Health and Wellbeing Research

We work with local young and older adults to explore how people experience the Museum and how together we can create a more inclusive and accessible space for everyone.

Our research supports the Museum’s Research and Impact Strategic themes around health & wellbeing; and participation & collaboration. It is focused on challenging, changing and improving Museum practice.

We involve local communities in research which promotes positive health & wellbeing, enables inclusive practice and creates a welcoming environment where adults feel connected and cared for.

This work is supported through the Museum's Knowledge Exchange and University Collections Project.

Projects

Happy Place (2025)

A participatory research project exploring how young adults' wellbeing can be improved by their engagement with museums, their stories and spaces.

Community partners: Cambridge Youth Forum, NCS (National Citizen Service), Romsey Mill and other local organisations and networks working with and supporting young adults.

Working with 16 – 25 year olds on their own terms, examining what an excellent wellbeing museum experience at the museum might look like and co-designing pilot interventions to improve wellbeing.

Creative Lunches: Sharing Art & Food (2025)

An intergenerational community engagement project with young children, families & older adults, inspired by the Picturing Excess: Jan Davidz de Heem display.

Community partners: Cambridgeshire County Council Sensory Support team, Cambridge city organisations and networks working with families & with older adults

Exploring how creative activities in the community can build connections with people and across generations.

Enabled thanks to the philanthropic support of an anonymous donor.

Museums for Life (2025)

An evidence-based, creative programme supporting the positive health and wellbeing of older adults. This project has developed from Reimagining.

Community partners: Cambridge Older People’s Enterprise and other local charities and networks working with and supporting older adults

Developing a set of principles for inclusive practice in the Museum and using the principles to inform the development, delivery and evaluation of creative programmes for older adults.

Funded by the Marlay Group.

The People’s Museum (2025)

A participatory action research project with adults affected by non-visible disabilities – phase two of Take a Walk in My Shoes.

Exploring what an accessible and inclusive museum might look like, through a variety of smaller research projects.

Take a Walk in My Shoes (2024)

A participatory research project exploring multisensory experiences of how it feels to ‘be’ in the Museum and how the experiences of people affected by non-visible disabilities can be used to inform and / or support health and wellbeing in the Museum.

Funded by the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Marlay Research and Impact Fund.

Reimagining (2024)

An evaluative project which explored older adults’ experiences of health and wellbeing initiatives in the Museum.

Funded by the Fitzwilliam Museum Marlay Group Fund.