The virtual gallery is an immersive online exhibition designed to provide an interactive and engaging exploration of the world of equitable partnerships through research.

The gallery was built using ArtSteps – a web-based application that allows users to design and create their own realistic 3-dimensional virtual rooms.  You will find photos, videos, graphics, paintings and text hanging on the walls but, also, 3D exhibits. In some of the rooms there are virtual sculptures to view and interact with.

ArtSteps galleries are independent resources. Once you have completed this section there is a url link that will direct you out of Open Learn to the gallery’s starting point. All of the gallery experience happens in the ArtSteps application. 

So remember, you will have to come back to this Open Learn course site when you want to access the quiz.     

The Exhibits

The gallery offers a rich visual and auditory educational experience through a range of exhibits. The exhibits have been carefully chosen and curated so that each piece is a powerful stand-alone depiction and representation of different aspects of equity in partnerships.

There is more information within each exhibit which provides important detail and context:

• about the particular project the exhibit comes from,
• on how [in]equity was experienced and explored within that research and,
• and a reflective point of learning from the storyteller that aims to provoke insights and inspiration for you to think about your own work.      

So, as you move through the rooms, stop to view the exhibits but, also, interact with them. CLICK on an individual piece to access the additional content that can take the form of:

• Explanatory text,
• Audio narration or,
• Video

When you click on an exhibit that has audio or video attached a play button will appear. You need to click on this to start it. 

Note: Videos that are exhibited on the walls will be continually playing as you move around the gallery. Due to technical limitations, the software does not allow for videos to be paused. This means that as you move around the gallery you won’t hear the audio but the videos will be continually playing.

This makes identifying the videos easy but could be distracting so we have tried to position the videos in places where they are least disrupting to the wider viewing experience.

It is only when you click on a specific video exhibit that a new window will open allowing you to play the video from the beginning and hear the sound in full.

Who You Will Meet and Hear From

The virtual gallery provides an innovative and engaging way to explore equity in research in a very different way to current existing resources. One of advantages of the multimedia nature of the gallery is that it allows you to hear directly from people who were involved in the research themselves. 

Throughout the gallery you will be introduced to a wide range of other contributors. Getting diverse perspectives on equity from academics and researchers, practitioners, artists, activists, educators, participants and community members where research took place. You will also hear from research administrators,  project managers, finance and ethics team members and other research participants all of whom play an important part in making research more equitable

Any research partnership involves a lot of different people and relationships. However, many of these voices are not often heard in equity conversations. An aim of the gallery has been to represent a diversity of views and experiences to offer a much richer understanding of equity.

All of the exhibits are written or told in first person. You are getting a personal account from people directly involved in the research.