Expert Modules for Strategic Knowledge Co-Creation

The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi is pleased to announce a series of focused seminars and expert workshops designed to advance an integrated approach to protecting and promoting cultural heritage.

Anchored in the belief that everyone has the right to benefit from and contribute to cultural heritage, this program aligns with international frameworks such as UNESCO’s Framework for Culture and Arts Education (2024), the MONDIACULT Conference (2022), and the Pact for the Future (2024).

The program supports cultural rights and sees heritage as a catalyst for social cohesion, sustainable development, and economic opportunity. By fostering an integrated approach to heritage protection, this series aims to promote innovative governance, cross-sector collaboration, capacity building, and advocacy at national and regional levels.

The program envisions living heritage places where access to culture is fundamental to exercising cultural rights and serves as a catalyst for inclusive, sustainable socio-economic and environmental development.

As the world faces increasingly complex challenges, the program affirms that the intrinsic meanings, identities, and values embedded in cultural heritage—tangible, intangible, and natural—are essential to social cohesion, economic opportunity, and historical continuity.

By advancing an integrated approach to heritage protection and promotion through a global forum, these modules—composed of focused seminars and strategic expert workshops for knowledge co-creation—seek to foster innovative governance, cross-sectoral collaboration, capacity building, and advocacy work to protect and promote cultural heritage at all levels.

Programme Overview

This programme consists of four thematic modules, each combining intensive knowledge-building seminars, strategic expert workshops, and field visits to foster collaboration and innovation in cultural heritage protection.

Each module includes:

• Two-day intensive seminar focused on knowledge-sharing and awareness-building.
• Two-day strategic expert workshops and field visits: working groups discuss concrete projects and foster cross-sector collaboration among professionals from culture, education, media, law enforcement, tourism, environment, and related fields.
• One-day post-modules review meeting and certificate ceremony (21 November 2025): participants reflect on insights gained, explore complementary international conventions, and align future collaborative actions across the UAE, GCC, and beyond.

Eligibility Criteria

• Professionals and/or officials from UAE and GCC government entities and relevant cultural or civil society institutions.
• Representatives from government entities connected to cultural heritage protection and development (e.g., Culture & Tourism, Municipalities, Environment, Police, Education, Media).
• Representatives from cultural, education and/or higher education institutions, foundations, developers, investment entities.
• Interdisciplinary professionals in relevant institutions and/or NGOs (architects, urban planners, archaeologists, educators, civil defence, media specialists, museum workers, legal experts).
• Representatives from community groups and public-benefit, non-profit, or community organizations.

Benefits

• Official certificate of attendance by DCT Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with UNESCO, and membership in Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Heritage Experts Network.
• Engagement in specialized focus groups for each thematic area, contributing to national and regional heritage efforts.
• Representation of participant institutions in meetings and activities aligned with cultural preservation goals.
• Positioning as institutional representatives and contributors within respective fields upon module completion.
• Important: Formal approval from the applicant’s supervisor and full attendance of the four-day module, plus a one-year commitment to working committees post-workshop, are required.

Modules Overview

Module 1: Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites

Date: 16 – 19 September 2025
This module introduces World Heritage Sites and others of national significance as a shared responsibility and a catalyst for sustainable development. It explores legal, institutional, and practical approaches to protecting heritage sites, from UNESCO frameworks to national and local actions.

• World Heritage as conceptual and legal framework.
• Roles of institutions, municipalities, police, and other stakeholders in heritage site protection.
• Challenges: climate risks, over-tourism, looting, urban pressure.
• Community and stakeholder engagement in heritage stewardship.

Potential Participating Experts: Heritage managers, municipal staff, tourism professionals, police/customs officers, community representatives, urban planners, architects, project managers, and other relevant professionals.

Module 2: Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

Date: 7 – 10 October 2025
This module explores cultural diversity as a foundation for innovation, inclusion, and resilience. It investigates how legal frameworks, cultural industries, education, and civil society contribute to protecting diverse cultural voices, particularly in times of rapid change or crisis.

• Cultural diversity and its value to inclusive, sustainable societies.
• Legal instruments and frameworks supporting cultural expression.
• Roles of civil society, education, and cultural sectors.
• Risks: digital divide, monoculture, marginalization, crisis-related erosion.

Potential Participating Experts: Civil society leaders, educators, media professionals, museum professionals, creative sector workers, urban planners, and other relevant professionals.

Module 3: Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage

Date: 21 – 24 October 2025
This module addresses submerged heritage such as coastal archaeological sites. It highlights maritime law, environmental considerations, law enforcement coordination, and the role of coastal communities and tourism sectors in protection efforts.

• Evolution of underwater heritage protection and international frameworks.
• Legal and operational aspects of safeguarding underwater heritage.
• Threats: unauthorized recovery, environmental impact, neglect.
• Stakeholder mapping: maritime authorities, customs, tourism, research, media.

Potential Participating Experts: Maritime officials, environmental officers, police/customs officers, coastal planners, tourism professionals, urban planners, architects, and other relevant professionals.

Module 4: Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Date: 17 – 20 November 2025
Focusing on traditions, knowledge systems, practices, oral expressions, and performing arts, this module underscores the importance of safeguarding living heritage. It explores the roles of education, media, policy, and local communities in preserving cultural identity and continuity.

• Intangible heritage: definitions, domains, and policy frameworks.
• Legal protection and community-based safeguarding strategies.
• Threats: loss of intergenerational transmission, commercialization.
• The role of media, education, and public engagement.

Potential Participating Experts: Educators, media professionals, cultural officers, NGO representatives, researchers, community representatives, and other relevant professionals.

Working Language(s)

Sessions will be conducted in Arabic and English with simultaneous interpretation provided.

How to Apply

Applications to participate in the modules are now open. Participants must commit to the full four-day program per module.
Deadline: July 31, 2025, 5:00 PM (Abu Dhabi time)

Financial Support: Limited financial or logistical support may be available upon request with valid justification.

Contact Information

For inquiries, please contact:
info@abudhabiculture.ae