The Higher Education Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund provides funding support to higher education museums, galleries and collections so they can meet the costs of serving the wider research community beyond their own institutions.
Research England funding supports the infrastructure on which research and scholarship depends. This includes support for university museums, galleries and collections.
The funding is intended to support higher education museums, galleries and collections based in England to provide a service to the wider research community.
In 2023, a review took place to determine the funding levels from academic year 2024 to 2025 onwards. Higher education museums and galleries were invited to apply for funding in early 2023, with applications assessed by an independent expert review panel.
Funding was uplifted from £11.7 million to £14 million a year with 40 higher education museums, galleries and collections across 21 higher education providers receiving funding. This is an increase from previous rounds of the scheme which only had 33 higher education museums and galleries recipients.
Allocations will be made for the next five years, subject to available funding.
For a museum, gallery, or collection to be eligible, they must:
- be a university museum or gallery and have a substantial and long-term financial commitment to maintaining a collection
- incur significant reach beyond the higher education provider’s own researchers and students and as far as possible demonstrate the additional costs associated with this
- make, or have the potential to make, a unique and significant contribution to research and scholarship in the higher education sector
- be operated in an efficient manner and demonstrate financial sustainability
- hold Arts Council accreditation status, ‘working towards accreditation’ status or provide reasons for ineligibility for this status