Pilot project plans to make collections more accessible

A research project is supporting a set of museums and galleries to make their collections more accessible for people with disabilities.

The Sensational Museum is a £1m project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It will support museums in creating sensory interventions that are accessible to all and created for people who cannot experience museums in traditional ways.

According to the project’s website, twelve museums, galleries, archives and heritage sites are involved in the pilot.

Among them is Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is planning four workshops in September and October.

The museum’s Head of Public Engagement and Learning, Sarah-Jane Harknett, told the BBC it will work with local people to "shape not just this museum, but museum practice".

"It will be the ideas from the participants that will really help make it more engaging, more accessible, just better for lots of different people," Harknett said.

The Sensational Museum project will also work to showcase best practice examples of museums and heritage sites across the UK.