A young woman stands in front of a table fulled with fossils and activity sheets at a community lunch event.

Connecting with communities at holiday lunches

In 2025, over 1,000 people engaged with our collections in community centres across Cambridge, supporting Cambridge Sustainable Food and Cambridge City Council’s holiday lunch programme. The programme combines activities and food education, alongside healthy free meals, as part of the community food poverty response in the city. Food insecurity is at the heart of the cost-of-living crisis. A recent food… Read full article

A child-made paper mosaic which reads ‘I love Latin club’.

Why we still love Latin

As the Museum of Classical Archaeology celebrates 12 years of Latin learning, Education and Outreach Coordinator Martha Heemskerk explores what this ancient language offers to children, volunteers and schools today. Since 2013 the Museum of Classical Archaeology has run a programme of after-school Latin clubs in local state primary schools across Cambridge. In its 12th year, this programme is one… Read full article


A sheet of music with handwritten notes.

Messiah to Memorabilia: Exploring the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Music Collection

From February 2026, Royal Holloway PhD student Adrianna Chmielewska had the opportunity to carry out her second year placement at the Fitzwilliam Museum. This blog showcases a couple of highlights which reflect the sheer variety of the Museum’s Music collection. What fascinates me about them is that, like many historical objects, they leave us with as many questions as answers…. Read full article

Museum Assistant Director Jack Ashby leans over a balcony to look at the fin whale hanging from the ceiling of the Museum, whilst holding his phone.

Exploring AI at the Museum of Zoology

For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan… Read full article


A young woman stands in front of a table fulled with fossils and activity sheets at a community lunch event.

Connecting with communities at holiday lunches

In 2025, over 1,000 people engaged with our collections in community centres across Cambridge, supporting Cambridge Sustainable Food and Cambridge City Council’s holiday lunch programme. The programme combines activities and food education, alongside healthy free meals, as part of the community food poverty response in the city. Food insecurity is at the heart of the cost-of-living crisis. A recent food… Read full article

A child-made paper mosaic which reads ‘I love Latin club’.

Why we still love Latin

As the Museum of Classical Archaeology celebrates 12 years of Latin learning, Education and Outreach Coordinator Martha Heemskerk explores what this ancient language offers to children, volunteers and schools today. Since 2013 the Museum of Classical Archaeology has run a programme of after-school Latin clubs in local state primary schools across Cambridge. In its 12th year, this programme is one… Read full article


The garden of the Arthur Rank Hospice with green lawn, statue and the wooden clad Arthur's Shed building.

Exploring the therapeutic effect of object handling

In Autumn 2025, the Arthur Rank Hospice invited the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) to deliver a six-week programme of object-handling sessions for outpatients. Sarah Talks and Rosie Croysdale from the MAA Education Team worked alongside Sophie Wakefield, Art Therapist and Life Celebration Coordinator at Arthur Rank Hospice Charity (ARHC). The sessions took place at Arthur’s Shed, a multipurpose… Read full article

The group of students and staff standing outside the Centre for Material Culture holding a large illustrated drawing of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Supporting young people with SEND to discover museum jobs

Earlier this year, the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) piloted a new programme of work experience for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our current programme for young people with SEND offers a broad range of creative opportunities, but it has lacked progression for older participants, especially those transitioning into adulthood and employment. Looking to address these… Read full article


Museum Assistant Director Jack Ashby leans over a balcony to look at the fin whale hanging from the ceiling of the Museum, whilst holding his phone.

Exploring AI at the Museum of Zoology

For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan… Read full article

University of Cambridge Museums Activity Update, 1 July – 30 September 2024

Covering the period 1 July – 30 September 2024, this report provides an insight into some of the stories behind our NPO-funded activity delivered under our Collections In Action programme themes: Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, and Health and Wellbeing, as well as our underpinning Programme Enablement activity.  Our main themes of Social Justice, Our Planet, Creating Opportunities, Health… Read full article


The group of students and staff standing outside the Centre for Material Culture holding a large illustrated drawing of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Supporting young people with SEND to discover museum jobs

Earlier this year, the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) piloted a new programme of work experience for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our current programme for young people with SEND offers a broad range of creative opportunities, but it has lacked progression for older participants, especially those transitioning into adulthood and employment. Looking to address these… Read full article

Museum Assistant Director Jack Ashby leans over a balcony to look at the fin whale hanging from the ceiling of the Museum, whilst holding his phone.

Exploring AI at the Museum of Zoology

For the last year, the Museum of Zoology has invited the public to chat to museum animals in an innovative AI experiment. What has the Museum learnt? Since October 2024, visitors have been able to ‘chat’ with 13 specimens in the Museum of Zoology, from the dodo and the fin whale to a cockroach or a butterfly. You simply scan… Read full article


A sheet of music with handwritten notes.

Messiah to Memorabilia: Exploring the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Music Collection

From February 2026, Royal Holloway PhD student Adrianna Chmielewska had the opportunity to carry out her second year placement at the Fitzwilliam Museum. This blog showcases a couple of highlights which reflect the sheer variety of the Museum’s Music collection. What fascinates me about them is that, like many historical objects, they leave us with as many questions as answers…. Read full article

An older person holding a shell in one hand and tracing it in the other.

Museum Collections, Occupational Therapy and Stroke Rehabilitation

At the end of last year, we introduced a new student placement in collaboration with Cambridge University Hospitals, exploring how museum objects and artworks can support therapy for stroke rehabilitation patients. The placement was an exciting step forward in our ongoing collaboration with the Occupational Therapists at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, which has developed over the last three years. In… Read full article