Area of investment and support

Museum, galleries and collections fund

The Museum, 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.

• Budget: £10 million a year.
• Partners involved: Research England

The scope and what we're doing

Research England funding supports infrastructure on which research and scholarship depends. This includes support for university museums, galleries and collections.

We currently provide over £10 million a year to 33 higher education museums, galleries and collections across 19 higher education providers.

Why we're doing it

Our funding helps museums, galleries and collections to serve the wider research community, where this costs them significantly more than meeting the needs of their own researchers and students.

Past projects, outcomes and impact

See which museums, galleries and collections receive funding.

Governance, management and panels

In 2016 the former Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) completed a review of its funding in this area, led by Diane Lees CBE, Director-General of the Imperial War Museums.

An independent panel of experts considered how far the submissions demonstrated activity which met the HEFCE policy aims. It made funding recommendations on this basis.

The review highlighted the unique and significant contributions museums, galleries and collections make to research, scholarship and research impact in the UK and internationally.

Research England funding is driven by the results of this review.

Read the impact assessment for the 2016 review of HEFCE Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund.

Last updated: 31 March 2022