An innovative practice-based model designed to enable museums to transform how they communicate with their audiences through audio description has been shortlisted for the University Alliance’s (UA) Research and Innovation Impact award. Led by Professor Alison Eardley, Professor of Museums, Inclusion and Psychology, the Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description (W-ICAD) project was shortlisted for delivering tangible real‑world impact.
Supported by funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), W-ICAD was developed in 2022 in collaboration with museum partners and community co-creators, as a practice-based workshop model, providing museums with a route to co-create audio descriptive guides with blind, partially blind and sighted people, to enhance the experience of all audiences. Since then, the project has developed in-person and online training (launched in January 2025) for museum and heritage sector professionals,
The W-ICAD not only bridges accessibility gaps but enriches how museum collections are interpreted and shared.
Audio descriptions are essential for blind and partially blind audiences to experience museum collections. Traditional sighted describers have sought to share neutral description of the visual experience. W-ICAD draws on research to challenge what we have traditionally assumed about vision and what we have assumed about blindness. The result is a tool that enables museums to draw on the lived experiences and voices of blind and partially blind people alongside sighted contributors in their audio guides to enhance the experience for everyone.
The training equips museum and heritage professionals, audio describers and community groups with the tools to adopt the W-ICAD approach in their practice. The online course, delivered as a free seven-module Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), features filmed content from museum experts and co-creators, the training is enriched by real-world examples from institutions like the Natural History Museum, which applied the W-ICAD principles to its Urban Nature Project and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
W-ICAD is currently live on the National Paralympics Heritage Trust virtual museum, where the model - developed by the W‑ICAD team which also includes Professor Hannah Thompson at Royal Holloway, University of London, Dr Lindsay Bywood and Dr Deborah Husbands, both at the University of Westminster - is already shaping accessible interpretation across multiple cultural institutions. It is being used at Historic Royal Palaces and is informing the new Audio descriptive guide being developed by Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh for their renovated Palm Houses. Through their National Lottery Funded project, Describing Heritage, VocalEyes are currently drawing on W-ICAD to train museum professionals at 60 organisations across the UK on co-creating audio description.
The W-ICAD model not only ensures legal compliance with accessibility standards but also sets a benchmark for inclusivity in the museum and heritage sectors.
The awards ceremony will be held on 3 September at the University of Derby.
About the nomination, Professor Eardley said: “We are delighted to have been both nominated and shortlisted for this University Alliance award, not least because it recognises and reinforces the crucial need for institutional and sector support to be able to build real-world change. W-ICAD highlights the way in which academics can contribute skills and understanding, in collaboration with professional experts and experiential experts, to co-create practice-based tools to support tangible societal change.”
She added: “We are grateful to the University of Westminster, Royal Holloway, University of London and the University Alliance for championing the importance of these types of applied, practice-driven routes to both share and expand understanding.”
The project directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more at the Workshop for Inclusive Co-created Audio Description website.
Find out more about studying on the Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA course at the University of Westminster.
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