Assess the context
Identify conservation needs and evaluate which research methods and technologies are meaningful for a particular place, institution or task.
CHEDAR · Capacity Building
Building skills for informed heritage practice
Capacity building strengthens the knowledge, skills and professional confidence needed to make well-informed decisions and take effective action in cultural heritage. CHEDAR connects research with practice so that professionals, institutions and communities can assess methods critically and apply them responsibly in their own working environments.
From research to lasting capability
01
Understand and assess
Build the critical judgement needed to decide whether a method is relevant to a specific heritage context.
02
Apply responsibly
Understand limitations, select appropriate approaches and make confident, evidence-based decisions.
03
Act independently
Strengthen long-term professional and institutional capability beyond individual courses or project activities.
Knowledge into practice
Building skills for informed decisions
In cultural heritage, capacity building means enabling professionals, institutions and communities to address conservation needs within their own working environments.
CHEDAR helps heritage professionals understand, assess and apply methods developed across documentation, conservation, digital transformation and resilience. These include 3D digitisation, material diagnostics, Heritage Digital Twins, artificial intelligence and risk management.
Technical expertise is supported by critical judgement: knowing not only how a method works, but whether it is appropriate, what its limitations are and how it can be applied responsibly.
Choose with confidence
Recognise limits, compare available options and select evidence-based approaches instead of adopting technology for its own sake.
Put knowledge to work
Translate research into professional practice and adapt tools and methods to real conservation and management environments.
Local knowledge and networks
Strengthening institutions from within
Heritage practice is shaped by place. Environmental pressures, available resources, institutional arrangements and professional responsibilities differ across regions and organisations. CHEDAR therefore builds on the knowledge already held by local professionals, institutions and communities.
Local experience provides the foundation for understanding how research and technology can support established practices and respond to specific conservation needs.
From research to practice
Capacity building runs across CHEDAR
It is embedded in research activities, partnerships, professional exchanges and learning initiatives. CHEDARacademy forms part of this wider framework for knowledge sharing and professional development.
Documentation
3D digitisation and methods for understanding, recording and managing heritage information.
Conservation
Material diagnostics and informed approaches that support preventive and sustainable conservation practice.
Digital transformation
Heritage Digital Twins, artificial intelligence and digital tools understood through their real professional value.
Resilience
Risk assessment and management methods that help institutions prepare for environmental, natural and human-made pressures.
Long-term impact
Creating lasting capability and professional independence
The purpose of capacity building is not dependence on external expertise. It is to strengthen the ability of professionals and institutions to assess their own needs, evaluate available options and adapt methods to the realities of their heritage contexts.
Skills remain with participants
Knowledge developed through training and professional exchange can be applied to future challenges long after a single activity has ended.
Expertise becomes embedded in organisations
Institutions can integrate new expertise into procedures, workflows and decision-making rather than relying only on isolated interventions.
Knowledge circulates through networks
Professionals build relationships with researchers and specialists, share knowledge with colleagues and contribute their own expertise back to research and innovation.
Learning within CHEDAR
From capacity building to learning opportunities
CHEDARacademy is one part of CHEDAR’s wider capacity-building framework. Explore research-driven course previews and current training initiatives, including LanD 2027, to see how knowledge is translated into learning and professional development.