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Embedding sensory engagement in heritage studies
In two newly developed sessions for the Sustainable Heritage MSc modules, students explored the underrepresented role of sensory engagement in heritage interpretation and documentation.
22 August 2025
Heritage is often experienced with our eyes first – but what happens when we pay attention to other senses?
To explore new ways of teaching and learning about heritage, we designed two experimental sessions that placed sensory experience at the centre of interpretation and documentation. These sessions invited students to move beyond the visual and discover how touch, sound, and smell can shape our understanding of cultural significance.
So, what did we do?
The first session focused on object-based sensory interpretation. Working in small groups, students selected heritage-related objects, such as a scented wooden pencil, a Tibetan singing bowl, or a pair of leather gloves, and completed a catalogue template based solely on visual observation. They then repeated the task using all their senses, exploring touch, sound, and smell as part of the function and significance of these artefacts. The scented pencil evoked nostalgic memories; the bowl’s resonance revealed acoustic properties often overlooked; the scent and texture of the leather gloves prompted discussions around material provenance, historic tanning techniques and chemicals, and embodied use. These sensory elements reshaped students’ understanding of cultural significance. The session concluded with a plenary reflection on inclusive interpretative and communication strategies in heritage contexts, and the role of embodied knowledge.
The second session also explored heritage through a non-visual lens. Students were presented with a set of 12 bespoke fragrances, each designed to represent a character from the classic Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansions. For example, a soft bamboo and green tea scent represented a gentle, introspective young girl, prompting students to think about how olfactory profiles can embody personality and narrative. This immersive exercise enabled discussions about heritage botanicals, the translation of intangible traits into sensory information, and how olfactory interpretation of heritage can engage broader and more diverse publics.
Who has been involved?
Approximately 45 students from the Sustainable Heritage MSc programme participated in the sessions, engaging directly with the hands-on activities and reflective discussions. The sessions were co-developed and co-delivered by the module lead in collaboration with two invited experts: a sensory historian and a landscape architecture designer specialising in smellscapes. These guest lecturers brought valuable professional and research-based perspectives, contributing relevant case studies and facilitating interactive elements of the sessions. Their involvement exemplified the Connected Curriculum approach by integrating advanced research and professional practice into teaching. The initiative was also supported by the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, where multisensory heritage is a growing strand of research and innovation.
Why did we do this?
The development of these multisensory sessions arose from a recognition of the dominance of vision-centric approaches in heritage interpretation and the limited training heritage professionals receive on documenting and communicating sensory dimensions of heritage. Drawing on the module lead’s ongoing research and leadership within UCL’s Institute for Sustainable Heritage, particularly in the emerging field of sensory heritage, and aligned with UCL’s Connected Curriculum and inclusive education strategies, the sessions were designed to challenge students’ preconceived notions and broaden their interpretative skills.
We sought collaboration with invited experts to bring diverse, research-informed perspectives and innovative teaching methods to the programme. This collaborative effort aimed to deepen student engagement, enhance inclusivity, and integrate active, research-based learning into the Sustainable Heritage MSc curriculum.
Our timeline
The sessions were delivered in January and February 2025, as part of the MSc’s Term 2 modules.
Our resources
The preparation for these sessions involved considerable logistical planning and resource coordination. This included selecting and sourcing a diverse range of artefacts with strong sensory relevance to support hands-on exploration. A new interpretation template was developed to guide students in documenting both visual and multisensory aspects of heritage objects.
Close collaboration and regular discussions were held with the external lecturers to co-design the session content and activities. Additionally, some research was conducted on safe and effective fragrance delivery methods suitable for classroom settings, ensuring an engaging yet accessible olfactory experience. Overall, the preparation required to align pedagogical goals with practical considerations, ensuring smooth and meaningful delivery of the sessions.
Why this approach?
We adopted a multisensory, experiential approach to challenge the conventional, vision-dominant frameworks that often limit heritage interpretation and documentation. This aligns with a growing international interest in sensory history and heritage, which advocates for teaching that foregrounds sensory experience as a valid and powerful mode of historical understanding.
Our approach is innovative in embedding sensory engagement, particularly through touch, smell, and sound, within research-based teaching on intangible heritage. By encouraging students to discover and document heritage through multiple senses, we expanded their interpretative repertoire beyond traditional visual analysis, fostering deeper critical thinking and inclusivity.
This pedagogical strategy closely reflects UCL’s Connected Curriculum dimensions, particularly:
Research-based education, by integrating the module lead’s and guest lecturers’ active sensory heritage research into learning;
Enquiry-based learning, through hands-on object exploration and sensory interpretation exercises that invite students to formulate new insights;
Participatory and collaborative learning, by co-creating knowledge in group settings and plenary reflections;
Engagement with the wider world, connecting heritage practice with community and policy contexts.
By linking sensory heritage scholarship with practical interpretation skills, this approach prepares students to contribute to a more inclusive, holistic understanding of heritage that acknowledges intangible and often overlooked sensory dimensions.
Our impact and looking ahead
To our knowledge, this is a first for postgraduate education at UCL, and a distinctive innovation within heritage education more broadly.
While multisensory learning has long been explored in primary education, particularly within pedagogical traditions such as Montessori, its integration into postgraduate teaching remains relatively underdeveloped. This initiative reflects a growing interest in sensory methods within the humanities and heritage fields, inspired in part by projects like the Knowing by Sensing module developed by the American Historical Association (2023), which I co-developed with international colleagues, and by interdisciplinary sensory heritage research across UCL.
UCL is home to several pioneering initiatives in multisensory engagement, and we collaborate closely with colleagues through the university-wide interest group UCL SENSOR. These collaborations, and UCL’s strong tradition of research-based education, provided inspiration and a supportive environment to trial this innovative approach. By embedding sensory experience into heritage teaching, we are helping to push the boundaries of how knowledge is produced, communicated, and made inclusive.
Quantitatively, students reported 91% student satisfaction with the modules in the post-module student survey. The module received positive feedback and high engagement, even towards the end of an intense block-teaching week. It also prompted several students to explore sensory-related topics in their MSc dissertations.
Qualitatively, students reported that the experience was engaging, memorable, and transformative in shaping how they approach heritage interpretation. One student remarked in the module evaluation:
"I like the module which let the students have some interactions with different objects... I do think this practice is really meaningful since we experienced the real process of managing the collections in museums and we could really be engaged in the environment and use our imagination."
From a staff perspective, the sessions provided a powerful teaching tool to illustrate abstract concepts such as intangible heritage, embodiment, and non-visual interpretation, while also stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration with experts in history and landscape design.
Building on the success of these sessions, I plan to continue strengthening the bridge between research and teaching, bringing research-led innovation into the classroom. This includes embedding further experiential and multisensory approaches across the Sustainable Heritage MSc programme, while expanding opportunities for students to engage directly with intangible heritage communities.
Future plans involve co-developing learning activities with heritage practitioners and community representatives who are actively involved in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. This will give students authentic insight into how sensory values are experienced, documented, and communicated outside academia.
How can this address common challenges?
One of the challenges we often face in teaching heritage at postgraduate level is how to make abstract or intangible concepts, like sensory experience, meaningful and memorable for students. These sessions offered a new way in, helping students engage with heritage through all their senses and opening up space for more inclusive, imaginative interpretation. It’s a small but powerful shift from conventional, text-heavy approaches to learning, and one that resonated strongly with the cohort.
By embedding these sessions within research-led teaching and drawing on UCL’s strengths in sensory heritage, especially through networks like UCL SENSOR, I as the module lead was able to bring together academic research, real-world practice, and classroom experimentation. The result was a richer, more connected learning experience that encouraged students to think beyond the visual and bring their own perspectives into the room.
For colleagues across UCL, this experience shows how multisensory and embodied approaches can help tackle common teaching challenges: increasing student engagement, creating space for diverse knowledge and backgrounds, and making theory feel more applied and personal. Careful planning, collaboration with external experts, and robust risk assessment helped create a safe, inclusive environment, especially important when working with sensory stimuli that may evoke unexpected responses.
