Our Museums

Research

Research is the foundation for everything that we do. Our research spans a range of disciplines, including collection management, conservation science, education, and audience & programming development.

Contact Research Manager
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Our Commitment

Through interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships, our research projects bring together specialists from museums, higher education institutions and industrial partners; and with the increasing knowledge and understanding about the specimens in our care, we can inspire and engage audiences in a range of different ways. Our research is underpinned by National Museums NI Collections Research Policy which ensures our commitment to fulfil our statutory obligations under Article 4 (1) of the Museums & Galleries (Northern Ireland) Order 1998.

Research collaborations

  • For an academic research project that would involve working with National Museums NI please contact the Research Manager no later than 2 months before the application deadline.
  • Researchers (with academic affiliation or independent scholars) wishing to access our collections/data please contact the department you are interested in or the Research Manager.

We are pleased to support postgraduate research by participating in collaborative doctoral projects (CDA, CDP, CDT) and facilitating access to our collections, sites and staff expertise. Current and former collaborative doctoral researchers have been supported by external funders, such as Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and the Northern Bridge Consortium.

Submit a research request

Please note that due to the high volume of requests to assess any proposals for analysis or to access our collections, it may take up to 3 months to assess your request. We will work with you about expected timeline and specific details of your request and the subsequent agreed timeframe to undertake the requested analysis. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Research Priorities 

Our research is designed to be strategically aligned, inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable. It is guided by our key priority themes, ensuring coherence across our initiatives. We place public benefit at the core of our work, ensuring that our research is accessible and relevant to diverse audiences. By fostering cross-sector partnerships, we create collaborative opportunities that enrich both the museum sector and wider academic discourse. Additionally, we invest in long-term expertise development to maintain the sustainability of our research, supporting the continued growth of both our organisation and the field at large.

Objective

Advance research that critically explores diverse and evolving identities, cultural expression, and cultural traditions, ensuring that National Museums NI’s collections, interpretation and programmes reflect contemporary society and engage with contemporary issues.

Research Focus

  • Heritage, Migration, and Identity – Investigate how our collections help further understanding of cultural belonging, with a focus on how migration, diaspora, and evolving social identities influence heritage.
  • Inclusive Global Histories – Examine the global histories and colonial legacies of collections, reassessing provenance and, through an inclusive approach that ensures marginalised voices are represented, promoting mutual respect and understanding.
  • Memory Studies and Public History – Explore how memory, tradition, and commemoration shape public understanding of history and identity, using participatory research to ensure inclusivity.
  • Language and Cultural Expression – Investigate the role of linguistic heritage, including research linked to the Inclusive Global Histories and the Languages of Ulster programmes, to understand how language shapes collective identity.

Research Approach

This theme will employ archival research, oral histories, cultural studies, and digital humanities methodologies to enhance understanding and the interpretation of museum collections. National Museums NI will work collaboratively with local, source and newcomer communities, academic institutions, and policy bodies to ensure that research is inclusive and actively informs exhibitions, the development, care and management of collections, and public engagement strategies.

Objective

Investigate the legacy of the past and support the social peace process through building understanding, encouraging dialogue, fostering reconciliation, and contributing to societal cohesion in post-conflict contexts.

Research Focus

  • Legacies of Conflict and Contested Histories – Examine the impact and legacy of the conflict in and about Northern Ireland and approaches to dealing with contested history.
  • Museums as Spaces for Dialogue and Empathy – Research how museum interpretation, exhibitions, education programmes and collections can facilitate peacebuilding, reconciliation, and cross-community dialogue.
  • Personal Testimonies and Lived Experience – Collect and analyse personal testimonies that capture diverse perspectives on conflict and peace, ensuring a wide representation of voices in museum narratives.
  • International Knowledge Exchange – Explore how museums and collections respond to situations of conflict, legacies of conflict and experiences of peacebuilding, connecting past struggles to ongoing actions for positive social change.

Research Approach

Building on initiatives such as The Troubles and Beyond and the Conflict and Legacy Interpretive Network, this theme will utilise qualitative research methods, conflict studies, and participatory approaches to ensure that Nationals Museums NI is playing a leading role in dialogue and development that contributes meaningfully to peacebuilding efforts. Research will inform curatorial strategies, educational programming, and international collaborations on post-conflict heritage management.

Objective

Utilise museum collections, sites and expertise to research climate change, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable practices, embedding environmental responsibility within National Museums NI’s research and operations.

Research Focus

  • Natural Science Collections and Environmental Change – Conduct scientific analysis of biodiversity loss, habitat shifts, and species decline, using historical specimens and contemporary fieldwork and collecting to monitor environmental change over time.
  • Sustainable Heritage and Conservation – Investigate how museums can lead in sustainable collections care, management and interpretation, including research on low-carbon conservation methods and environmentally responsible exhibitions.
  • Human-Environmental Relationships – Examine historical and contemporary connections between people, landscapes, and ecological systems, using museum collections as sources of environmental insight.
  • Community-Driven Climate Action – Research how museums can support citizen science, community-led conservation initiatives, and public engagement in sustainability efforts.

Research Approach

This theme will employ scientific research, environmental history, conservation science, and interdisciplinary collaborations to ensure that National Museums NI actively contributes to mitigating damaging environmental change, sustainability education and advocacy, and ecological preservation. Partnerships with conservation organisations, policymakers, and scientific institutions will ensure that research outcomes inform both museum practice and wider environmental discourse.

Objective

Develop understanding of creativity and innovation through museum collections, and inspire new innovation including in how we manage and share the collections, ensuring that museum research remains responsive to societal and technological change.

Research Focus

  • Innovation, Industry and Ideas – Explore what museum collections can tell us about the development of society and the economy through progress over time, and how pioneers from the past can inform and inspire new generations of innovators and creatives.
  • Digital Innovation in Museum Practice – Investigate the role of interactive platforms and immersive media in enhancing collections research and public access.
  • Participatory Research and Co-Creation – Explore the benefits of community-led curation, audience-driven exhibition design, and collaborative research models.
  • STEAM Learning and Museum-Based Skills Development – Examine how museums contribute to STEAM education, economic development and employability, and interdisciplinary knowledge exchange.
  • Advanced Conservation and Collections Management – Research emerging techniques in preventive conservation, 3D scanning, and digital documentation, ensuring that heritage remains accessible and well conserved.

Research Approach

This theme has its roots in the National Museums NI’s collections, which speak to innovations in our past and the present, and are inspiring the future, on a local and global scale. From innovations that revolutionised the world of agriculture, advanced transport or helped saved lives, to artworks that are pushing the boundaries of material practice. Through partnerships with universities, creative industries, artists, and technology specialists, research will explore how museums can stimulate creativity, catalyse new thinking, create more engaging experiences, and develop future-facing collections management practices.

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Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships

The Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme of the Arts and Humanities Research Council is designed to encourage and develop collaboration between UK Higher Education Institutions and non-HEI organisations like museums and galleries.

Ulster Folk Museum Costume & Textiles Collection

Our Folk Museum Costume and Textiles collection is currently closed to external researchers while we complete a new storage project, which will help to safeguard this significant collection and ensure greater accessibility in the longer term. We cannot consider research requests to physically access the collection at this time. Stay up to date on the project here.

Archaeology Research Requests             

Our Collections Care team is currently engaged in assessing the human remains in our collection, meaning any potential research access to ancient Irish human remains cannot be considered until after May 2025.

Painting Research Requests

For the present time, due to pressures of a large scale and ambitious programme of collections movement, we unable to offer access to the paintings in storage. We regret this, however we are working towards making the art collection more accessible in the future and ask for your patience during this busy period.

Student Placements

We prioritise placements that are integral part of the course and organised by the course leader together with the Research Manager. Other placements can be organised, but both undergraduate and taught postgraduate students will need to ask their course leader to contact the Research Manager.

Projects & Collaborations

The Congruence Engine Project

The Congruence Engine is a three-year research project, started in November 2021, that will use the latest digital techniques to connect industrial history collections held in different locations. It is one of five ‘Discovery Projects’ funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under the ‘Towards a National Collection’ funding stream. As a data-providing project partner, National Museums NI has committed to sharing 5,000 collection records for inclusion in the project under the headline themes of textiles, energy and communications.

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