Research Community Work Plan 2022

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. 

Steering Group composition

As of 2022, the Steering Group of the Research Community consists of:

Chair:

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

Co-Chair:

• Rebecca Kahn, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Vienna

Manager:

• Alba Irollo, Research Coordinator (in charge of Europeana Research), Europeana Foundation (The Hague)

Steering Group members: 

• Milena Dobreva, Experienced Researcher, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski
• Ines Vodopivec, Deputy Director, National and University Library of Slovenia 

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 research based on digital cultural heritage, computational methods and digital tools;

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

• Share case studies and best 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;

• Identifying relevant resources, training material, etc.;

• Participating in relevant working groups, meetings and conferences;

• Fostering partnerships within the community, with cultural heritage and research institutions;

• Presenting the work of the community at relevant workshops and conferences;

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

• Supporting the active engagement by the larger community.

Priority areas and main activities

The Europeana Research Community is still in its infancy. That is why the following areas were chosen as priority areas by the Steering Group for 2022: 

1. Reinforce the sense of a community.

2. Start developing a presence in communities of researchers interested in digital scholarship and of professionals interested in digital cultural heritage.

3. Provide cultural heritage professionals with basic tools and skills to facilitate data driven and AI oriented research.

In each of these areas, several actions have been identified for the year 2022. The main actions are:

• Organise an online webinar about understanding Europe’s digital infrastructure(s) for research (SSHOC, DARIAH, CLARIN, etc.);

• Establish a Task Force on practical datafication;

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

• Create the concept of Datasheets for Cultural Heritage, a standardised process for documenting digital heritage datasets, to facilitate better communication between digital heritage institutions and dataset consumers and to encourage transparency and accountability. This would preferably be a joined effort with Europeana Tech.

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

Communication Channels 

• 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 Café 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.

• 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.

Budget*

*Budget pending final approval