EU and Jordan enhance cultural heritage preservation
With the support of EU funding, the project 'Jordan conservation of cultural heritage in ERA' (JOCHERA) set three main objectives. The first was aimed at the general reinforcement of the Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research at the University of Jordan (UJ). The second focused on boosting cooperation capacities for cultural heritage protection research in the context of the European Research Area (ERA). The third objective centred on developing the conservation centre of excellence to respond to Jordan's socioeconomic needs. All project activities were designed to enable the reinforcement of capacities in EU–Jordanian cooperation as well as science and technology (S & T) research. The latter was specific to the topic of cultural heritage conservation.Work carried out by the consortium was spread across five areas. These covered project management, twinning and joint research plans, training modules development and infrastructure upgrading, strategic development of UJ and innovation enhancement, and network facilitation and dissemination. Project partners made use of digital media, print media and public relations to achieve their dissemination goals. This included the launching of a dedicated website, press releases, official publications and the maintenance of online social media accounts. In addition, the project organised a symposium and a conference to present project results. Various media channels promoted and transmitted the latter event both within and beyond Jordan's borders.Project efforts positively impacted the capacities of the UJ. In particular, they led to better research and innovation management, and improved international S & T cooperation and participation in the FP7. Cultural heritage protection research capacities have been enhanced. Also, the introduction of a strategic development framework will increase UJ visibility and scope. JOCHERA's comprehensive approach resulted in numerous achievements, not least of which was the strengthened construction of a fully operational ERA on tangible cultural heritage preservation.
Keywords
Cultural heritage, research capacity, science and technology, research collaboration, strategic development
