THE National Science and Media Museum is starting a project to see how it can play a bigger role in the Bradford district.

Bradford’s National Museum is a research project that will look to cement the museum’s place as one of Bradford’s most important assets.

BCB Radio and the University of Leeds, recognised for its specialist research in the field of museum studies, are partnering the project and recording the ideas and responses in various ways.

An Open Day will take place on Sunday to mark the launch of the project, and from 11am to 3pm members of the project team hope to hear from as many people as possible who are creating, involved with, or simply interested in Bradford’s cultural life.

The focus will be on potential opportunities which could benefit from the museum’s experience and resources around the science and culture of image and sound technologies.

Director Jo Quinton-Tulloch said: “We’ll be in the museum on Sunday to meet with anyone and everyone who has ideas about new ways we could play a bigger role in the district over the next few years. It’s also a chance for people to find out about the museum and our plans for the future.

“We have world-class collections, and not surprisingly we also have some of the greatest knowledge about them. The question is – how can we use this best? How can we work with more people in Bradford and the region?

“We have long-term ambitions for the years ahead, and want to ensure we are aligning them with the city. I’m really looking forward to hearing from as many people as possible as we shape the next phase for the museum and its programme.”

Helen Graham at the University of Leeds, said: “We hope this will be the start of an ongoing conversation. We’ll be asking people to share what’s exciting them about Bradford at the moment, and their ideas for how the museum can develop its connections in Bradford.

"In addition to the Open Day we will be launching a website and twitter conversation, so as many people as possible can get involved. We hope to build new networks for the museum and to meet new collaborators interested in helping us develop the next stages of the research.”

The project launches a year after the National Science and Media Museum renamed and changed its focus to science and technology, a move that helped it achieve an increase of 100,000 visitors over the past 12 months.

The Open Day is a drop-in session between 11am and 3pm on Sunday. People can also get involved by visiting the group website on https://bradfordsnationalmuseum.org/ and on Twitter @BNM_Project.