Project outlines

The Fitzwilliam Museum has a world-leading reputation for its research on ancient Egyptian coffins. Broadly speaking, this research involves the interdisciplinary examination of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collection of around 200 ancient Egyptian coffins and coffin fragments through advanced imaging techniques, such as X-radiography and CT scanning, in collaboration with various subject specialists in order to provide new and unprecedented insights into ancient Egyptian coffin construction, the funerary industry and beliefs in the afterlife. Since January 2018, my role in this research has been to describe the decorative programme, and translate texts, on two of these coffin sets (Nespawershefyt, c. 1000...

The use of 3D modelling and digital replication has been firmly adopted by archaeologists and the heritage sector since Reilly first coined the phrase “Virtual Archaeology” in the late 1980s. The use of such models has had significant academic impact regarding how we visualise the past and more recently has started to promote questions about how authentic these replicated worlds are and how they can be used to facilitate public engagement with the wider heritage sector. 3D printing is a relatively new technology but has grasped the public imagination and the heritage sector has been quick to see a new...

The intended outcome of this strand of the CEEF fellowship is to ‘send the Fitz, in bits’—i.e. to post small themed collections of 3D printed objects and paper materials for consumers to use with a ‘Brain Box’ from Museum in a Box. Through sending these low-cost collections to audiences with minimal access to wider cultural provision, we could drastically increase the reach of the museum’s collections as well as attract new and more diverse audiences to the museum itself. In the first instance, we will be running pilot schemes in clinical settings and with disadvantaged communities in rural Cambridgeshire. The...

For this CEEF project at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Project 4), I am working with Museum in a Box together with curators, education, digital, and other stakeholders at the museum to develop a project with looking at the connections between collections from around the ancient Mediterranean, one of cornerstones of the Fitzwilliam’s collections. The Fitzwilliam Museum, in conjunction with its affiliated Cambridge Museum, is a place of wonder, but how do we make it a place of exploration as well for audiences with little or no background in the heritage sector? Making museum data and collections research both available and palatable...