The destruction of Cultural Heritage worldwide is a topic that receives growing attention: Cultural Heritage is threatened in armed conflicts, through climate change and environmental influences, and through neglect. The Summer School 2016 aims at covering these topics by assembling a wide range of scholars and experts to discuss the dangers faced by Cultural Heritage as well as methods to preserve and reconstruct it. What can be done to efficiently and professionally protect Cultural Heritage? What dangers does it face? Which actors have to be involved? Is the system- atic destruction of Cultural Heritage a rather new phenomenon or has it been practiced through- out human history? What can be done to prevent such destructions?
The Summer School, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, will deal with all these questions. International experts from different fields (such as Archaeology, History, Museum Studies, Law, Digital Humanities etc.) as well as key-actors from the UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the topic. Based on current research, out- standing knowledge and experience as well as newly developed technologies, a comprehensive and profound exchange with the participants will be sought.
The Summer School will take place from September 16th to September 23rd 2016 at the University of Heidelberg and will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Christian Witschel (Heidelberg Center for the Cultural Heritage – HCCH), Dr. Filippo Carlá-Uhink (University of Exeter), and Dr. Maja Gori (Heidelberg University).
The Summer School invites applications from doctoral students in Archaeology, History, Art History, Law, Cultural Studies, Social and Political Sciences and related fields. Sessions will be held in English. A reader containing a comprehensive overview of the current state of research will be provided in advance. Participants are also expected to prepare a paper/contribution of their own according to their field of interest which will be presented (15 to 20 minutes) during the summer school.
There will be 15 places available. Travel and accommodation expenses of the participants will be covered by the organizers.
Your application (in English) should include:
- A letter of motivation (2 pages max.) including an explanation as to why you would like to participate in the Summer School and what previous knowledge you have on the subject; additionally a short description of your current PhD project should be given.
- A short CV presenting the main steps of your academic career.
Please send your application via e-mail as one PDF file to Michaela Böttner at the HCCH (Boettner[at]uni-heidelberg.de). You can also contact Mrs. Böttner in case you need further in- formation.
The deadline for applications is July 20th 2016.