Europeana Research Community Work Plan 2023

The Europeana Research Community aims to foster the use of digital cultural heritage in academia and research.

Read and download the full Research Community work plan below. You can also join the Europeana Research Community through the Europeana Network Association. 

Steering Group composition

The Steering Group of the Research Community consists of:

• Steven Claeyssens, Curator of Digital Collections, KB, the National Library of the Netherlands (The Hague) (Chair)

• Rebecca Kahn, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Vienna (Co-Chair)

• Flavia Bruni, Research Fellow, University of Chieti-Pescara (Councillor)

• Ines Vodopivec, Deputy Director, National and University Library of Slovenia (Councillor)

• Alba Irollo, Research Coordinator , Europeana Foundation (The Hague) (Community Manager) 

Community aspiration

The Europeana Research Community aims to foster the use of digital cultural heritage in academia and research.

The members of the Research Community are encouraged to:

• Gain a better understanding of methods for research and university teaching purposes based on digital cultural heritage, computational methods and digital tools;

• Strengthen the connections between cultural heritage professionals, academics and researchers;

• Share case studies and good practices;

• Jointly work on issues of common interest;

• Explore possible collaborations and partnerships for new (funded) projects.

The members of the Steering Group facilitate these goals by:

• Stimulating information sharing via the community communication channels;

• Participating in relevant working groups, meetings and conferences;

• Fostering partnerships within the community, between people working in cultural heritage institutions, in universities and in research institutions;

• Presenting the activities of the community at relevant events;

• Helping to facilitate the work Europeana is doing in research-related fields.

Priority areas and activities in 2023

The priority areas for 2023 are: 

1. Supporting engagement with the academic and research communities in the common European data space for cultural heritage.

2. Providing guidance and insight to the community in the complex European heritage and research ecosystem(s).

3. Further developing a presence and promoting the common European data space for cultural heritage in communities of academics and researchers interested in digital scholarship and of professionals interested in digital cultural heritage. 

The special activities for 2023 are:

• Organising the feedback on the “Collections as Data” workflow that will be developed by the Europeana Foundation and DARIAH.

• Writing and publishing a practical guide for humanities scholars to the European digital cultural heritage and research infrastructures.

In addition to these special activities, we will continue our regular activities:

• Organising a regular online Europeana Research Café, an informal space for sharing best practices and discussing new insights;

• Presenting the work of the community on Collections as Data, Datasheets for Digital Cultural Heritage and the common European data space for cultural heritage at relevant workshops and conferences.

Finally, we will introduce a new regular activity: organising online hands-on workshops.

All activities are targeted at cultural heritage professionals, academics and researchers alike.

Contributing to the priorities of the Europeana Network Association

The Research Community work plan for 2023 contributes to the strategic priorities of the Europeana Network Association in a number of ways:

• Supporting capacity building and digital transformation in cultural heritage institutions, especially capacity building of professionals who deal with academics, university students and researchers in their daily work, by supporting them in understanding the needs existing in the academic and research sector where it comes to the reuse of digital cultural heritage, and in developing new workflows to make data reusable.

• Harnessing the potential of individual ENA members, by investing efforts on informal events like the Research Community Cafés and workshops that more than webinars, envisage an active participation, and by encouraging community members to collaborate in the organisation of events at the national level in languages other than English.

• Collaboration with the Europeana Foundation, Europeana Aggregators’ Forum and wider networks, by relying on the structural collaboration with the Europeana Research initiative and aligning the community’s objectives with this initiative and its partners in academia and research within the common European data space for cultural heritage, especially DARIAH | Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities.

Communications and outreach 

• Discussion list: All members of the Research Community are invited to join the Research Community Discussion List.

• Research Community Newsflash: A short newsflash announcing the Cafés and giving an update on other activities from the community.

• Twitter: The Europeana Research account on Twitter (@EurResearch) is the main channel used by the Europeana Foundation to keep the community members informed on a daily basis.

• LinkedIn: Important updates will be shared through the Europeana LinkedIn group 

• Europeana Research Community Pro Page: The Research Community Pro Page provides the community with practical information, useful resources and (upcoming) activities.

• ENA Newsletter: The most relevant achievements and plans of the Research Community can be shared through the ENA Newsletter.

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