Intellectual Properties: Transferring Science from Universities to National Museums Scotland
Last updated: 8 February 2022
About the research
Who owns the intellectual interpretation of an object once it has been added to a museum collection? Taking National Museums Scotland as a case study, this project investigates if an object maintains or changes its intellectual context once it moves from being a current item held at a university to a historic artefact in a museum. The project looks at four different collections: the Playfair Collection (1858), the Natural Philosophy Collection (1973), the Scottish universities collecting project (1985-87), and 'collecting for the future' (2017-2020).
Lead image: Projection polarimeter by Newton & Co. Part of the University of Edinburgh Natural Philosophy Collection.
- Project title
Intellectual Properties: Transferring Science from Universities to National Museums Scotland
- Student
Louis Volkmer
- Project active
2017 - present
- Funder
AHRC Scottish Cultural Heritage Consortium (SCHC) – Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
- University Supervisors
Dr Niki Vermeulen - University of Edinburgh, and Dr Dominic Berry - London School of Economics
- National Museums Scotland Supervisor
Dr Tacye Phillipson and Dr Sam Alberti - Department of Science & Technology
- Research theme
Scotland's Material Heritage
Project contact
Dr Tacye Phillipson