HS Academy webinar held by Alexandre Caussé (Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine, France)
On May 10th, 2022 Alexandre Caussé from Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine held a talk on how to develop the European collaboration in the field of Heritage Science. He retraced the history of the first steps in implementing the European Research Area from 2010 until today.
The recently launched Horizon Europe 2021-2027 Framework Programme for Research has its own Destination dedicated to cultural heritage research entitled “Innovative research on the European cultural heritage and the cultural and creative industries”. This was not the case in 2010, when the European Commission in its recommendations of 26 April encouraged the Member States to “develop a common vision on how cooperation and coordination in the field of research at Union level can help to preserve cultural heritage in all its forms, ensuring its security and sustainable exploitation.” From this moment, 18 countries recognized, that cultural heritage and global change constituted a new challenge for Europe, and the “Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change“: a new challenge for Europe” was launched to meet this challenge. Encompassing cultural heritage research in all its forms – tangible, intangible, digital – through a holistic approach, this Initiative implemented the bases of what is considered today to be the equivalent of Heritage Science, defined by ICCROM as “… an interdisciplinary research domain spanning the humanities and sciences and focusing on enhancing the understanding, care, sustainable use and management of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage…”
After more than a decade of implementation, alongside other initiatives such as E-RIHS, which have significantly contributed to shaping the European Research Area, offering valuable structures, instruments and experiences, what assessment can be made of this adventure, what are the challenges awaiting the Heritage Science community in a completely reshaped landscape under Horizon Europe, and what are the opportunities among a number of new instruments – Green Deal, New European Bauhaus, KIC on cultural and creative industries, Partnerships, Missions – shaping this new landscape?
Watch the video on the E-RIHS Youtube channel or read the slides in the IPERION HS Zenodo community (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6541394).