Museums in the Metaverse

Professor Neil McDonnell, Principal Investigator (PI)

Neil is Professor of Philosophy and XR Technology at UofG. With over 17 years of XR industry experience, Neil has worked on a variety of subjects ranging from the Metaphysics of Causation, philosophical issues in Safety and Engineering and has carried out a host of philosophical investigations and projects concerning Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Technology. Neil is Chair of the ARC XR Operations board within UofG’s Advanced Research Centre as well as Principal Investigator of the Scoping Extended Educational Realities (SEER) Research Group.

 

Professor Maria Economou, Co-Investigator (Co-I)

Maria is Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at UofG, a joint post she holds between Information Studies and The Hunterian. Previously a Co-I on EU-H2020 EMOTIVE (2016-19) and the EU-MCSA POEM ITN on Participatory Memory Practices (2018-22), Maria currently holds a British Academy/Wolfson Research Professorship (2022-2025) on ‘Emotional engagement with museum collections through digital storytelling and participatory approaches’, and a Museums Galleries Scotland grant on ‘Increasing Digital Engagement and Access to the Hunterian Collections’.

 

Dr Pauline Mackay, Co-Investigator (Co-I)

Pauline is Senior Lecturer in Robert Burns Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at UofG. As chair of Burns Scotland (recognised by Museums Galleries Scotland), Pauline works extensively with CH Partners throughout Scotland on research, curation, conservation and access to Burns-related sites and collections. An innovator in XR related to material culture, she collaborated to create the first ever Robert Burns VR experience, Burns Beyond Reality. Pauline is also Co-I and Co-Editor on the AHRC-funded project Editing Robert Burns’s Poetry and Correspondence.

 

Professor Murray Pittock, Co-Investigator (Co-I)

Murray is Bradley Professor and Pro Vice-Principal for Special Projects at UofG. He is Chair/Board Member of the Kelvin Hall Partnership, Scottish History Advisory to the National Trust of Scotland, and has held grants to work on Museology, Tourism and the Creative Economy, and Cultural and Public Memory. Having led on a range of national and international partnerships, Murray currently holds the AHRC award for the 2018-23 Allen Ramsay Project and is also PI of the EPSRC-AHRC Scottish national Heritage Partnership on Immersive Technology Design.

 

 

Conor Fraser, Research Assistant in 3D Optimisation

Conor is our RA in 3D optimisation. They have a B.Des. in Animation from Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (2016-20) and an MSc in Heritage Visualization from Glasgow School of Art (2022-23). Before their position at the University of Glasgow, they worked as a Freelance 3D Artist and Generalist within the Film and Games industries. As part of MiM, Conor's role is to optmise 3D assets through photogrammetry to ensure their efficiency and graphical fidelity. Additionally, they are tasked with creating a standarised 3D optimisation workflow (e.g., new and innovative ways of retopologizing models and textures) for all 3D objects generated.

 

Luca Ottonello, Research Assistant - Digital Heritage 

Luca is in the final stages of completing his PhD at UofG in Digital Archaeology and Emotive Game Design. Integrating digital emotive interaction into archaeo-gaming environments, his research investigates the impact of interactive narrative on user emotion.

With qualifications in law, politics and tourism management, Luca comes further equipped with substantial experience in field archaeology, digital reconstruction and animation. This mix of skills mainly oriented in the area of fully researched historical background and storytelling within digital 3D environments allows Luca to weave intricate scenarios within carefully curated environments in the metaverse that will make the MiM experience unforgettable and carefully curated for all users, from the expert museum curator to the layperson wishing to explore and create their own environments filled with historical artefacts.

 

Jennifer Park, Project Co-ordinator

Jeni has an extensive background in project management that ranges across civil service, higher education and heritage. She also boasts experience in managing digitisation and preservation projects for fragile formats within sound, moving image and periodicals. As MiM's project co-ordinator, Jeni is responsible for co-ordinating all the administration and monitoring of the project.

 

Dr Lynn Verschuren, Research Associate - Digital Heritage

Lynn has a shared post at UofG as Lecturer in Museum Studies (based in Information Studies) and as our RA in Digital Heritage. Lynn is also Co-director of the Glasgow Digital Cultural Heritage Arts Lab. In her role as RA in Digital Heritage, Lynn is part of our Museology work package; her main responsibilies include the research and establishment of the core functionality of the MiM platform as well as the selection, curation and interpretation of cultural heritage objects in VR in line with our CH partners' strategic aims.

 

Christopher Viney, Digitisation Technician

Christopher is our Digitisation Technician. He has a wide range of heritage experience working with archives and museums across the UK. Since completing an MSc in Information Management and Preservation at UofG (2019-20), Christopher has worked on numerous projects digitising heritage collections. Christopher also sits on the Committee for The Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography (AHFAP).

In his role as the Digitisation Technician during MiM he will be bringing his expertise in heritage photography and photogrammetry to ensure the accurate capture and creation of 3D digital models, utilising the Rigsters Arago automated photogrammetry rig and photographic equipment. Alongside the Research Assistant in 3D Optimisation, he will create an effective and efficient workflow to ensure the population of the MiM platform with high quality cultural heritage assets.

Fergus Bruce, Research Associate - Digital Culture & Heritage Economy 

Fergus occupies a split role on Museums in the Metaverse and with our project partners Edify, where he remains a Senior Director. He brings a wealth of industrial commercial experience to the project, having worked in diverse roles in the creative industries and private sector for over 17 years; including substantial experience with XR technology and its commercialisation, visualisation, design, and museums and cultural heritage. He returns to the University as staff having received an MA (Hons) in Philosophy from the institution, and also holds an Masters in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews. 

Working closely with Co-I Prof. Murray Pittock, Fergus's sole focus is the project's economic work-package, which is broadly concerned with research into - and characterisation of - the market context around MiM, and on identifying pathways for sustainable growth for the eventual MiM platform. This involves identifying who will use the MiM platform; what they will use it for; where they will use it; what value they will derive from it; and how the intersection of these streams will generate economic activity (an essential project outcome). 

 

 

 

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First published: 6 December 2023