UNESCO Chair

Estonian Academy of Arts Cultural Heritage and Conservation Department UNESCO Chair on Heritage Studies The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, launched in 1992 to promote international inter-university cooperation, has grown to include around 1000 Chairs and 45 networks across 125 countries. However, only a few of them are on cultural heritage and conservation. UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks act as think tanks and bridge-builders between the academic world, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making thereby strengthening UNESCO’s research-training-policy-society nexus. The activities and projects undertaken by UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks aspire to foster public intellectual debate, ethical reflections, standard setting, research and scientific progress, open knowledge and information, and education in a spirit of international cooperation. A UNESCO Chair can only be established in an academic and accredited higher education institution that is able to field a local team in addition to an international expert, and include both its own and external students. UNESCO does not, in principle, financially support the creation of Chairs, as it considers that one of the aims of creating a Chair is to build bridges with local businesses and donors and to foster a broader sense of social responsibility through the Chair. There are two chairs on cultural heritage in Estonia – in EKA and in Tartu University the Chair of UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage Studies at the Department of Heritage Protection and Conservation at the Estonian Academy of Arts was established in November 2021. In line with the principles of the UNESCO Chair network, the Chair focuses on linking its field with other disciplines, higher education institutions, as well as society at large. The most important partner of the Chair is AS Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn), and there has been significant cooperation with various agencies of Tallinn City Government, Lääne-Harju Municipality, the National Heritage Board and the Environmental Board.  Among the partner universities, the Tallinn University of Technology and the Aalto University in Finland should be highlighted. EKA has a good position in the University Forum network of ICOMOS. As the Department of Cultural Heritage and Conservation covers the broad spectrum of heritage conservation, while the number of students is small considering the small country, the UNESCO Chair has a rather broad scope. Instead of a narrow professorship, the Chair has invited a variety of guest lecturers and focused on cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary cooperation, bringing international experience and the latest knowledge to local students and the public in the best possible way. It also involves specialists from other Estonian universities and from the field in Estonia. A large part of the inter-university cooperation is built around interdisciplinary courses integrating teaching and applied approach, which simultaneously fulfils the tasks set by the research project and provide students with the opportunity to practice interdisciplinary cooperation, learn new perspectives and gain international experience.  Cooperation is for example with the Tallinn City Planning Department and Tallinn Enterprise Department, the National Heritage Board, the Tallinn Guides Association, the ICOMOS National Committee, the Old Town Society and other organisations. Research Areas