University of Oxford

Follow us

What are University Museums for?

In March 2013, 100 delegates from across the UK and parts of Europe converged on the Oxford University Museums for the 25th Anniversary University Museums conference, up for discussion "What are University Museums for?"

The two day conference included keynote addresses from former Culture Secretary Chris Smith; David Sweeney, Director of Research Innovation and Skills, HEFCE; and Hedley Swain, Head of Museums for Arts Council England.

Sally MacDonald, Head of Public Engagement at UCL, chaired a session on "What University Museums do for students".  Speakers included Giovanna Vitelli discussing the Ashmolean's student engagement programme, Rebecca Reynolds discussing research at Reading into object based learning for Higher Education, and PhD student Gemma Angel discussing student engagers at UCL.

Nicholas Thomas, Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, charied a session on "Research in Museums".  Speakers included Paul Smith, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History; Shearer West, former Director of Research at AHRC and Head of Humatities at Oxford; and Chris Gosden, Chair of European Archaeology at Oxford.

Finally Paul Smith, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, chaired a provocation on "the impact of University Museums in 2020".  Provocations were offered by Nick Poole, CEO at the Collections Trust, and Maurice Davies, Head of Policy and Communications at the Museums Association.

Miss out on the conference?  Watch videos of all the keynote addresses and talks here!

Welcome Address - Nick Merriman, former UMG Chair (Manchester)

Keynote Address - David Sweeney, Director of Research, Innovation and Skills, HEFCE

"What do University Museums do for students?", Sally MacDonald (UCL), Giovanna Vitelli (Ashmolean Museum), Rebecca Reynolds (Reading), Gemma Angel (UCL)

"Research and University Museums", Nicholas Thomas (Cambridge), Paul Smith (Oxford University Museum of Natural History), Shearer West (Oxford), Chris Gosden (Oxford)

Keynote Address, Hedley Swain, Arts Council England

"Impact of University Museums in 2020", Nick Poole (Collections Trust), Maurice Davies (Museums Association)

Useful links

Sign up for our newsletter

Keep in touch

Follow us on Twitter

Email us

Phone