Since 2012, we’ve undertaken projects of all shapes and sizes. To deliver this program, we’ve collaborated with a huge variety of organisations – from the University, local area and further afield. Find out more about our past ventures here: 

Annual Reviews
Giving an overview of our work in each year, you can read our annual reviews online.
2021-2022 Year in Numbers
2020-2021 A year like no other
2018-2019 Highlights

Operation Survival and Cambridge Codebreakers: The Last Secret
We partnered with Fire Hazard Games to deliver two high-octane digital adventure games across a number of our museums. Imagine head-scratching puzzles and a madcap rush between venues (not in the galleries!). Find out more on our Collections in Action blog:
Operation Survival
Cambridge Codebreakers: turning museum visitors into players
Cambridge Codebreakers: developing a codebreaking adventure across four museums
2017-2019

India Unboxed
To mark the UK-India Year of Culture 2017, we celebrated a shared season on the theme of India - a programme of exhibitions, events, digital encounters, discussions, installations and more within the museums and the city of Cambridge.
Rooted in our collections, the programme explored themes of identity and connectivity for audiences in both the UK and India, with support from Arts Council England. Read the India Unboxed Evaluation Report
2017-18

The Museum as Method
This conference, run in collaboration with the University's Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH), brought together scholars from disciplines interested in material culture and curators from across the arts and sciences, to reflect on both questions of methodology and public policy.
2016 

Curating Cambridge
Curating Cambridge: our city, our stories, our stuff was a collaborative arts and cultural season which took place over October and November 2014. Read the Curating Cambridge Evaluation Report
2014

Artist in Residence, North West Cambridge Development
The Artist in Residence programme at the North West Cambridge Development ran throughout the development of the site, with three artists being appointed each year. 
2014-2016

Discoveries: Art, Science and Exploration
In 2014, Discoveries, the first major show to bring together the fascinating collections from all eight University of Cambridge Museums, took place at London's Two Temple Place and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
2014

House Guests
From March to July 2013 specimens, objects and artworks from the University of Cambridge Museums and collections took up residence at Kettle's Yard. The 'guests', from butterflies to Inuit carving, invited visitors to see Kettle's Yard in a new light and to discover more about the University of Cambridge Museums.
2013

Thresholds
In 2012 Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy invited ten of the best UK poets writing today to take part in a series of residencies at the University of Cambridge Museums. Each poet spent time in their host museum or collection, exploring the collection and working with young people, helping them to develop their critical thinking skills as well as their writing.
2012-13

What's On

Museum of Classical Archaeology
22 Mar 2023
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As part of the Cambridge Festival our panel of experts explore ownership and identity as they discuss who should tell the histories of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
24 Mar 2023
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Join curator Dr Susanne Turner for a tour of the Museum's unusual collection of Greek and Roman plaster casts.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
29 Mar 2023
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What was it like to live on the fringes of the empire, under Roman rule? For one evening, as part of the Cambridge Festival, grab a glass of wine and find out.

Museum of Zoology
09 Mar 2023
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Join us for this free online chat with Director of the Museum, Professor Rebecca Kilner

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
15 Apr 2023
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Learn how to tackle weeds with Botanic Garden experts

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
17 Apr 2023
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Try something new with this perfect sized project, or make a lovely gift for someone

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
19 Apr 2023
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Join tutor Gwenda Kyd and learn about aromatherapy and essential oils on this morning course

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
22 Apr 2023
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A one-day course all about these amazing little plants

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
22 Apr 2023
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Keeping a sketchbook is the best habit an artist can have

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
24 Apr 2023
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Learn to study and record leaves in detail using coloured pencil with Janie Pirie

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
28 Apr 2023
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Go on a journey through the seasons learning about wild flowers with garden historian Twigs Way

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
03 May 2023
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Join RHS medal-winning garden designer Paul Herrington and start designing your own garden

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
05 May 2023
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Follow the journey from wild species through domestication and cultivation to commercial production

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
09 May 2023
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Join tutor Penny Price and learn to paint these fleshy, water retaining plants

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
17 Mar 2023
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Get hands-on at the Whipple and make a zine exploring your personal experiences with power.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
01 Apr 2023
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Learn about the life cycle of a plant, plant some seeds and make a seed artwork to take home with you.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
06 May 2023
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Join us in the schools’ garden as we pot up different plants that you can grow on at home in your garden or windowsill.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
03 Jun 2023
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Have fun at this family session as you weave your own artwork using leaves, grasses, plant fibres and scented plants from the Botanic Garden.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
01 Jul 2023
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Come along to learn all about butterfly and moth life cycles. We’ll also be discovering what has been caught overnight in our moth trap and making fabulous paper caterpillars to take home.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
02 Sep 2023
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At this workshop we will be making leaf artworks.  Using some of the most interesting shaped leaves we will create pictures using leaf rubbing with crayons and watercolours.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
07 Oct 2023
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The Botanic Garden is home to lots of different animals – come along to learn about them and make an animal mask decorated with autumn seeds and leaves.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
04 Nov 2023
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We’ll be using hessian, sticks and natural plant fibres to make nature wall hangings that you can hang on your wall or bedroom door. Drop-in to join in the fun.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
02 Dec 2023
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Get festive at this drop-in activity where you can learn all about the history of the Christmas tree and make some Christmas craft to take home with you.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
15 May 2023
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We hope that this course will provide a stimulating introduction to the biology of flowers, and you will look at your garden in a new light

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
18 May 2023
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Learn some watercolour skills with professional painter John Wiltshire

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
20 May 2023
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Learn the secrets of great garden photography with Botanic Garden photographer Howard Rice

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
01 Apr 2023

Can you crack the code of the enchanted egg and claim your Easter prize?

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
22 May 2023
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Learn more about these specialist plants and their beautiful flowers

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
25 May 2023
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Explore the natural history of our native trees and learn how to recognise individual species

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
26 May 2023
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Go on a journey through the seasons learning about wild flowers with garden historian Twigs Way

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
06 Jun 2023
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Learn how to use plant material to print and make your own sketchbooks

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
08 Jun 2023
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Explore the changing mealtimes of the Georgian gentry, and the role of temples, garden tents and picnic sites in garden design

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
16 Jun 2023
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Develop a taste and a confident passion for these beautiful plants

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
19 Jun 2023
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Develop an understanding of the evolution and systematics of the major plant families and the skills needed for plant identification

Museum of Zoology, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
01 Apr 2023
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Explore complex, intriguing and challenging stories about power within our collections.

Museum of Zoology, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
01 Apr 2023
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Explore complex, intriguing and challenging stories about power within our collections.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
19 Mar 2023
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Science on Sundays is a programme of free, informal, monthly science talks, bringing the latest discoveries in plant science, as well as research linked to the plant collection at CUBG, to our visitors in a 30 minute nutshell. 

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
16 Apr 2023
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Science on Sundays is a programme of free, informal, monthly science talks, bringing the latest discoveries in plant science, as well as research linked to the plant collection at CUBG, to our visitors in a 30 minute nutshell.