Explore the museums funded through Places of science 2026

3D scans to improve access and education for heritage objects

Beaminster Museum is a small, volunteer-run community museum in West Dorset. Having received a Places of Science award in 2024, the museum was able to purchase a 3D scanner to help tell the story of the local community by using 3D scans and digital displays to share material on display elsewhere. The museum and staff produced great results for small and medium-sized artefacts so far, but displaying these well in the museum is a challenge - therefore the grant will be used to improve the displays and thereby enhance its appeal to a younger audience, particularly the local school children who visit. Fossils will be displayed from the local Nature Reserve, Horn Park Quarry, as well as prehistoric and Roman objects from the locality and other artefacts of interest, by working with local museums.

Describing the heavens: Astronomy from Islamic scientists to Bradford's Abraham Sharp

Bradford has a rich history of science and scientists, including Abraham Sharp, mathematician and astronomer who worked at Royal Observatory Greenwich. However, there is an equally rich history of Medieval Islamic scientists and their influence on Sharp and his contemporaries, a history that is less known and less represented. Islamic mathematicians, astronomers and scholars were hugely significant influences and sources of knowledge for the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Bolling Hall Museum, part of Bradford District Museums and Galleries, will invite local South Asian communities to form a steering group who will lead a project to uncover and share this history, in a series of family events, workshops, and an exhibition that will move across the Bradford District.

Building bridges for young scientists

The Brunel Museum’s 'Building Bridges for Young Scientists' project will transform access to science-based learning experiences, ensuring that all school visitors can fully engage with the pioneering science and engineering heritage at the heart of the site. Through practical improvements, new resources, and specialist training, we will remove accessibility barriers and deepen connection with the story of the Brunels and the Thames Tunnel.

The museum will create interactive props so activities can be delivered inclusively, and multi-sensory learning bags which enable STEM learning through touch, sound, and movement. The museum will also provide specialist training to build staff and volunteer confidence in supporting diverse learners. This will enable more schools to visit, and more pupils to take part in active science learning. This project will strengthen the connections between science, culture, and the local area, and ensure that the Brunel Museum’s story continues to inspire the next generation.

The ripple effect: learning from the River Cam

Cambridge Museum of Technology is expanding its STEM education offer for local schools in Abbey Ward. Drawing on its unique riverside location, the museum will deliver workshops exploring the relationship between water quality, biodiversity and surrounding habitats. Through activities such as river dipping, mapping the River Cam from source to mouth, and conducting water quality tests, pupils will develop a clear understanding of how water cleanliness affects local wildlife.

The grant will also support the redevelopment and improvement of a key interactive, play-based learning space, where visitors can experiment with a range of mechanical pumps. This hands-on experience will bring to life the workings of the historic Hathorn Davey steam-powered pumps in the museum’s collection, whilst supporting key, science understanding about forces. 

Wild about Essex: community curators at Colchester's Natural History Museum

Community Curators is an ambitious new initiative which will take place as part of the redevelopment of Colchester’s Natural History Museum. This year‑long project will open up the museum’s remarkable collection of over 62,000 natural history specimens, many of which have never been digitised or displayed, by inviting members of the public to take part in hands‑on collections work for the first time. Through workshops and drop‑in sessions, community groups, families, volunteers and students will help identify, document and digitise these important collections, which showcases the natural history of northeast Essex over millions of years.

200th anniversary of Isaac Roberts, "The Welsh astrophotography pioneer"

This project will serve to inform and educate the public about Isaac Roberts through exhibitions, workshops, activities associated with astronomy and his connection with Denbigh. The museum hopes to inspire young people especially to take an interest in science and to believe that they can achieve, by offering opportunities to learn about astronomy, history and acquiring skills in making things. The project also hopes to highlight the Welsh language, which was so important to Isaac who, despite moving from Denbigh as a child, maintained his ability to speak Welsh. The project will be centred on the museum but will also use other facilities in the town. It brings together several organisations with the general public and will be inclusive to all. It is supported by a retired Professor of Astronomy from Liverpool University.

Wild Bucks: how science helps us to understand, explore and protect our local wildlife

Wild Bucks is a project which seeks to foster an appreciation of Bucks’ unique natural landscape in young people. The project will consist of three science workshops, themed around three key words and seeking to answer three key questions: Understand (which creatures inhabit Bucks, how do they live and how do they protect themselves?), Explore (how do humans impact the world, how does this affect animal populations and why is this important?) and Protect (what alternative sources of energy exist, how do they work and how can they be used?).

These workshops will be delivered over summer 2026, with free tickets made available for children from low-income families, children with SEND, home educated children and children with caring responsibilities. A school version of these workshops will be developed for KS2 pupils and made available from January 2028.

Eastney engineers! Sewage and STEM

Eastney Engine Houses are delighted to launch a vibrant STEM‑themed project, designed to inspire curiosity and celebrate the site’s remarkable engineering heritage with local residents. Across four open days, professional science engagement practitioners will transform our mezzanine into a hub of hands‑on discovery, with boat‑building challenges, eye‑opening experiments, and activities that bring science to life for all ages. Alongside this, we’ll welcome two school groups for immersive visits that combine guided tours with creative STEM tasks, helping young people explore how and why these extraordinary structures were built.

This project is deeply rooted in the story of Eastney Engine Houses—an engineering triumph that shaped public health in Portsmouth. With interpretation diving into forces, engineering, biology, and environmental change, visitors will uncover how the beam and gas engines once worked, why they mattered to the community, and how their legacy continues to influence the city today.

Science and the natural world through old and new eyes

Englesea Brook Chapel & Museum of Primitive Methodism is planning a 10-session programme for Electively Home-educated families. The inspiration for the sessions is taken from archive material and artefacts that have been collected from the inception of Primitive Methodism. One of the founders of the movement, engineer Hugh Bourne, was fascinated with science and innovation and produced a wealth of material to inform Sunday school scholars and adults alike. The nineteenth century ideas will be explored alongside contemporary understanding of, for example, natural remedies, cosmology, the human body, and pottery production. These sessions aim to utilise arts, crafts, drama, storytelling, and our setting, indoors and out, for a fully immersive learning experience suited to different ages and educational needs. The museum will partner with local museums and industries, and the sessions will be led by staff and volunteers.

Discovery gardens

Epworth Old Rectory is a Grade I listed house and gardens with a strong tradition of community engagement and learning. The new Discovery Gardens project will positively transform our heritage gardens into vibrant, inclusive spaces for exploring environmental science and sustainability. This project will create an all-weather outdoor learning area for workshops, storytelling and community activities, supported by inspiring, hands-on science sessions and discovery loan boxes for schools and home-educated groups. Bug hotels, pollinator-friendly planting and enhanced wildlife habitats will boost biodiversity, while accessible interpretation - including QR-linked signage and solar listening points - will make learning engaging and inclusive. Improvements to our composting area will clearly demonstrate soil health, climate resilience and low-impact gardening in action.

Other new features will include a child-friendly smartphone trail highlighting sustainability themes, alongside an engaging programme of expert-led events covering wildlife gardening, foraging, seasonal planting, wellbeing and green dementia care. A new sensory garden and expanded volunteering opportunities will further strengthen community connections, offering free, welcoming opportunities to learn, share skills and enjoy nature together.

Medical innovation in the industrial age

Medical Innovation in the Industrial Age explores how Victorian healthcare shaped everyday lives in Erewash, using the remarkable story of Dr George B Norman - physician, local medical officer, and former resident of the museum building. This project brings the history of medicine to life for young people by creating a high‑quality resource box, interactive online materials, and a new schools workshop designed with local teachers. Through real objects, replicas and archival sources, students will investigate how scientific ideas, medical innovations and public health measures developed during the 19th century, and how these changes affected working‑class communities.

By connecting the museum with local schools, the project supports long‑term learning partnerships and expands the museum’s capacity to share stories of science and medicine. The research and resources developed will inspire future exhibitions, learning programmes and community activities, ensuring a lasting legacy.

The science of risk at sea: stories of danger for Fleetwood's deep sea trawlermen

It would take many museum spaces to tell the full history of danger at sea for Fleetwood’s trawlers. This exhibition aims to provide an insight into some of the key risks experienced in the North Atlantic for Fleetwood’s fishermen during the town’s heyday as a seaport. The exhibition tries to communicate in an accessible way some of the science of ocean meteorology, boat engineering, and marine navigation as it relates to risk at sea, as well as a sense of story and place behind some of the recurring danger spots for Fleetwood trawlers.

Celebrating blood circulation: 400 years of William Harvey's 'De Moto Cordis'

Folkestone museum will create a temporary exhibition to celebrate the 400th anniversary of William Harvey's ground-breaking book, De Motu Cordis, in 2028. De Motu Cordis accurately described the circulation of blood through the body and revolutionised modern medicine. Folkestone is also William Harvey’s hometown – he was born here in 1578 and Harvey even left money in his will to the people of Folkestone to establish a school (the Harvey Grammar School, which still stands today). The exhibition, aimed at primary school learners, will celebrate Harvey’s local roots, explain his discoveries, and include loaned objects from other museums to tell Harvey's story. We will also host a family celebration week during the 2028 summer holiday with hands-on activities to explore Harvey's discoveries.

Environmental impacts of the Lancashire textile industry: a lesson from history

Helmshore Mills Museum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and one of the best-preserved sites in the UK. It comprises Higher Mill, an 18th Century water powered Wool Fulling Mill and Whitaker Mill, a 19th Century steam powered, (later electrically powered) Cotton Mill. Both have original machinery in place and offer an insight into the development of textiles in the area from the earliest days of the industrial revolution.

The museum plans to deliver a project that educates a diverse audience on this site's complex story of power and production and its environmental impacts; past, present and future. This will include the use of water, steam and electricity as power sources and the contradiction of being a cotton recycling mill set in a rural environment yet powered by fossil fuels. This will include illustrated talks and demonstrations on the early recycling process, and special nature activity days set by the mill pond.

Wild about Louth

The museum plans to set up and establish a long-term project to raise awareness of the challenges to local flora and fauna. In the first year, a team of well-informed local enthusiasts, including the Butterfly Conservation Trust and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, will support a citizen science Lepidoptera survey and lead a moth ‘Louth Moon Garden’ campaign to encourage action for wildlife in response to county and national data. The project will include individuals and groups of all ages and abilities: everyone can play a part in creating our whole-town environment for wildlife. Louth Museum aims to build on this in relation to other endangered wildlife in the years ahead.

Science adventurers: half-term activities for kids at the Milton Keynes Museum with the Open University

This project will bring science-based activities catered for families and young audiences to the museum during February half-term. These activities will be linked to the recently opened Ancient Gallery at the museum, which tells the story of Milton Keynes from the Jurassic through to the civil war era. These activities will foster interest in modern science as well as history and archaeology, while focusing on the tangible history of Milton Keynes and engaging local communities. The activities will be hands-on to encourage visitors to see the exhibits from a new perspective as well as having the opportunity to quiz staff from the Open University about scientific research at their local university.

Milton's universe

As John Milton’s only surviving home, and the place where he completed his religious epic Paradise Lost, it may seem counter-intuitive to position Milton’s Cottage as a Place of Science. But from the 17th century to the present-day, scientists including Darwin, Freud and Asimov, have been inspired by Milton’s work. Milton himself kept up with the new science of the 17th century. Writing more than 350 years ago, he combined traditional modes of epic and romance with what we would now call fantasy and science fiction in Paradise Lost - telling stories about humanity on a cosmic scale that nobody had seen before. Science and poetry have always fertilised each other, and Milton’s Universe will bring together artists, scientists, writers and local residents to explore themes of creation, cosmology and human curiosity through Milton’s writing. Their collaborative outputs will be displayed in the museum and online.

The Fireflies Project

The Fireflies Project, led by Normanby Hall Country Park’s museum learning team, inspires young people to connect with their local environment while supporting Key Stage 3 science and history learning.

Working with the team from the Appleby Frodingham Railway, Scunthorpe students will explore the link between industrial heritage and conservation. At a working heritage railway site, they will study and record the endangered Grayling Butterfly. The programme will offer expert talks, hands-on access to natural history collections, and a creative workshop where students will transform their observations into artwork.

The experience will offer a unique blend of science, history, and creativity—bringing learning to life and fostering a lasting connection to their local landscape and museum.

Ravenscraig: past, present, future

Exactly 30 years since the demolition of Europe's largest steelworks this project aims to explore the ways in which steelmaking has impacted the local environment. Local primary school pupils will visit the museum and archive to discover how steel was made and what pollution it caused. Pupils will also spend time on the former steelworks site to record and measure biodiversity in the area and see first-hand how nature is beginning to reclaim the land.

Art lab: distilling the colours of the landscape

Secondary school pupils and family groups will explore the science of natural pigment making in creative workshops at Pannett Art Gallery. Investigating the natural environment through accessible, hands-on scientific experimentation will encourage young people to be curious about nature, and to think about themes of environmental sustainability and the protection of natural resources. Taking a scientific approach to creative exploration, participants will use a rigorous process of looking, testing, recording and comparison, carefully documenting each experiment. Exploring the production of water-based ‘wild inks’ using local, natural materials, participants will examine the impact of different types of water and natural additives on colour, noting variations created by environmental differences. Each result will be logged to develop a colour chart of pigments that relate to the local natural environment. Presenting the results in a community display and learning pack, this project will bring together art, science, people and place.

Digging into archives

The aim of this project is to bring the past to life, by handling collections and replicas to develop understanding of how to protect and preserve artefacts. As a community museum we interact with professionals, volunteers, local groups and collaborate to connect with the public by showing them how to take ownership of their own heritage proving that good science and good stewardship go hand in hand. This project is a new initiative for the museum and will be beneficial in many ways. It will improve volunteer skill level and understanding and will change people’s perception of the museum provision by introducing more interactive activities. It will attract more visitors, schools, groups and volunteers. One of our key objectives is to make it financially possible for disadvantaged children to visit the museum and participate in fun experiences they would not normally have access to, by presenting science in new and interesting ways.

Making a buzz

Portsmouth Natural History Museum is making a buzz with their exciting new project to develop dynamic learning materials as part of a discovery box that can be used by local school groups. The materials will be produced to support the installation of the new observational beehive by the Portsmouth and District Beekeeping Association. With worksheets illustrated by a designer and plenty of hands-on models, tabards, and preserved specimens, the discovery box will enable school groups to engage in a suite of activities and develop key identification skills in a fun and investigative way. The project is also supporting the delivery of animation workshops with a local school to produce a short film about how a beehive works and the roles of different bees. The film will be displayed alongside the new observational beehive installation to help interpret the display and promote biodiversity.

The River Swale from heritage to leisure, looking into the future for this iconic river-way

The river Swale is the historic heart of Richmond, its life blood since early settlers, evolving through industry and pleasure, a key feature for the local community and in danger. Through a science-led approach, informative sessions with external partners this project will bring to light the plight of the flora and fauna of the river. The museum will create a community-led exhibition space, bringing together key artefacts, local accounts and historical information. Allowing the community to take ownership of their heritage, discover what makes the river so special and why they should be a part of protecting it. The museum is working with a local artist to create a mural as the exhibition base that will then be developed in response to the engaging community sessions, so that everyone involved, young and old can see themselves within the projects legacy, be it the exhibition or taking part in sessions or oral history collection; it is project for the community.

Through STEM workshops, discover the engineer who shaped Bedford's airships and understand today's scientific innovations

This project combines Bedford's science and engineering history relating to transport, drawing on aspects of the museum's social history collections. The project will deliver a series of new STEM workshops, demonstrations and talks at The Higgins Bedford and in local primary schools during the Autumn and Spring terms culminating in a competition and display at the museum. The Higgins hosts an annual Science Lab event, in 2027 the theme will be transport and the schools taking part in the project will be encouraged to participate. Bedford’s airship heritage provides an opportunity to explore the development of the R100 and the R101 (Britain’s largest airship) at Shortstown, Bedford. The project will highlight the work of ground-breaking engineers such as Hilda Lyons who developed the airship shape and whose vision was also used to develop submarines. This historical perspective will be presented alongside more recent scientific innovations taking place in Bedford.

Decoding DNA: understanding ancestry science with the 'Brown Babies of WW2' community

This project will support members of the ‘brown babies’ community – children and descendants of Black GIs and white British women born during and after the Second World War – to better understand the science behind ancestry DNA testing.

Many ‘brown babies’ family members use at-home ancestry tests to try and trace relatives and reconnect with family separated by historic discrimination. However, the scientific process behind these tests is often unclear to those taking them. Working with genealogist Dr Sophie Kay and members of its ‘brown babies’ network, The Mixed Museum will co-create five short videos explaining key aspects of DNA science in plain, inclusive language.

The videos will form part of an online DNA Journeys Toolkit at The Mixed Museum, aimed at supporting informed decision-making and connecting science with lived experience for the ‘brown babies’ community, as well as those who share similar family search histories and journeys.

The Radcliffe Observatory community project: sharing the wonder of the heavens

This project will explore and celebrate the history of the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford by engaging young people from Cheney School and our wider community in a range of activities. The Radcliffe Observatory collected meteorological data from 1773 to 1934, when its instruments were transferred to South Africa so that the work could continue in a less polluted atmosphere. The museum will be working closely with Oxford’s History of Science Museum exploring their collection of astronomical and meteorological instruments from the Observatory. The activities will include: learning about its history, tracing back architecture and ideas to ancient Greek roots; building on its legacy by collecting new environmental data with support from Professor Sue Roaf; and organising festivals and presentation evenings. We will also use our own astronomical artefacts - a collection of lantern slides from the early 1900s - to create a striking new exhibition for the public at the Rumble Museum. This will include a community-led mural depicting the planets and the Radcliffe Observatory.

The science of wool and weaving from a Tudor perspective

Through this project, participating students will have opportunities to investigate the properties of wool, critically investigating and evaluating its suitability as a material for clothing production, in comparison with other historic textiles such as linen and silk. They will use practical investigation to discover more about the strength, durability and water-resistant properties of wool, as well as it’s effectiveness as an insulating material. The project integrates both scientific and historical perspectives, delving into the rich heritage of wool and weaving in Worcester, and the lives and craftsmanship of past weavers who once worked in Tudor House. Students will also learn the processes involved in producing broadcloth from raw wool and how this produces an ideal material for clothing. The students will communicate their findings by using the traditional weaving techniques taught during the project to produce their own weave for display within the museum.