University of Glasgow

We're putting museums in the Metaverse so barriers become a thing of the past

Museums in the Metaverse is making cultural sites accessible to all by enabling access though an extended reality platform.

The Museums in the Metaverse project will enable professionals and amateurs to build virtual and mixed-reality environments, which can include 3D-scanned objects from collections.

With the ability to visit these spaces from anywhere in the world using a VR headset, the ground-breaking Extended Reality (XR) Cultural Heritage platform is breaking down barriers for both visitors and cultural heritage professionals.

One side of the platform is for visitors to gain access to a rich array of museums, sites, objects, and novel and dynamic experiences. The other is for virtual curators, where experts and beginners alike can build enriching and entertaining narratives using objects and virtual environments that have never before been placed together in the real world. 

The project harnesses our global reputation for research in digital cultural heritage and XR to develop an innovative solution to the physical and geographical constraints that currently limit heritage institutions to display less than 10% of their holdings, thereby limiting audience reach by cost, distance, and accessibility.

Professor Neil McDonnell, from our School of Humanities, is leading the project. Professor McDonnell said: “It is estimated that over 90% of objects in collections can’t be seen as they are in storage. Museums in the Metaverse can help liberate these collections and will allow museums the freedom to connect with their audiences in new and exciting ways.

“Just imagine being able to step into history and get up close to the virtual duplicates of ancient relics that in the real world can only be displayed or viewed behind glass.

“Museums in the Metaverse will let anyone create their own virtual museums and tell their own stories with objects from all around the world.”

In January, the project launched a virtual reality exhibition dedicated to pioneering scientist and Glasgow alumnus, Lord Kelvin.

The virtual exhibition showcases digitised scientific instruments and artifacts related to the scientist’s work at the University of Glasgow, many of which are not normally on public display.

The backdrop is a virtual recreation of a 19th-century laboratory based on Kelvin's actual laboratory at the University, including accurate recreations of elements of the Gilbert Scott building.

The Kelvin exhibition has been curated by Museums in the Metaverse team members Dr Pauline Mackay, Dr Lynn Verschuren and Dr Alan Matthews in partnership with Lateral North, who created the digital environment.

Dr Mackay said: “Since the project began last year, we’ve digitised hundreds of objects from collections around the world and will make them available for people to build their own virtual museum collections online from spring. This virtual exhibition is the first themed museum we’ve built from the ground up to showcase a single collection, and we’re very proud of the work we’ve put in to create a 19th-century lab environment which showcases Kelvin’s life, work and legacy.”

The Museums in the Metaverse platform is supported by £5.6m in funding from the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator programme. It is being developed by the University of Glasgow in partnership with immersive learning platform Edify, Historic Environment Scotland and National Museums Scotland.

This project is funded by the Glasgow City Region Innovation Accelerator programme. Led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation, the pilot Innovation Accelerator programme is investing £100m in 26 transformative R&D projects to accelerate the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters – Glasgow City Region, Greater Manchester and West Midlands. Supporting the UK Government’s levelling-up agenda, this is a new model of R&D decision making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth and help attract private R&D investment and develop future technologies.