EPoCH 2025. Emerging Perspectives on Conservation and Heritage
Communication and participation
27 to 29 March 2025
EPoCH2025 will be in hybrid format (both online and presencial).
Call for abstracts
17 Jan –12 Feb
EXTENSION for call for abstract till 21 Feb
Communication of acceptance to authors 28 Feb
EPoCH is an annual scientific conference, organized by the Heritage & Conservation-Restoration Focus Area of the Centre for Science and Technology of the Arts (CITAR) of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, intended as a forum for discussions on future directions in heritage and conservation-restoration research, embracing collaborative conversations driven by emerging perspectives and the exploration of a diverse array of practices, theories, and approaches.
In 2025, the conference has communication and engagement as central theme. These are the two key notions that are proposed as a motto for the EPoCH2025, in the context of conservation-restoration and heritage.
In the cultural heritage production – conservation – enjoyment triad, there are many communities called upon to contribute, but their articulation is not always straightforward, since those who create, live or co-exist with cultural heritage, those who research it, those who conserve and protect it, and/or those who only sporadically visit have very diverse interests, concerns and languages. Communication and participation in heritage processes are, therefore, concepts and practices that need to be debated and (re)thought, especially considering the current challenges facing the conservation of cultural assets: the constant expansion of what is considered a cultural asset (dark heritage, living heritage); the growing touristic pressure on heritage and its articulation with other uses and experiences; decolonialism and the restitution of cultural assets; the use of cultural assets in protest actions; and the conservation of difficult, contested, or dissonant heritage. Reflexions on the integration of these concerns into the practice of conservation-restoration, or in the social recognition of the role of the discipline in these processes, will be of particular interest.
What uses, benefits or limitations have conservation and heritage derived from their ability to communicate? What communication strategies have been followed? What means are at their disposal? How to involve the different communities in the various stages of heritage valorization? How to ensure the sustainability of decision making? What (good) practices have been attempted? These are some of the questions that EPoCH2025 intends to discuss, organized into the following topics:
- Communication strategies: the whys, hows and for whoms of communicating heritage, conservation-restoration, and material culture research;
- Community engagement strategies: in bottom-up decision making; in raising awareness and enhancing critical judgment in heritage processes; when protecting and developing heritage contexts;
- Conflicts and convergences, challenges and opportunities: in conservation decision-making; in heritage research and valorization; in restitutions; or in difficult or dissonant heritage processes;
- Good practices and case studies on the articulations between the academic, governance, use, (re)creation or fruition, and/or conservation-restoration communities.
The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.