The consortium of the Horizon-funded ARCHE project (Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe) met between 16-18 October in Paris, on the premises of the French Ministry of Culture, in order to assess the first year of implementation and set the stage for the upcoming steps. The meetings brought together the project’s General Assembly (the prime responsible body for all of ARCHE’s scientific, research, technical, administrative, and financial issues) and Executive Board (the supervisory body for the execution of the Project). They coincided with the meeting of the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI CH).
The meetings concerned the completed and upcoming project’s deliverables and tasks. ARCHE’s first year focused on conducting a comprehensive mapping and assessment of the research and innovation landscape in cultural heritage across Europe, as well as on organising several rounds of engagement with stakeholders via four virtual workshops.
Future steps were also discussed, as, throughout 2024, ARCHE will organize four in-person workshops across Europe to refine a first, currently in-progress version of the new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for cultural heritage. This document is one of the project’s most important outputs, since it strives to act as a roadmap for harmonizing heritage research policies across all Europe in the coming years. ARCHE partners also used this opportunity to engage with the JPI CH members and to brainstorm new ways of boosting the cooperation between the two large-scale initiatives.
In addition to the plenary discussions on the progress of ARCHE, partners also discussed the proposed Partnership on Cultural Heritage with representatives of the European Commission. Partners also engaged in smaller thematic working sessions that further strengthened the team spirit already present in the consortium. Arguably, the most pleasant surprise of this reunion was the visit at the Cluny Museum, which proved to be a great insight into medieval art and the relevance of museum research for the broader field of cultural heritage.
The General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI) participates in the ARCHE Consortium by contributing to mapping the research on cultural heritage panorama in Europe and in Greece, signaling gaps and needs and planning future strategies. It also contributes to the creation of an engaged community around research and cultural heritage, consolidating and enlarging the Alliance as well as promoting and disseminating the ARCHE project.
The consortium of the ARCHE project presenting and discussing the progress of the various work packages
