if you’ve got something out of the ordinary then let us know.
Projects with University Museums are collaborative. You bring your subject expertise and we bring our knowledge in creating exciting programmes and exhibitions.
What this looks like on a week-to-week basis varies depending on the project and the stage of development. Typical tasks for a big exhibition based in our Albany Gallery include:
attending regular meetings, usually around 60-90 minutes each fortnight
involvement in the development of ideas, objectives and audiences
advising and supporting content development, but not writing text
reading text to ensure accuracy
supporting grant applications
some involvement in the programme
advising on evaluation.
Exhibitions in the Albany Gallery typically cost £40,000 to £60,000 each. Museums will cover the costs from their budget and external grant applications.
Displays elsewhere, including in the Research Studio, typically cost £500 to £1000 and you will usually be expected to fund this in its entirety.
Yes. As of 2024 all our collaborative partners will be credited at the entrance to the exhibition and on the website, as well as in any press releases.
Demonstrating impact is one of our specialities. For exhibitions in our Albany Gallery we will work with you to determine what you need to demonstrate and to develop a full and robust evaluation plan that clearly shows the impact of the project. Evaluation methodologies are wide ranging and often include a mixture of:
gallery observations
exit surveys
follow-up surveys
focus groups
targeted feedback cards
online insights
data collected as part of the displays, for example via interactives
theory-of-change.
We know evaluation takes time, so museum staff will conduct all the evaluation, although you are welcome to be fully involved. We aim to fully analyse all data within 12 months of the exhibition closing and you will have access to the raw anonymised data. Museum staff will submit ethics applications for the research.
The first stage is to complete a Note of Interest form (PDF), which will be considered by our Programmes and Exhibitions Committee. Once you’ve submitted this you’ll hear from us within two to five weeks.
If we think your project might make a good exhibition in the Albany Gallery we’ll ask you to submit a second stage Exhibition Proposal, which we’ll support you in developing.
Unfortunately we can’t take forward every proposal we receive. If we decline your proposal we’ll tell you why and suggest alternative approaches and partners.
The earlier the better. We typically plan the Albany Gallery programme two years in advance. However, other spaces are more flexible, so if you’ve something that’s short notice submit a Note of Interest, we’ll do all we can to find an approach that works.
We schedule exhibitions in our Albany Gallery around two years in advance and begin working on them around 18 months before they open. For this reason it's best to get your note of interest in early.
Other options have much shorter timescales. We do not schedule the Research Studio more than a year in advance so that it can remain flexible.
Even if your timescales are short, submit a note of interest - there's a good chance we will have an option available.
You must speak to us before you include University Museums in any grant applications. We will not commit to supporting any projects that have not been formally agreed to via the Programmes and Exhibitions Committee.
Send us a Note of Interest form (PDF). If you have an interesting kernel of an idea we’d love to hear it, even if you’re not sure where it could go. We’ve got a good sense of what might work, so if it’s got potential, we’ll work with you to develop it into something fantastic.
Your note of interest can contain as much or as little as you've considered. As long as we have the basic idea we can see how it might make a great project.
There are two things that might be worth considering to help us find the best option for you:
Objectives - what do you want to achieve by doing this? Why do you want to do it?
Audience - who do you want to reach? And why? Go beyond “general public”
However, don’t worry too much if you’re not sure about these. If we take the project forward we’ll work together to refine the answers to these questions.
Drop an email to Matt Sheard, Head of Experience and Engagement, on mjs42@st-andrews.ac.uk.
Ways to collaborate with museums
Wardlaw Museum: Albany Gallery
The Albany Gallery is where our major exhibitions take place. They are always in collaboration with a researcher at the University and tackle a range of different topics, from what makes us human, peatlands, Iranian culture and exoplanets.
Wardlaw Museum: Research Studio
The Research Studio is a new kind of space, marking a new way that University Collections and Museums are working. It is a space for curiosity and conversation, inspired by the spirit of enquiry that is at the heart of University research and teaching.
The Research Studio space is flexible, and we encourage experimentation and prototyping, as well as creativity and the development of new ideas. Some exhibitions will begin their development in this space, and at other times there will be conversations and public events taking place here. Whatever it is, it won’t be the same thing twice.
Barbara Morton, Entropie Books Research Studio, until 16 May
Barbara Morton is a St Andrews based author, artist, curator and book maker. In 2014 she established Entropie Books to publish small editions of her poetry, literature, artist books, and pamphlets. Her artistic and literary practice incorporates the arts of poetry, printmaking, bookbinding, typography, papermaking, and chine-collé to present her literary texts and abstract geometric drawings in an exact and deliberate visual form.
The environment, the home of the text, is critical. Likewise, typography ~ how the text resides upon the page ~ is crucial. Resisting uniformity of design each published title is hand-crafted and intuitively considered to achieve an equilibrium of artistic form and literary content.
Exhibit: digital storytelling
The museums of the University of St Andrews have developed an innovative new tool which enables anyone to access our digitised objects and to create interactive presentations.
Exhibit can be used for teaching, assessment, presenting research to a wider public and illustrating presentations.
Exhibit is easy to use and can be shared or embedded in PowerPoint, Moodle, Teams, WordPress and web pages. It can be shared with students or colleagues, who can annotate it or use it as a basis to create their own presentations.
Museums' research
Universities are about innovation, and the University Museums at St Andrews are no different. We seek to reimagine what a museum can be and how it can have impact on the world and conduct research to help us to do this.
AHRC research project: online teaching with digitised museum collections
Covid-19 has led to a rush by museums and collections to digitise and create digital content, in parallel with a dramatic shift to online and hybrid teaching and learning by universities.
By capturing case studies and good practice relating to online teaching and learning with digitised collections, we hope to offer much-needed support to museums and universities.
Sustainability and behavioural change
Museums are very good at raising awareness about the threats to our planet, but how can we take a step further and encourage visitors to make lifestyle choices that counteract those threats?
University Collections and Museums are conducting research into how exhibitions and programmes and help visitors to live more sustainable lives. Research is taking place through a number of exhibitions happening between 2021 and 2025:
Dive In! Protecting our Oceans, which took place in 2021
For Peatlands' Sake, which took place in spring 2023
What Makes us Human?, which took place in summer 2023
Alien Worlds, which will take place in summer and autumn 2024.
The results of these projects help us better understand the role museums can play. Findings will be share in due course.
Our Dive In Case Study (PDF) summarises what the visitor evaluation of the exhibition revealed, in turn shedding light on how exhibitions can engage visitors around pro-environmental behaviours.
Our Dive In Interpretation Guide (PDF) offers thoughts as our learning from the project, and as a means of positive encouragement to other museum teams making exhibitions that seek to provoke behaviour change in their visitors, especially concerning climate change and other environmental campaigns.
Re-collecting Empire
Re-collecting Empire looks at how we discuss, understand, treat, interpret, display and research objects that come from colonial contexts. It aims to tackle legacies of empire and build a more equitable future. Much of this work is ongoing behind the scenes, but an exhibition did take place in summer 2022 that both explored our initial findings and tested how we should discuss colonial contexts in public. The findings from this research will be available here soon.
Digital integration
How do we use digital interpretation in a gallery context? How can we use digital approaches to tell important stories in a gallery when they do not fit with that gallery's main narrative without confusing visitors? Which digital approaches are most engaging? Which are most user friendly?
Our work on digital integration, the first stage of which was funded by Museums Galleries Scotland, explored these questions. The findings will be available here soon.
