Completed Arts, Culture & Design Engineering

Amaze!

Funder Wellcome Charity-funded
Associated organisations IND Adrian Lutton 161056 · Whowhatwherewhenwhy Europe PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding £3.0M
Period Jan 2018 — Sept 2021

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

W5 is ripping out its two permanent exhibition floors and rebuilding them as eight distinct STEM zones, with a new space-themed introductory area on the ground floor. This investment tackles a persistent problem: science centres often fail to reach the people who need them most. The project explicitly targets underrepresented audiences—community groups, families, and learners with special educational needs—who rarely visit such spaces. It also addresses a gap in how science centres connect visitors to real careers, by embedding STEM Ambassadors (W5 runs the Northern Ireland contract for the national programme) directly into exhibitions and programming. If successful, the redevelopment could change how a generation in Northern Ireland encounters science. The upgraded lecture theatre will host dynamic science shows. The labs and classrooms become immersive, multi-sensory spaces for formal and informal workshops. A new transformable multi-sensory room and flexible event spaces allow temporary exhibitions and career events to rotate frequently. The investment in lighting, sound, projection, and show control technologies means the building itself becomes a storytelling tool—able to shift from a permanent exhibition about space to a temporary one on climate or robotics without a major rebuild. This is not fundamental research; it is a capital and engagement project designed to make science visible, tangible, and career-relevant for people who currently feel it is not for them.

View original technical description
A major capital and public engagement investment including: Complete redevelopment of our two permanent exhibition floors creating eight distinct STEM inspired zones and space themed introductory area on ground floor. Development of a significant new programme of public engagement, in-house and outreach, directly linked to each of new exhibition zones. This will target a wide range of underrepresented audiences including, but not restricted to, community groups, SEN learners and families. A new focus on STEM careers both in our programming and on our exhibition floors, with strong ties to the UK wide STEM Ambassadors programme of which W5 is the Northern Ireland contract holder. A redevelopment of our temporary exhibition space. An investment in infrastructure, framework, lighting, sound, projection and show control technologies will give us the opportunity to generate a new and dynamic changing programme of temporary exhibitions and events. Linking to, and enhancing, the stories told in our permanent exhibition zones. We will create a space that will allow us to tell science stories in new and exciting ways and take visitors on incredible journeys of discovery. Transformation of lab and classrooms into immersive multi-sensory 21st century educational spaces for formal and informal educational workshops and events. Upgrade of lecture theatre to create a fully functional STEM inspired theatre, a destination for dynamic and entertaining new science shows. Construction of new multi-function spaces for special events, small temporary exhibitions, education and careers events etc and will house a new transformable multi-sensory space.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Adrian Lutton (EPMC Awardee)Judith Harvey (EPMC Awardee)Tony Payne (EPMC Awardee)

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Original classification

Inspiring Science Fund

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.