Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) is a large Swedish funder of academic research within the areas of humanities and social sciences. RJ needs to know that the projects we fund deliver impact also on the world beyond university walls. Between 2019-21, Carol Scott helped us to design and carry out impact evaluation on two projects: our Flexit program which pairs academics with a commercial company or a public organization to solve a problem – and the experimental film Twist, where an independent film producer interpreted a legal research project (on AI-generated decision making). Carol also designed a Research Impact Assessment Template for us to use in our future projects.  Her approach as a consultant took our staff with her in the process and greatly elevated our in-house competence. We now have a much better designed Flexit program, a permanent feature of our funding portfolio. And the impressive impact of the Twist film inspired our current program Konst och Kultur, in which central Swedish cultural institutions bring academic research to a large audience.

Uppsala University is Sweden’s oldest university. Founded in 1477. the university holds vast collections of art, archaeology and scientific heritage. In 2016, tentative plans were formed to redevelop Gustavianum, Uppsala’s university museum, housed in a highly protected 17^th-century building. In 2018, Carol Scott was asked to help Gustavianum formulate a strategic plan. This entailed everything from putting the project high on the Vice-Chancellor’s internal list of priorities and keeping it there; securing funding from the university, the Swedish government and external sources; making sure the project had strong collegiate support within the university at large; and then devising a step-by-step plan for when the project would actually commence. Carol worked constructively with the museum staff to get everyone onboard. The project has since followed this strategic plan and, in June 2024, a redeveloped Gustavianum will open its doors to the public – one of the finest university museums in the world.

Our Museum Houses Network wants to express our deepest gratitude for your kind participation in our Museum Houses Encounter with the “Strategic planning for houses museums” lecture, imparted this past November 15th during our yearly meeting. We can’t overstate how educational it was, how it unraveled the threads that guide and link the strategic potential that each of our Museum House needs, intertwining history and experience by positioning our subjects as a fundamental part of weaving an epic. The people who gave their names to our Museums Houses were illustrious men and women, individuals who forged legends and built the foundations of our nation, gave them meaning and made them universal, human, and open to all diverse cultures of the world. We thank you again for your guidance. We hope you can visit us in the future, to keep sharing your knowledge and experience with us that have undoubtedly enriched us all.

Lourdes Monges, Conference Coordinator
Director General, Fundación Cultural Antonio Haghenbeck y de la Lama Mexico

I have worked with Carol many times in recent years – not least because she offers a breadth of knowledge that is hugely valuable, a global perspective that few possess, a level of professionalism that can be hard to find, and an ability to engage effectively across all parts of an institution.  She can cut quickly to the heart of even the most complex challenges and provide solutions that are perfectly scaled to her client’s needs.

Scott Cooper, Vice President of Collections, Knowledge and Engagement| Royal British Columbia Museum

I have had the pleasure of working Carol Ann Scott in both the UK and in Australia. Her insight into Museums and what they are capable of has been of  immense value to when planning and advocating on behalf of a range of museums and on behalf of the sector as a whole. Carol’s work is based on extensive experience of working in Museums, and that is what makes it real: you know that there is no place that she will take you that she has not been before! Carol’s thinking is at the forefront of current museum practice and she has added immense value in all the work that she has done with me and the organisations I represent.

Alec Coles, OBE CEO, Western Australian Museum and Former Director of Tyne & Wear Archive & Museums, UK

I have known Dr. Carol Scott over a decade since we first met at the ICOM MPR Vienna conference in 2007. I was so impressed with her enlightening insights on what museums matter ideally and practically, and the participants were fully inspired by her thought-provoking knowledge.

Taiwan with honor organized the ICOM MPR 2014 conference and had Carol to be a keynote on museum branding. Gratefully, she was also invited by the Chinese Association of Museums in Taiwan to host workshops on museum value measurement in 2017. Carol gave lectures and led workshops both in national and regional approaches, meanwhile, she was a heartfelt listener for understanding contexts of different museums. The participants of   museum professionals in Taiwan were well benefited and exchanged views together in this precious co-learning experience.

Joy Chih-Ning Hsin, Chief of Education and Extension Division, National Museum of History, Taiwan.

Carol combines a number of key skills, based on real experience, essential to the functioning of any modern museum – an ability to think strategically while understanding quite pragmatically how that needs to translate into concrete actions. She communicates effectively and is a great pleasure to work with. Every museum needs a Carol. 

Professor Jack Lohman, Former Director Museum of London, London, United Kingdom; CEO Royal British Columbia                 Museum, Victoria, Canada

Carol Scott’s broad research on the public value of museums is some of the most important work happening in the field. Dr. Scott makes a convincing case for articulating the public value of museums both internally within our museums and to the larger cultural and political community.

Ben Garcia, Deputy Director, San Diego Museum of Man.

Insightful, clear thinking, reliable, thorough: Carol brings her clients an incisive and realistic viewpoint based on a huge breadth of experience. The team found working with Carol enormously helpful in sense checking and clarifying what we wanted to achieve and how we needed to do it. I would recommend her unreservedly.

Janice Murray, Former Director National Army Museum, London, UK

I have had the pleasure of working with Carol Scott on two different museum projects. The first was in 2010-2011, when as Director of The Vasa Museum in Stockholm I was looking to re-invent the programming to attract a larger local audience. The museum is a large tourist attraction, but needs to be relevant to the Stockholm crowd as well. Carol helped us develop audience research to get evidence for how to target the Stockholm audience. This project was highly successful and local audiences more than doubled in numbers in the period 2011-2013. Carol then helped me with The Uppsala University Museum (Gustavianum) in 2018-2019. A major renovation 2019-2022 needs a plan: A challenging building project must run smoothly along production of several new exhibitions, all within a short time-frame and while maintaining the highest possible ambitions. Carol was brought in to help us formulate a clever strategic plan to maximize the museum’s potential. This plan is now deciding how Gustavianum moves forward into what promises to be an exciting future. Carol Scott’s long experience of the museum world and her exceptionally clear mind makes her thoughts and evaluations highly valuable to anyone hoping to foster new ideas and projects. In my current position as CEO of a private foundation which supports humanities and culture, I therefore hope to engage Carol Scott for assessment purposes, and for helping our foundation develop new funding ideas.

Marika Hedin, CEO of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (www.rj.se), previously of the Nobel Museum, the Vasa Museum and Uppsala University Museum

Dr Carol Ann Scott was the independent evaluator who wrote the final evaluation report for the three-year (2017-2020) large-scale Heritage management project, Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey – SARAT, led by the British Institute at Ankara. Evaluating the project posed unique challenges, because the project was adapted and activities changed, in addition to the fact that the project almost exclusively took place in Turkey and activities were delivered in Turkish. Carol stayed updated on activities and developments throughout the course of the project. As a result, the team greatly benefited from Carol’s excellent analytical skills, allowing her to map challenges accurately and quickly move to providing sound advice on ways forward in the course of the project. Carol  created an in-depth and encompassing evaluation report together with the project’s team, a report on which we were complemented by the funder.

Dr Lutgarde Vandeput, Director- British Institute at Ankara