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National Lottery bursary scheme funding places at conference opens for applications

Registration has opened for Heritage Dot, Lincoln’s inaugural digital heritage conference which takes place on 3^rd and 4^th June 2019 at the University of Lincoln.

Conference co-host, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has also announced its support for a bursary scheme that will enable greater attendance at the conference from across the heritage sector. The scheme will award funding to cover the costs of a place at the conference and is open to individuals from smaller and independent organisations and local authority heritage professionals, who, without financial support, would not be able to attend. Heritage Dot is a University-inspired initiative to promote digital cultural heritage. The conference hopes to attract professionals and researchers from across the heritage sector, including galleries, museums, libraries and archives, commercial and not-for-profit organisations. The conference is jointly hosted by the Imperial War Museums and The National Lottery Heritage Fund and involves partners from across the region, including Museums Development East Midlands, the Lincolnshire Heritage Forum and Lincolnshire County Council. Sukhy Johal, Director of the Centre for Culture and Creativity at the University, thanked The National Lottery Heritage Fund for its ongoing support as conference co-hosts and their commitment to widening access to the conference through the bursary scheme. The National Lottery Heritage Fund CEO Ros Kerslake, said: “Digital technology is an incredibly powerful tool that is helping more people than ever before enjoy our rich heritage. Supporting heritage organisations to embed digital thinking in everything they do is a top priority for The National Lottery Heritage Fund over the next five years. But we recognise for many this is a challenge, financially and in terms of knowledge and skills. This bursary scheme is designed to help more heritage groups, organisations and professionals take part in what promises to be an inspirational Heritage Dot conference”. Since the launch of the conference’s call for participation in September 2018, Heritage Dot has received a large number of varied and exciting proposals from researchers and practitioners from across the world. The provisional programme is taking shape around a series of key themes which build on the conference’s core strands of participation, platforms and partnerships. This series of intersecting themes includes work that reflects on the role of institutions in the 21^st century, divided memories, tipping technologies, outreach and education, and communities – in relation to digital heritage. The developing programme complements an exciting core of keynote speakers. Heritage Dot are pleased to announce Prof Melissa Terras, Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at the University of Edinburgh, will join the line up of confirmed plenaries, alongside Diane Lees, Director-General of conference co-host Imperial War Museums, Prof Chris Speed, Chair of Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Lincoln. Registration for the Heritage Dot Conference is now live – places can be booked through the University of Lincoln Shop. Find out more, register for updates and apply for a bursary-supported place now.