Start: R&D is vital to how we work at this great adventure. Since 2015, Director, Peter, has been a lead Industry Partner of the MA Collaborate and MA Collaborative Dissertations programme at Loughborough University London (LUL).

Each year, we set a challenge for between 25 and 40 Masters Students based around our current and upcoming projects, and responding to industry trends and challenges in the real world.

Working in groups, and with support from LUL, our students have 10 weeks to research, investigate and develop their responses to the challenge, culminating in a final presentation of their proposals, a Project Report, and the CP Show (this year being held as an online event).

COVID has transformed the needs and ambitions of museums and cultural organisations, and their audiences. It kick starting a process of rapid digitsation and development across the cultural sector.

This year we asked students to review and analyse the current and potential uses of interactive and immersive technologies to make cultural spaces and storytelling experiences more accessible for people living with disability.

We challenged students to develop an evidence based proposal, linked to a real museum or cultural organisation, for how these technologies could be used to make their spaces, stories and engagement more accessible.

Journey: In phase 1, students undertook a review and analysis of current interactive and immersive technologies and how they are being used in different spaces to make them more accessible.

In phase 2, Students reached out to individuals, community groups and advocates for people living with different disabilities, to conduct primary research interviews, and to better understand their needs and ambitions for engaging with public and cultural spaces and storytelling experiences.

In pahse 3, With great support from lead tutor, Anthony Brown, and with additional support from Varuna De-Silva, each of our 5x student groups has developed an original proposal exploring the potential future of accessibility using interactive and immersive storytelling technologies in a diverse range of ways.

Destination:

Five high quality evidence-based R&D proposals - exploring accessibility, interactive and immersive storytelling technologies - that can feed into our daily work, as well as being developed to seek funding and be realised in the world

• Students engaged directly with target user groups and communities to understand the challenges they face, as well as their needs and ambitions around engaging with cultural spaces and experiences

• By connecting research and theoretical learning with real world users, needs, ambitions and contexts, students learned how types of technology or experience can be effective for engaging and supporting users with different types of need // disability

• Student responses and R&D proposals we received were very varied, ranging from product design approaches for new ‘connected immersive headsets’ and smart wheelchairs, to rethinking the spatial layouts and physical design of cultural spaces, developing ‘accessible and interactive experience zones’, as well as exploring more workshop-based educational and community engagement focused approaches

NOTE: Final Student Reports and Presentations coming soon