Call OpenCoSTAR National Lab: Inclusive Multisensory Experience

This is an opportunity for creative businesses who have audience-ready experiences or events to explore the use of multisensory elements with audiences.

This call is looking for companies who would benefit from access to funding, expertise and infrastructure to adapt their experience and take part in a structured research exercise to test their pilot with audiences. This research aims to generate valuable insights into where, when, and how multisensory approaches can create meaningful benefits for diverse audiences, creators, and businesses.

The call is looking for companies with existing projects (i.e. that already have a demonstrable, audience-ready experience) who wish to test the impact and value of the addition, removal, or augmentation of a key sensory element. This might include (but is not limited to) immersive sound, smell, or tactile elements. Companies must also be able to show how they would run audience-facing demonstrations of the work as part of the project.

Successful applicants will work with CoSTAR National Lab’s Inclusive User Futures team to co-develop and test an innovative real-world experiment to be evaluated at a public showcase of two versions of the experience (one with the original version and one with the adapted version) with an audience of at least 50 people for each group (at least 100 in total). 

We are open to a range of project sizes as we aim to make the call inclusive for smaller companies.

We are looking for proposals from UK creative businesses with existing experiences or events that can be adapted to test the impact of inclusive multisensory design. Projects should propose the addition, removal, or augmentation of one central multisensory element to allow investigation of the role that additional sensations can play in shaping audience experience. 

Your application must clearly set out:

• why you want to investigate the use of multisensory elements in your creative practice;
• the commercial value you expect it to create for your creative work and/or business;
• the social, emotional, cultural, and economic impact of your experience;
• how you think it will make your work more accessible to audiences;
• any barriers you currently face when implementing multisensory experiences.

Whether enhancing accessibility, increasing immersion, improving engagement, or creating new commercial opportunities, project proposals should demonstrate both innovation and real-world relevance.

The funding provided to the company must include the ability to host an audience showcase. Please describe how you intend to do this in Question 2 ‘Approach and Solution’ in the application form, including how you plan to recruit at least 50 audience members for each of the two showcases.

If you require a third-party venue partner to host your event or experience, please outline how they will be involved and allow for these costs in your budget. If you are looking for a potential venue, there is a map showing the names and locations of venues who are open to discussions about being involved below, as well as a downloadable list in the ‘Application Pack’. This is not a restricted list, and applicants are welcome to propose their own venue (think broadly! - cultural venues, farms, community gardens, saunas...). 

If your application is successful, you will be required to provide evidence of your partnership with a venue.

Please also refer to our ‘Call FAQs’ section for further information on venue partnerships.

CoSTAR support for this call offers a combination of access to equipment and facilities, research expertise, and cash funding to support project costs. Strong applications will demonstrate good use of our infrastructure. 

We expect to support at least 2 projects, with individual awards typically in the region of £20,000 - £30,000. The maximum amount that can be requested is £40,000. 

We are open to varying levels of project size: smaller, tightly scoped projects are welcome and will not be disadvantaged for requesting less. Your budget and method should be proportionate to what you are proposing.

Successful projects have access to the following support package:

• Equipment and facilities: up to 15 days at CoSTAR National Lab based at Pinewood Studios. This includes onboarding and orientation on the required equipment by our technical team. On-site time needs to be booked in advance. Please see this page of our website for full details of these facilities.
• Research Expertise: Projects will be supported closely by the CoSTAR National Lab’s Inclusive User Futures team – user and audience engagement experts across a range of backgrounds, including cognitive, perceptual and social psychology, sociology, inclusive design and human-computer interaction. The team has been researching multisensory experience for the past two years, developing an online resource hub with research insights on audience trends, perception and inclusion considerations. The Hub, alongside the team’s expertise, will be a valuable resource available to all awardees to support the development of inclusive multisensory experiences.
• Please see this page of our website for a description of the CoSTAR National Lab’s research expertise.
• Cash funding: up to £40,000 (awards typically in the region of £20,000 - £30,000) is available to contribute to costs associated with undertaking the project, such as contracting performers, interaction design, editing, consumables etc. Please see the downloadable Applicant Guidance Pack for full details on how to complete your Budget including Eligible Costs.
• CoSTAR also provides Access Support Bursaries, based on a disability, health condition, or access need, to support those making applications to, or participating in, our Industry Access Programmes. For more information on the Access Support Bursaries and how to apply please click here.

For information on who can apply, please see the Eligibility Criteria outlined in the Applicant Guidance Pack. Teams may include a variety of UK-based companies, technologists, researchers and creative practitioners; however, the lead applicant must be a UK-based company and demonstrate a high level of ambition to deliver technological advancement and business growth in its application to creative industries challenges.    

CoSTAR will take a portfolio approach to the final selection of companies to ensure a diverse range of different innovative projects and companies are supported by this call.