School of Humanities | Sgoil nan Daonnachdan

 

The University of Glasgow’s Museums in the Metaverse (MiM) project has won Gold and Silver), recognising design excellence in visualisation and social impact.

Museums in the Metaverse: Environments, created in collaboration with Float, Digital Ltd and Lateral North, won Gold in the Visualisation category. The project uses virtual reality to expand access to museum collections, enabling audiences to explore detailed digital artefacts within these carefully designed environments.

MiM also recognised with a Silver award in the Design for Good category, reflecting the project’s focus on widening access to cultural heritage by removing geographical, economic and physical barriers to engagement. Led by the University of Glasgow, the project enables audiences to experience and curate digital collections that are often unseen or inaccessible in traditional museum settings.

Now in its 29th year, the Scottish Design Awards celebrate design excellence across Scotland, recognising architecture, creativity and the people behind it across 34 categories.

The project was also shortlisted in Craft category for un[box] and in the Client of the Year category.

Museums in the Metaverse is a virtual reality platform developed by researchers at the University’s Realities and Immersion Glasgow centre (RIG) to help transform how audiences can experience cultural heritage.

The Museums in the Metaverse project led by the College of Arts & Humanities academics was funded as part of the UK Government’s Innovation Accelerator and is now being taken forward through the Wonder platform developed by University spin-out Infinite Muse.

Soluis Tech was MiM’s core Immersive Technology partner, working with the University’s team to develop the Wonder platform for Cultural Heritage, while Lateral North and Float Digital partnered on the design of Wonder's impressive suite of virtual environments. All three are part of Glasgow's sector-leading 3D content creation eco-system.

Full list of Scottish Design Awards results are here:

2026 Results – Scottish Design Awards

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First published: 5 August 2026