Accessible Pasts, Equitable Futures Research Project

'Accessible Pasts, Equitable Futures' is an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project led by researcher Ann-Marie Foster.

The project explores how digital heritage collections at IWM can be made more accessible to disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent researchers.

This research covers both online digital collections, and ones that can only be accessed in the Research Room. It began in February 2024 and will end in January 2026.

This project rests on the premise that the heritage industry is not doing enough to make digital cultural heritage accessible. We know this. Here at IWM we are committed to trying to understand what can be done to improve this, and build the findings of this project into our future work.

We are committed to working with you to work out what can be done better, to help everyone access our collections.

Who is involved?

Primary Investigator

This project is led by a researcher with lived experience of how difficult it can be to conduct research when the world is not set up to honour your access needs. Ann-Marie (they/she) is a historian and an active researcher, who publishes about war and museums. They have been awarded an AHRC Early Career Fellowship in Cultural and Heritage Institutions to do this research. This project was born from the recognition that there is little conversation between museums, archives, and libraries, and disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent researchers. Hopefully, this project will start to change that.

Advisory Board

At IWM Ann-Marie is being mentored by Dr Maria Castrillo, Head of Collections Access and Research.

The project is supported by an internal Advisory Board, which comprises members from the access and inclusion team, the governance team, the digital transformation team, and the volunteering team.

Ethics

We are committed to making this project as accessible as possible, and will continue to refine how we work throughout the project. We hope to work with all involved on making research at IWM more accessible for many years to come.

Key ethical points are:

We will always try and find a way to work with you that works for you. We can provide BSL interpreters, low energy ways of working, and other options. If in doubt, ask.
You do not have to disclose any medical history at any time during this research. We are interested in helping improve access, not your medical records.
We know we will not always get it right. We are very aware that what makes one thing accessible to one person might make it inaccessible to another. Please correct us and we will take the necessary steps to accommodate.

IWM’s reading room. The room is full of long white desks with swivel chairs. Running along one wall are shelves full of reference books for consultation.

IWM London's Research Room.

Project News

Over 2024 we conducted a user survey and recruited a disabled focus group to help shape what we focus on at IWM. Over 600 people responded to the survey, thank you if you were one of them. People taking the time to feed back about their experiences are enormously helpful, and we are taking your suggestions on board as we plan the next stages of the project.

In the meantime, we are still looking outwards to see what ‘best practice’ is being done elsewhere. If you can think of any excellent examples, or have experience of creating this in your own organisation, please do feel free to get in touch via the project email [email protected]

Project opportunities

We are gradually rolling out opportunities to get involved in this research. These will be advertised on our social media channels and through this webpage. Nearly all opportunities will be fully digital, with the option to do a site visit if you are part of the Disability Focus Group. You can also get in touch with Ann-Marie if you have any questions.