Heritage Studies Research and Study Opportunities

Thousands of study and academic opportunities in Heritage Studies are available internationally. Conferences and summer schools in Heritage Studies are organized regularly in the best academic centers of the world. The majority of universities and many foundations also offer BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs in Heritage Studies as wells as postdoctoral research grants, awards, and fellowships. Below you will find the updated list of international opportunities available in Heritage Studies.

Heritage studies scholarships

Heritage studies fellowships

Heritage studies conferences

Heritage studies relevant accounts on Twitter

The importance of Heritage 

We all try to live having the tomorrow in mind. Almost everyone wishes to leave their footprint in history so that future generations remember them. Everything that we do, both on a conscious and unconscious level, is connected with Heritage. Humanity, in general, develops due to the scientific, technological, cultural, historical, and other Heritage, transferred from generation to generation. 

Every period of life brings its value. Every consecutive period creates an added value to what already exists. With this accumulative mechanism, people of all times unite their efforts and knowledge to develop. Therefore, studying what people have discovered before plays a crucial role in the continuous progress in any field. On the contrary, missing to preserve the past achievements means deleting the efforts of the whole generations that lived before us and losing the potential chances to live a better life. 

Besides, society needs roots to feel complete and strong. Every newborn person needs to have an identity and know who their ancestors are. Nations and countries are built with the sole idea of maintaining their historical past, culture, and traditions. Without the common Heritage, communities can’t have strong ties and walk toward the same goals. It would be hard to organize public life if the members of the society do not have something valuable in common. 

What is considered a heritage?

Heritage is the result of the activities of one generation that are maintained and transferred to other generations. Also, Heritage includes natural objects that nations inherit through history; however, they did not anyway participate in creating them. In this regard, there are two main types of heritage objects: cultural and natural. 

Natural Heritage includes those sites in the world, which represent a significant value for the whole population and contain essential knowledge about the things that generations learn and utilize through history. Areas, where there are rare habitats that need extra protection are also included in the Natural Heritage. The examples are protected natural areas, botanical gardens, aquaria, reservoirs, etc. 

Cultural Heritage is anything created by humans which represents a value and plays a crucial role in the formation and organization of certain communities. Humans produce physical objects throughout their life, and they also create traditions, lifestyle, knowledge, and other non-materialistic things that are of a high value. 

Therefore, there is a division of tangible and intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, the largest international organization which acts toward the protection of global cultural heritage. So, according to UNESCO, intangible heritage includes: 

  • oral traditions
  • social practices
  • festive events
  • knowledge and practices about nature and the universe
  • skills to produce traditional crafts, etc.

Above is the picture of those main tangible and intangible objects you will discover, study and maintain as a student of Heritage studies programs. Read about the academic implications of the field next. 

Heritage studies as an academic direction

Heritage studies academic programs prepare specialists who find clues between the past and present by discovering heritage sites and analyzing their potential impact on society. You might guess that to complete such a mission, heritage studies should act in cooperation with disciplines like archaeology, anthropology, conservation, heritage management, material culture studies, etc. Therefore, expect to be enrolled in a truly interdisciplinary area when choosing the Heritage studies. 

Heritage study specialists are the people thanks to whom we attend museums, where the artifacts are interpreted and presented to visitors in an organized way. Also, they are the people who regulate human behavior in the preserved areas to transfer their value through generations successfully. The same kind of role in society will be yours by choosing to study in Heritage programs. 

Heritage students mainly explore the following directions:

  • Cultural Heritage: how heritage is managed and presented.
  • Heritage and museums: how precisely museums communicate artifacts.
  • Heritage and public history: how can specialists present the findings of the past to the non-academic audiences 
  • Heritage and the arts: how to communicate the heritage of various genres of art.

The main courses students pass during Heritage studies programs include Heritage and identity, The role of politics in Heritage, Cultural Heritage and conflict, natural and cultural Heritage and their relationship, Heritage management challenges, Heritage public engagement, Cultural Heritage and the law, The role of Heritage in conflict and post-conflict, etc. 

Heritage research opportunities

Heritage is all about research. If scholars do not engage in discovering something new, they participate in discussions over how already found objects should be preserved and communicated to the public. Maintaining the Heritage and teaching the public what they can extract from it is a rather hard task. Almost everywhere in the world, culture, history, and Heritage specialists alarm the continuous tendency of people to delete their past without understanding the importance of its perseverance. So, depending on what you choose as your bachelor’s main direction, there are plenty of opportunities to dig deeper into Heritage topics at the graduate level. 

To have a better understanding of what research projects you can handle, here are some examples of the Cambridge Research Center Heritage Projects:

  • Recording Decisions and Actions connected with Claims for the Removal/Protection of Statues in UK Civic Spaces during the Summer of 2020 
  • Places of Joy: The Role of Heritage After Lockdown 
  • Restoring Cultural Property and Communities after Conflict
  • The Rock Art of the White Sea 
  • Yangshao Culture: 100 Year Research History and Heritage Impact, etc. 

Letting the past disappear is one of the mistakes society can’t afford. The human experience and wisdom are one of the most important assets in life, the carrier of which is Heritage, both tangible and not. Therefore, Heritage specialists handle a vital role of not letting the experience disruptions happen between generations. We hope this section of ARMACAD will help you succeed in this crucial mission.