Sevasti Mouteveli
University of Piraeus
Sevasti Mouteveli, a MSc student in Digital Culture, Smart Cities, IoT and Advanced Digital Technologies at University of Piraeus, shares her experience of a four month-internship at the Europeana Foundation and reflects on how she engaged with cultural heritage institutions.
Between October 2024 and February 2025, I had the chance to complete an internship at Europeana. I first discovered this opportunity through a Europeana post on LinkedIn, and it came at the perfect moment: the final semester of my Master’s studies in Digital Culture, Smart Cities, IoT and Advanced Digital Technologies. This timing made the internship not only a professional milestone but also a natural extension of my academic path.
My focus during the internship was on data acquisition and engagement with cultural heritage institutions. This combined data work with direct experience of Europeana’s relationship with the institutions that contribute cultural heritage data to the common European data space for cultural heritage, through Europeana.eu.
During my internship, I worked on a variety of tasks. One of my responsibilities was to check and report broken media links in the data published on the Europeana website, which taught me the importance of reliability and user trust in digital heritage. I also carried out an analysis of items that were collected as part of the Europeana 280 campaign, which allowed me to dive deep into cultural content while ensuring its proper integration into the platform. Through this process, I came into contact with the European cultural institutions that showcase their digital collections on Europeana.eu.
I also had the opportunity to support institutions registering through the Share your collections page on Europeana.eu, which gave me insight into how Europeana expands its network of institutions and connects with cultural heritage partners. In addition, I contributed to the development of workflows designed to make this engagement smoother and more effective.
Another important part of my work was to improve data about cultural heritage institutions in the Europeana CRM system. Finally, I created dashboards and statistical charts for collections to visualise usage, on behalf of the institutions, something that strengthened both my technical and analytical skills.
Beyond the technical aspects, this was the first time I had the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment and in an international organisation. Collaborating with colleagues from diverse backgrounds not only broadened my perspective but also helped me grow on a personal level. Even though the internship was conducted remotely, I had the chance to visit Europeana’s offices in The Hague, the Netherlands, and meet many of my colleagues in person — an experience that made me feel even more connected to the team and the institution.
Throughout this internship, I became familiar with tools such as Zoho CRM, DataBox, Jira, Basecamp and Slack, which I used daily to manage tasks and collaborate effectively.
Looking back, this internship was not only about learning technical skills but also about understanding how cultural heritage can be shared and preserved in a digital environment. It gave me valuable experience in bridging the gap between data management and institutional collaboration, while also showing me the impact of teamwork, cultural exchange, and personal growth in an international setting.
To stay up to date on future job opportunities, the latest news and upcoming projects related to cultural heritage, follow Europeana on LinkedIn and Bluesky, and join the Europeana Network Association.
