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 Zoology
09 Feb 2024
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FREE expert guided tour of the Museum's highlights

Museum of Zoology
08 Mar 2024
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Calling all 2-5 year olds! Join us for story telling and play at the Museum. 

The Polar Museum
21 Feb 2024
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Ever wanted to explore the coldest and windiest place on Earth? Immersive Antarctica is your chance to discover the wonders of the South in virtual reality.

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
19 Feb 2024
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Enjoy a taste of Twilight at the Museums in the afternoon! Find out more about how light works. 

Whipple Museum of the History of Science
21 Feb 2024
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Enjoy a taste of Twilight at the Museums in the afternoon! Find out more about how light works. 

Kettle's Yard
28 Jan 2024
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Kettle's Yard
08 Feb 2024
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Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
19 Feb 2024
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Drop in to our fun, hand-on activities that explore the fascinating science of plate tectonics. Build your own mountain range, jump to create your own earthquake and become a deep-Earth scientist.

Museum of Zoology
01 Feb 2024
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NEW - exhibition 'Growing a backbone: Rise of the vertebrates' - discover how and why heads, jaws, teeth & backbones have evolved at our new exhibition, with specimens that have not been on display before. 

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
23 Feb 2024
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Drop in to our fun, hand-on activities that explore the fascinating science of plate tectonics. Build your own mountain range, jump to create your own earthquake and become a deep-Earth scientist.

Kettle's Yard
22 Feb 2024
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Museum of Cambridge
19 Feb 2024
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Let your creativity shine using light and shadows to tell the story of Moses Carter, the Histon giant. With hand-shadow animals, and shadow puppet making.

Museum of Cambridge
21 Feb 2024
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Let your creativity shine using light and shadows to tell the story of Moses Carter, the Histon giant. With hand-shadow animals, and shadow puppet making.

Museum of Cambridge
23 Feb 2024
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Let your creativity shine using light and shadows to tell the story of Moses Carter, the Histon giant. With hand-shadow animals, and shadow puppet making.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
23 Feb 2024
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Discover William Blake’s universe and a constellation of European artists seeking spirituality in their lives and art in response to war, revolution and political turbulence.

The Fitzwilliam Museum
10 May 2024
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Sandro Botticelli’s masterpiece Venus and Mars is the highlight of our exciting new display exploring ideas of sex and power, gender and the body through classical mythology and Italian art of the 1400s and 1500s.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
10 Feb 2024
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Join us to celebrate the start of the Year of the Dragon with craft activities and a trail around the museum.

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
10 Feb 2024
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Join us to celebrate the start of the Year of the Dragon with craft activities and a trail around the museum.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
15 Mar 2024
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Lunchtime talk with the VIEWS Project team

Museum of Classical Archaeology
19 Mar 2024
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Lunchtime talk with Dr Michael Loy

Museum of Classical Archaeology
20 Mar 2024
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Lunchtime talk with Dr Thomas Matthew Boehmer

Museum of Classical Archaeology
22 Mar 2024
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A tour of the gallery with Dr Susanne Turner

Museum of Classical Archaeology
26 Mar 2024
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A lunchtime talk with Dr Jana Mokrisova

Museum of Classical Archaeology
27 Mar 2024
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A lunchtime talk with Dr Il Kweon Sir

Museum of Classical Archaeology
24 Feb 2024
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Explore the spectrum of identities in the Ancient World.

Museum of Classical Archaeology
09 Mar 2024
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Explore the spectrum of identities in the Ancient World.

Kettle's Yard
07 Mar 2024
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Kettle's Yard
15 Mar 2024
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Kettle's Yard
24 Apr 2024
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Join us for a special event in the Kettle’s Yard house, where artist Issam Kourbaj will be in conversation with exhibition curator Guy Haywood.

Kettle's Yard
30 Apr 2024
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Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
28 Mar 2024
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Enjoy an egg-citing Easter Trail at Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
23 Mar 2024
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As part of Cambridge Festival, learn about the weird and wonderful carnivorous plants that call the Botanic Garden their home.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
13 Mar 2024
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As part of Cambridge Festival, enjoy a poetry trail around the Botanic Garden which gives a voice to often overlooked plants.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden 
20 Mar 2024
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Enjoy exploring a selection of winning garden photos

Kettle's Yard
04 Apr 2024
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Kettle's Yard
10 May 2024
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11 Mar 2024

The University of Cambridge Museums are inviting applications from groups of creatives or creative organisations to create a touring Pop-Up Museum in 2024 inspired by the theme: Our Planet.

Museum of Zoology
20 Mar 2024
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Join us for an evening playing board games amongst the skeletons of the Museum!