Science and Discovery Centre Futures: Missions and Opportunities

Building on thinking from Mindsets for Museums of the Future, Liv Taylor with The Liminal Space designed a consultation process that saw us carry out in depth interviews with senior Science Centre professionals, academics and consultants based in the UK and US. We conducted a survey open to the sector, wider cultural practitioners and the public and hosted workshops for two groups of Science Centre professionals and freelancers. Bringing this insight together with consultation from member organisation ASDC, we created an initial stimulus report that outlined missions and opportunities for the sector, and a call to action for people to join us for a deeper, residential enquiry.
Science and Discovery Centre professionals from across the UK and Ireland convened at a collective enquiry workshop hosted by Thinktank, in Birmingham, to share their pandemic experiences and surface the questions and issues that were most important to them. We heard from experts across academia, museums and other cultural institutions and initiated creative exercises that moved conversations forward and identified opportunities for what’s next. This allowed for critical conversations about a shared future , and the outcomes from these conversations enabled us to adapt, edit and refine thinking that authentically reflected the ambitions of those involved.

We captured our findings in an interactive report that represents a collective intention for the future of the sector. Our report headlines the idea that ’Science and Discovery Centres will empower, inform and inspire people to become Citizens for the Future, offering them lifelong learning opportunities and moments to use, practice and question science and its connection to the world around them’.