Impact case study database

Changing Professional Practice and Contributing to Professional Development

Kyriakidis’ work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 11, Target 11.4; that is, to ‘strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural […] heritage’. His work improves heritage preservation through training of individuals and the subsequent change to professional practice. Kyriakidis’ research-led teaching focuses on the key aspects required for sustainable heritage management, including the importance of intangible heritage and community engagement (as identified in his research), and the digitisation of heritage sites. From 2014, the vocational and CPD-accredited MA in Heritage Management offered by the University of Kent at its Athens Centre, and the associated summer schools and workshops (offered by HERITΛGE), had 683 attendees (125 for the MA, 558 for summer schools and workshops). Training has been taken up by individuals from 73 countries, at all levels of professional experience, ranging from new graduates to government ministers and policy officials [a]. Kyriakidis’ research-led teaching thus created a diverse global impact.

The following examples from four countries further illustrate the impact of Kyriakidis’ research between 2014 and 2020:

1. Trainee 1, who became the Senior Museums and Monuments Officer at Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, contributed to a new national strategy for the management of heritage in Ghana. ‘We already see benefits in how locals are eager to take up suggestions and actively proffer indigenous solutions and others to ensure the success of how heritage sites in and around their communities are being managed. This positive shift is due to my Heritage management training, where stakeholders were identified and brought together to share ideas and solutions, instead of the usual top to bottom approach’ [b].

2. Another example is the Cultural Division of the Maya Train, an infrastructure and social development project. The Maya Train is a 1,500km intercity railway that will connect six UNESCO-designated World Heritage sites, two Biosphere Reserves, and other important Mayan archaeological sites in Mexico. In her testimony, Trainee 2 credited the training she received from HERITΛGE for her having ‘learned that heritage values and local communities must have priority in any cultural-heritage-related project. As a result of this training, I am able to positively influence the development of the project and the relations with stakeholders at all levels accordingly, placing both values and community engagement to a central position in the project’ [b].

3. Trainee 2’s assessment was echoed by Trainee 3, who became the co-founder of the Tuklas Inc. Society in the Philippines, which works with local communities near archaeological and heritage sites. He stated that the training he received in 2017 and 2018 from Kyriakidis and his team ‘has truly made a difference in the way I both understand the importance of heritage values but also of the skills needed for a more effective engagement with the local community. The Heritage Management trainings have given me new tools to present and discuss heritage values with the communities, which has not only enabled the communities I work with to have a greater awareness and appreciation of their own heritage, but also improved the community’s ability to contribute to authentic, sustainable tourism in the area’ [b].

4. Fifteen Christian monuments, less than 10km away from the border with war-torn Syria in South-East Anatolia (Turkey), have been digitised by Trainee 4. This happened just a few weeks before the creation of the ‘safe zone’ by the Turkish Army in Syria. The permission from the army general to fly a drone in this area for this purpose would not have been obtained if it were not for the community engagement training Trainee 4 received from Kyriakidis [b].

In addition to various heritage sites benefiting from the training provided by Kyriakidis, individuals have also been equipped and empowered to start and/or develop their careers through his work with them. The NGO HERITΛGE, directed by Kyriakidis, addresses UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, Target 4.4; that is, to ’substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills [...] for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship’. Trainee 5, for example, directly credits the skill set he acquired from the MA in Heritage Management for his becoming the Deputy Program Director responsible for the Management of Culture and Heritage at the National Commission for UNESCO in Kenya [b].

On account of its wide-ranging networks, HERITΛGE addresses UN Sustainable Development Goal 8; that is, to ‘create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment’. The benefit to heritage sites and individuals has been widely noted. For example, in 2020, Kyriakidis was approached by the British Council, which subsequently reached an agreement with HERITΛGE to train heritage professionals with the ambition to lead in heritage preservation [c].

Building Capacity for Heritage Sites and Heritage Organisations

Kyriakidis’ NGO HERITΛGE plays a crucial training role when it comes to building capacity for heritage sites, heritage organisations, and countries' heritage preservation capabilities. Several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed by HERITΛGE, notably with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies in Uzbekistan [d] and the Institute of Tourism Development in Uzbekistan (2019) [e]. A similar agreement exists with the Arts Council of Gambia. HERITΛGE also signed an MoU with the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICCHTO) (in 2019), making it the world’s first organisation that has such an agreement with an Iranian institution [f]. As a result of this MoU, Trainee 6, who works for ICCHTO and disseminates Kyriakidis’ knowledge in Iran, has initiated a number of community engagement plans and estimates that 32,000 Iranian heritage sites will eventually benefit from improved heritage management practice [b]. Similarly, Trainee 4 supported the MoU signed in 2019 between HERITΛGE and the Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Turkey (KMKD) [b].

Through these MoUs, and its extensive networks (of which trainees are also a part), HERITΛGE has become the capacity-building partner for multiple organisations. HERITΛGE is supporting the development of national strategies of organisations, collaborating on training, and joining forces with various institutions in funding applications by pan-national organisations such as the European Union. Through successful lobbying, HERITΛGE has become part of Europe AID, which has funded heritage training and capacity-building in Iran. In 2020, Kyriakidis was also approached by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which wishes to work with HERITΛGE to train ‘key heritage managers to empower them to independently transform their heritage assets from decaying objects of study to dynamic sources of learning, community identity and economic development’ [g].

Beyond the immediate partner organisations, Kyriakidis’ advice is also frequently sought in heritage circles. For instance, Kyriakidis was appointed to the Senior Advisory Board of the Global Heritage Fund, the second-largest private organisation for heritage preservation in the US, with community engagement at the heart of its mission [h]. In 2020, Kyriakidis also advised the Greek Government and their US-based legal representatives in a dispute on illicit antiquities in which the Greek Government was sued after a transaction did not take place in ‘good faith’. Community engagement and the bringing together of different stakeholders was crucial in enabling the Greek Government to protect their national heritage and in preventing the sale from proceeding. The significance of this decision was covered extensively in the mainstream press.

At a time when heritage organisations and those who support them around the world have seen their funding cut drastically (e.g. UNESCO, DFID, USAID, WMF), HERITΛGE has effectively demonstrated the economic, cultural, and heritage value-added associated with its knowledge transfer and capacity-building activities. Reflecting this, as well as the uniqueness of the activities delivered, the organisation’s total revenue has more than doubled between 2015 and 2017, reaching an annual total of $1.4 million in 2017 [i].

Policy Debate on Climate Change

Kyriakidis also advised the Greek Government in developing policy proposals that aimed to mitigate the impact of climate change on heritage. Kyriakidis’ proposals to the Government, which he submitted in spring/summer 2019, were based on his research insight that the physical changes to heritage sites caused by climate change can have a strongly negative impact on their local communities [R1, R2]. Importantly, his research had identified that the damage resulting from climate change can profoundly affect intangible heritage, in particular. In the policy proposals, he pointed out the diverse negative cultural and economic impacts that climate change has for communities. He argued that these would disrupt the lives of communities across the globe, limiting their ability to access and benefit from their cultural resources, and that traditional knowledge and practices would be lost [j]. His proposals stated that it was a significant omission that cultural heritage is not systematically integrated into global climate change mitigation processes – including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. Kyriakidis argued that although the latter does mention 'traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems' (Article 7.5), this does not go far enough in acknowledging the profound disruption to cultural heritage that can occur. This omission is a reflection of a persistent institutional gap between the cultural heritage and climate change communities, which must be urgently addressed [j]. Kyriakidis wrote the initial proposal [j] and approved the final text for the Athens Summit. The proposals led to a conference (21-22 June 2019) ‘and formed the basis for the final text signed and sent to Abu Dhabi [in June 2019], where HERITΛGE represented Greece’ [k]. ‘Following the recommendations of Dr Kyriakidis and HERITΛGE, the Greek government organised a parallel session to the UN summit in New York that paved the way for heritage to be included in the main discussion in that summit and then to be included in to the minutes of COP25.’ [k, l] This success at the 2019 Climate Action Summit means that heritage organisations are now able to lobby their governments for funding in the context of climate change.