Cultural Heritage

Importance of Cultural Heritage

Cultural Heritage permeates every aspect of our contemporary society, manifesting in physical spaces, intangible traditions, and virtual realms. Far from being merely artefacts from the past, Cultural Heritage represents a living, dynamic framework that shapes our understanding of who we are and guides our path forward. The importance of Cultural Heritage research has never been more critical than in our current historical context.

Heritage Science, encompassing all forms of scientific inquiry into human works and the combined works of nature and humans that are of value to people¹, offers critical thinking and human-centred perspectives, providing essential tools in an age of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making. It supplies an ethical framework for social responsibility, offering historical context for contemporary challenges. It reinforces democratic values and social cohesion through insights into the evolution of social structures and governance systems. It enhances the understanding, preservation, sustainable use and management of tangible and intangible heritage. The field promotes a long-term vision that is crucial for informed decisions about our collective future, while serving as a transdisciplinary bridge connecting the humanities and sciences in a comprehensive approach to complex challenges.

Key Topics and Recommendations

Topic 1: Fostering Next-Generation Humanities Expertise

The Cultural Heritage sector faces critical challenges in maintaining specialized expertise. Declining enrolments in humanities programmes and career uncertainty threaten the continuity of essential domain knowledge. We recommend developing specific support mechanisms for training programmes in specialized disciplines, creating dedicated career development pathways for heritage specialists, establishing programmes that combine traditional humanities research with STEM disciplines, and developing incentive structures that recognize the crucial role of humanities expertise in the sector.

Topic 2: Transdisciplinarity as a Catalyst

Transdisciplinarity represents a fundamental paradigm shift in research methodology, transcending traditional boundaries of disciplinary specialization. We propose educational reforms establishing international PhD programmes designed specifically for transdisciplinary research, policy development for the promotion and fair evaluation of transdisciplinary research careers, creating platforms for sharing methodologies across disciplines, and shifting funding frameworks from fragmented, discipline-specific calls to centralized cross-cutting topics.

Topic 3: Culture-based Climate Action

Cultural heritage is not a victim of climate change, it is but part of the solution. Our vision includes supporting methodological research, knowledge sharing and capacity building on built heritage energy and environmental improvement interventions and governance, sustainable tourism and culture-based climate awareness leveraging heritage as a social and cultural driver to "capture the hearts and minds" of Europeans and unlocking the potential of built heritage for climate action through technological innovation and traditional knowledge. This approach boosts disciplinary cross-fertilization, joint research on adaptation and mitigation and the beacon role of cultural heritage industries for other sectors.

Topic 4: Reconciling Physical Heritage with Digital Twins

We advocate developing frameworks that place physical heritage objects at the core of research while integrating digital technologies as complementary tools. Research should support the development of specialized techniques, materials and protocols suited to cultural heritage assets, and developing sustainable models where digital twin creation contributes to the understanding, preservation and promotion of physical heritage. Additionally, we recommend establishing transnational networks for sharing resources and ensuring long-term digital preservation with dedicated infrastructure.

Topic 5: Open Science Practices in Cultural Heritage

The adoption of Open Science practices represents a transformative approach to knowledge creation and sharing. Our recommendations focus on developing European policies for scientific data produced with public funds that mandate data disclosure and reuse, using data as a common framework for studying heritage objects, providing resources and training, and implementing evaluation guidelines that recognize and reward researchers who publish data, and establishing certified platforms for data publication. These practices ensure the long-term sustainability and accessibility of cultural heritage research.

Topic 6: Transmitting Intangible Cultural Heritage

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) transmission is increasingly threatened by socioeconomic transformations, natural shocks, and educational systems that devalue traditional cultures. We propose creating targeted transdisciplinary programmes involving all disciplines concerned by ICH, building bridges between academic research and practitioners, actively involving communities with ICH as part of their governance, and supporting research on how sustainable development and climate change modify the understanding of intangible heritage, recognizing ICH as a vital resource rather than merely a relic of the past.

Topic 7: Cultural Diplomacy and Peaceful Societies

Archaeology and history contribute to understanding human mobility and knowledge transfer, enlightening the past roots of European and Mediterranean culture. We recommend safeguarding all types of heritage in conflict areas through international cooperation, supporting Public Archaeology and other actions that involve citizens in knowledge co-creation, creating means of investing in heritage within and outside Europe to develop bridges between academics, tourists, and society, and enhancing programmes to allow experts on heritage to work in Europe and disseminate knowledge to diverse audiences.

Scientific Collaborations and Common Actions

The collaboration between CNR, CNRS, and CSIC in Heritage Science represents a fundamental cornerstone for advancing research across Southern Europe. We identified several key initiatives to strengthen these relationships:

• The establishment of a Permanent Working Group on Heritage Science would ensure continuity with the work developed in this position paper while providing structured involvement for researchers from all three institutions. 

• Creating a Digital Transnational action within DIGILAB E-RIHS would focus on emblematic datasets from each institution, addressing key challenges in interoperability and collaborative research. 

• A comprehensive network mapping exercise would identify gaps and opportunities for new collaborations, while strategic initiatives including enhanced mobility programmes, bilateral/trilateral programmes, shared digital infrastructure, and strategic coordination would transform the collaborative landscape.

These initiatives would significantly enhance the capability of CNR, CNRS, and CSIC to address complex challenges in Cultural Heritage research and preservation, creating a more robust and innovative research ecosystem benefiting from the diverse expertise of all three organizations.

Emanuel Demetrescu (CNR-ISPC), Emilio Cano (CSIC-CENIM), Anne-Madeleine Goulet (CNRS-CESR), Michela Barbot (CNRS-IDHES), Filippo Calcerano (CNR-ISPC), Livio De Luca (CNRS-MAP), Jesus Garcia (CSIC-EEHAR), Tatiana Pedrazzi (CNR-ISPC), Thibault Saintenoy (CSIC-INCIPIT)

Notes

1. International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) “Heritage science is the interdisciplinary research domain of the scientific study of cultural and natural heritage”. https://www.iccrom.org/section/heritage-science (accessed 28^th March 2025).