Image from Europeana’s Built with Bits project – 3D reconstruction of a medieval monastery.

Empowering Networks with Digital Skills: Reusing Digital Heritage of Europeana and Capacity Building Practices from Una Europa Researchers

The transnational research group TRT2 ‘Heritage and the Digitisation of Society’, part of the Una Europa Joint Doctoral Programme in Cultural Heritage (UNA-HER-DOC), will take part in the European Union’s Creative Skills Week 2025 (22–26 September 2025) with an online panel led by researchers from Una Europa. The aim is to share best practices from researchers within our university alliance in reusing digital heritage from Europeana—Europe’s digital platform for cultural heritage, featuring millions of digital resources from archives, museums, libraries, and audiovisual collections—in their research, technical, and teaching projects.

Una Europa - through the TRT2 ‘Heritage and the digitization of society’- and the Europeana Network Association will co-host an online webinar as part of the European Union’s Creative Skills Week 2025 (22–26 September), titled “Empowering networks with digital skills: reusing digital heritage of Europeana and capacity building practices from Una Europa researchers.”

The 90-minute session aims to showcase best practices in reusing Europeana’s digital cultural heritage and highlight capacity-building initiatives led by Una Europa researchers. 

Programme

The webinar will include: an introduction to Una Europa and Europeana’s networks and platforms, four case studies and a closing Q&A session for discussion and exchange.

1. Welcome and introduction to the session by the hosts

• Gema Bonales Daimiel, Coordinator of the TRT2 Heritage and the digitization of the society of Una Europa, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• Raul Gomez Hernandez, PhD candidate at the Una Europa Joint Doctorate in Cultural Heritage (UNA HER DOC) at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the University of Edinburgh. Member Council of the Europeana Network Association and Steering Group Member of the Europeana Education Community

2. Case studies:

• Europeana as source for creativity in KU Leuven.  
  Sofie Taes, Innovation Manager (IOF) at KU Leuven’s DigitGLAM unit, digital curator,  Chair of the Europeana Network Association Management Board and a member of the Expert Group of the European Commission dedicated to the Data Space for Cultural Heritage (CEDCHE).
• Audio heritage digitization and reusing.
  Juha Henriksson, Associate Professor at the University of Helsinki. Director of the Music Archive Finland and member of the Management Board of the Europeana Network Association.
  
• Impact assessment and educational reuse through Europeana at University of Leiden.
  Marco de Niet, Manager, Research and Education Services Division & Deputy Director of the Leiden University Libraries. Supervisory Board Member of Europeana; Former Chair of the Europeana Network Association and Former Member Councillor of the Europeana Network Association.
• Built with Bits: reusing digital heritage in immersive worlds
  Rosario Arquero-Avilés, Senior Lecturer at the Library and Information Science Department. Vice-Dean for Academic Planning, Teaching Staff and Structures at the Faculty of Documentation Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Director of the IDEALab research group.
  Elena Loreto Olmedo-Pagés, Santander-UCM pre-doctoral contract, IDEA Lab Research Group, Faculty of Documentation Sciences, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
  

3. Q&A session