BU Research Blog

Are you interested in getting involved in a museum and university partnership? Do you want to meet and develop potential collaborators in museums, or other institutions and organisations across the UK? Then why not look at signing up for the final Museum-University Partnership Initiative (MUPI) Match Event in London.

There are many benefits to museums and universities working together, from improving audience understanding to developing more effective collections knowledge or interpretation; from inspiring museum audiences with cutting edge research to developing new exhibits and exhibitions; the opportunities are endless.

However, finding a partner and having the resources to explore how you might work together can be challenging. This final MUPI match event draws upon a tried and tested methodology to bring people together to develop new partnerships. Each session involves museum staff, volunteers, and academics working together to find mutually beneficial ideas that they would like to develop together.

This event focuses specifically on some of the most popular themes from our regional Matches that explore the idea of ‘Working Across Boundaries’ in different ways:

• Using new technologies in cultural heritage settings e.g. mapping, 3D modelling, big data, innovative ways to animate and rethink collections
• Engaging new audiences – from student placements to non-traditional specialist audiences
• Migration, politics, activism

Details:

The Cinema Museum, London

26 July 2017, 11am-4.30pm

Registration link: https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/national-mupi-sandpit-working-across-boundaries-london-26-july-2017

Open to: postgraduate students, postdoctoral and established researchers from any discipline; all museums which are Accredited, Provisionally Accredited, or Working Towards Accreditation; across England.

Funding:

MUPI Match events provide an opportunity for teams formed at the event to bid for funding (of between £500-£1500) from the MUPI Match fund. A pot of £6000 is available for this event. This ‘thinking funding’  will enable people to do desk research; have conversations; travel and attend site visits/meetings; test ideas; and work together to plan their potential project. This thinking funding provides a critical part of the process, helping people to work out if and how to work together and refine their ideas. Teams will be supported to develop their partnership, and find effective ways to fund their project in the future.

How to get involved:

If you work or volunteer in an ACE Accredited museum, or if you are an academic who is keen to develop new partnerships with museums then a MUPI Match event is just what you are looking for! The event is focused on bringing together museums and academics from across England; it is free to participate in; and interactive. Bring your ideas, your energy, and your expertise and prepare to be challenged and inspired. Who knows this could be the beginning of something very special!

MUPI Match events are delivered through the Museum University Partnership Initiative, funded by Arts Council England’s Museum Resilience Fund and developed in partnership with the Share Academy project and Paddy McNulty Associates.