Close
| Principal theme: Integration of research and education |
UCL’s museum collections are often used in classes, but our curators wanted more opportunities to help with modules. They also wanted to understand how students and staff use the collections, and how well this prepares students for research.
In the summer of 2015, two undergraduate students from UCL Archaeology and UCL Geography spent a week in the UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology assisting a three-year AHRC research project ‘Artefacts of Excavation’.
The project uses the museum’s collections to examine the history and politics of excavations in Egypt from 1880–1980. Bryony Smerdon, the Archaeology undergraduate intern said:
" I felt better prepared to undertake my own research… looking at a wider picture has given me a much better appreciation and more context for the course material and objects of focus in my degree.” Bryony Smerdon, UCL Archaeology
Bryony subsequently used the project as the basis for her third-year dissertation and has decided to continue with the subject to Master’s level. Geography undergraduate Milena Petrovic felt the experience has given her greater confidence to undertake research.
The internship helped the team to think about how they might strengthen teaching and learning opportunities between UCL Museums and Collections (part of UCL Culture) and other UCL academic departments. Both students also wrote introductory guides to using the collections, to help the following year’s cohort.
Image: Milena Petrovic, UCL Geography © UCL Museums & Collections
| Previous case study |
Next case study |
| Back to Review homepage |