Enterprise and Knowledge Transfer

The Department of Classics has long been involved in the wider community in line with the University's vision to become 'a recognised contributor to the knowledge economy regionally, nationally and internationally'. Its staff regularly give and have been featured in the news media. Members of the Department are happy to give talks to local Schools on A-Level and other topics. The Department annually hosts Texts Dayfor sixth form students studying Classics, Classical Studies or Ancient History. The Classics Department is also proud to host the Reading Classical Association.

Each year the Ure Museum welcomes thousands of school pupils from Key Stage 2 and above, as well as researchers and other visitors. As part of this provision the Ure Museum has pioneered in volunteerships, bursaries (especially from the University Committee for the Arts), and internships, now in collaboration with UMACS (University Museum Archive and Collection Services), through which students and other individuals learn about museum work, including curation, data provision, and education. It also works closely with the Reading Museum Service and its School Loans Programme, and other Museums.  The Ure Museum is a member of the Thames Valley Museum Group, Berkshire Museum Network, the University Museums Group, and the Museums Computer Group.

The Ure Museum has experimented in the provision of digital museum information through its VLMA (Virtual Lightbox for Museums and Archives), in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and Oxford Archaeology, for which it has received funds from the JISC eLearning stream. Dr Smith, who has been the principal investigator for this project, is an editor of Digital Classicist and the Digital Coins Network which encourage such data provision. The Department seeks to further develop VLMA and other advanced electronic technologies, including haptics, to encourage a wide uptake and understanding of museum resources.

 

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