Research archive

Information about all past RCMG research projects and events can be found here, they are organised by end date, starting with the most recent. Related publications are available to download for free in PDF format (and other formats where appropriate). You can also visit our current research projects and events.

2024

• Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues background research report (PDF, 1.45MB) [RCMG], July 2024 (Report)
• Supporting decolonial futures: Exploring the impact of the Museums Association's Decolonisation Confidence and Skills Programme (PDF, 2MB) [Dr Katy Bunning], 2024 (Report) 

2023

• Addressing the museum attendance and benefit gap, October 2023 - April 2025
• Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues, October 2023 - July 2024
• Trans-Inclusive Culture, May - September 2023
• Co-production Framework at National Museums Liverpool, December 2021 - July 2023
• Everywhere and Nowhere: Guidance for ethically researching and interpreting disability histories (PDF, 3.5MB) [RCMG/National Trust], March 2023 (Guidance)

2021

• Everywhere and Nowhere, October 2021 - ongoing
• Permissible Beauty, August 2021 - ongoing
• An ethical framework for collaborating with communities (PDF 1.79MB) [RCMG/Kettle's Yard], July 2021 (Report) 
• Open House: The difference made through working together (PDF 4.70MB) [RCMG/Kettle's Yard], July 2021 (Report)
• Birmingham Museums Trust Vision, May 2021 - ongoing
• Open House: The difference made through working together, December 2020 - November 2021
• The Museum as a Space of Social Care, July 2021 (Event)

2020

• Isolation and loneliness – opening up new stories and interpretive experiences at Calke Abbey, Stage 2 [RCMG for Calke Abbey], March 2020 (Report)
• An ethical approach to interpreting disability and difference [RCMG/Wellcome Collection], January 2020 (Publication)
• Engaging the City, February - October 2020

2019

• , May 2019 (Event) Unlocking Stories of Loneliness and Isolation: The Ethics of Interpretation
• , March 2019 (Event)Exploring the role cultural organisations can play in encouraging us to think about loneliness, challenge stigma, and act to end it
• [CineMuseSpace], September 2019The Cinematic Musée Imaginaire of spatial cultural differencesPort Sunlight Film,
• Disorder, dissent and disruption, June 2018 - December 2019
• Museums and the Transgender Tipping Point, February 2019 (Event)

2018

• Isolation and loneliness – opening up new stories and interpretive experiences at Calke Abbey (PDF, 5.14MB) [RCMG for Calke Abbey 2018] (Report)

• Encountering the Unexpected, April 2016 - March 2018

2017

• Humankind, October 2017 - September 2020

2016

• Building dynamic, inclusive and socially purposeful museums and archives, 17-21 October 2016 (Event)
• Museu do Samba, Brazil, April 2016 - March 2017
• Exceptional & Extraordinary, December 2014 - December 2016
• Museums and an Ageing Population, March 2016 (Event)

2015

• Museum 2015: The Agile Museum Conference, January 2015 (Event)
• The Cultural Value of Engaging with Museums and Galleries, February 2015 (Event)

2014

• Talking Statues, November 2013 - October 2014
• The Generic Learning Outcomes - Measuring Learning Impact in Museums (University of Leicester Intrepid Researcher Series), July 2014 (Event)
• Cabinet of Curiosities, 2013 - 2014
• Museums, Health and Wellbeing in the East Midlands, October 2012 - June 2014
• The Cultural Value of Engaging with Museums and Galleries, February – June 2014
• Imperial War Museum North (IWMN), February - April 2014
• Participatory, collaborative and co-creative practices at the Science Museum, February – May 2014
• Stories of a Different Kind, July 2012 - February 2014

2013

• Cultural activity in Historic Houses in the East Midlands, April - June 2013
• Prisoners, Punishment and Torture: Developing new approaches to interpretation at the Tower of London, October 2012 - April 2013
• New Walk Museum Vision, October 2012-April 2013
• Developing a Research Network to Advance 21st-Century Museum Ethics in Theory and Practice, August 2011 - 2013
• The Mindful Museum, February 2013 (Event)
• EuNaMus - European national museums: Identity politics, the uses of the past and the European citizen, 2010 - 2013
• Evidencing the Impact of the Generic Learning Outcomes, 2013

2012

• Evaluation of Mapping the Change Phase 2, Hackney Museum, May 2011 - December 2012
• Growing the Social Role of Botanic Gardens: Communities in Nature, January 2012-November 2012

2011

• Growing the Social Role of Botanic Gardens, September 2010 - September 2011

2010

• Their Past Your Future 2, 2008 - 2010
• Redefining the role of Botanic Gardens - towards a new social purpose, July 2009 - June 2010
• sh[OUT]: An evaluation of the Social Justice Programme of the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (GoMA), 2009-2010

2009

• 'Leaders in co-creation? Why and how museums could develop their co-creative practice with the public, building on ideas from the performing arts and other non-museum organisations', Clore Leadership Fellow, 2008-2009
• Articulate, September 2008 - August 2009

2008

• Rethinking Disability Representation in Museums and Galleries, May 2006 - December 2008

2007

• Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The Value of Museums, Second Study, An evaluation of the DCMS/DCSF National/Regional Museum Partnership Programme in 2006-2007, April 2006 - September 2007
• Engage, Learn, Achieve: The impact of museum visits on the attainment of secondary pupils in the East of England 2006-2007, November 2006 - September 2007
• The Madonna of the Pinks: Evaluation of the Education and Community strategy for the Madonna of the Pinks, July 2004 - September 2007

2006

• "In the past we would just be invisible": Research into the attitudes of disabled people to museums and heritage for Colchester Museums, January 2005 - August 2006
• What did you learn at the museum today? Second Study. Evaluation of the outcomes and impact of learning through the implementation of the Education Programme Delivery Plan across nine Regional Hubs (2005), June 2005 - February 2006

2005

• Engaging archives with Inspiring Learning for All, April 2005 - September 2005
• Developing Learning Advocates in museums, libraries and archives in the North West, November 2004 -December 2005

2004

• Developing Learning Advocates in museums, libraries and archives in the East Midlands, January - December 2004
• Evaluation of the Open Minds education programme: Harewood House, Leeds, November 2002 - October 2004
• Books Connect 2, July 2003 - September 2004
• Buried in the Footnotes: The representation of disabled people in museum and gallery collections, June 2003 - June 2004
• Inspiration, Identity, Learning: The value of museums. Evaluation of the DCMS/DfES Strategic Commissioning 2003-2004 National/Regional Museum Education Partnerships, July 2003 - June 2004
• TCS Project with Mackenzie Ward Research Ltd (mwr): Developing an online learning system for tertiary education and the museum and gallery sector, June 2002 - May 2004
• Mirror: World Communities of practice for learning and innovation in Natural Science, January 2002 - March 2004
• What did you learn at the museum today? The evaluation of the impact of the Renaissance in the Regions Education Programme in the three Phase 1 Hubs (August, September and October 2003), July 2003 - February 2004
• Learning Impact Research Project Phase 1 & 2: The development of Inspiring Learning for All, September 2001 - early 2004

2002

• A Catalyst for Change: The Social Impact of the Open Museum, October 2000 - August 2002
• Developing new audiences and promoting social inclusion: National Museums and Galleries of Wales, January 2002 - July 2002
• Learning through culture: An evaluation of the DfES Museums and Galleries Education Programme, April 2001 - March 2002
• Seeing the museum through the visitors’ eyes: an evaluation of the Education Challenge Fund, September 2000 - February 2002

2001

• Making Meaning in Art Museums 2: Visitors’ Interpretive Strategies at Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, November 2001
• Not for the likes of you: A Resource for Practitioners, September 2001
• Evaluating Creativity: The evaluation of the ten gallery education projects of Encompass 2000, March 2000 - September 2001
• Researching Learning in Museums and Galleries 1990-1999, January 1999 - July 2001
• Including Museums: Perspectives on museums, galleries and social inclusion, July 2001
• Small Museums and Social Inclusion, October 2000 - March 2001
• Making Meaning in Art Museums 1: Visitors' Interpretive Strategies at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, October 1999 - January 2001

2000

• Museums and Social Inclusion: The GLLAM Report, November 1999 - October 2000