GLAM PCER Toolkit: Opportunities by category

Butterfly and moth display, Museum of Natural History

GLAM PCER Toolkit: Opportunities by category

Be inspired by opportunities for public and community engagement with research which are as diverse as GLAM's world-leading collections

This section of the Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) public and community engagement with research (PCER) Toolkit (‘GLAM PCER Toolkit’) contains a list of PCER opportunities for researchers with GLAM.

The public and community engagement teams within GLAM are experts in the development and delivery of public and community engagement activities and are open to conversations about what might be possible. They can advise on successful formats and are also keen to explore new types of engagement activity.

If you are a researcher who would like to work with GLAM’s collections and in our spaces, please get in touch at the start of your research planning process so that ideas can be discussed, developed and factored into funding applications. Contact information for each GLAM institution can be found in GLAM PCER Toolkit: Getting started and in the categories below.

Please be aware that GLAM venues have full and busy programmes and it may not be possible to pick up activities that have already been fully developed or to deal with urgent requests. Ideally, activities should be co-created with GLAM from project conception and researchers should get in contact early so that we can work together to develop your ideas. Please note that while researchers may contact GLAM departments directly they are also encouraged to contact departmental/Divisional PCER facilitators for interim support/guidance.

The categories below and the lists therein are not exhaustive or mutually exclusive and there may be many more possibilities depending on the nature of the project. There is plenty of scope for projects which combine more than category or activity; for example, a project which combines a digital tool for schoolchildren with lectures and other events. There is also scope for cross-collection PCER activities such as trails and multi-site exhibitions that span more than one GLAM institution, examples of which are highlighted below. (Please note that opportunities are subject to change.)

Ashmolean Museum

The University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology was founded in 1683. Its world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time.

Bodleian Libraries

The Bodleian Libraries form the largest UK university library system, with more than 13 million printed items, 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections, including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera.

History of Science Museum

The Museum houses the world's finest collection of early scientific instruments from Europe and the Islamic World, including sundials and astrolabes of extraordinary beauty. More modern objects include microscopes, scientific models, photographic and wireless equipment and a blackboard still bearing calculations by Albert Einstein.

Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum

The Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in the UK. It has about 5,000 different types of plant and is a year-round oasis of biodiversity, right in the heart of the city, while the Arboretum's 130 acres contain the best collection of trees in Oxfordshire.

Outside of building, neo-gothic architecture, Museum of Natural History

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The Museum was founded in 1860 and today holds an internationally-significant collection of natural history specimens and archives. Housed in a stunning neo-Gothic building inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, the Museum is home to a lively programme of research, teaching and public events.

Pitt Rivers Museum

The Museum houses over 600,000 objects, photographs and manuscripts from almost every country in the world and from all periods of human existence. The displays – showing over 55,000 artefacts – are organised by type, rather than geographical region or time. This encourages global cross-cultural reflection and celebration of human creativity and cultural diversity.

GLAM PCER Toolkit: Opportunities by category