The proposed research project 'Reanimating Tibetan Heritage: Transforming collections, Empowering communities' will be undertaken by Thupten Kelsang as an AHRC Early Career Fellow in Cultural and Heritage Institutions. His praxis-based research focuses on how to create a sustainable and equitable relationship between the Tibetan diaspora and museums with Tibetan collections. The case of 'Tibet' in museums is a possibly unique example of being 'doubly colonial', having faced two major waves of mass extraction of objects, both within colonial contexts: British and Chinese. Even before 'historical Tibet' was subsumed under the People's Republic of China [in 1951], it witnessed a British colonialist intervention in the guise of the Younghusband 'Expedition' of 1903-04 which sought and extracted a substantial collection of Tibetan artefacts, much of which is now in public collections across the UK. The underlying rationale for this project lies in the untapped potential for museum collections with Younghusband provenance to become focal points for long-term and sustainable relationships between museum(s) and Tibetans. By catalysing these relationships through this research, British museums could participate in a potential act of symbolic reparation and restorative justice towards the Tibetan community as well as address the acute absence of Tibetan voices in the sector. Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR), this collaborative research explores the potential future(s) of Tibetan collections in museums in the UK and their latent affordances for the wider Tibetan community. Through collaborative enquiry and co-production of knowledge, this research project asks questions about how Tibetan collections in museums could be reimagined and reactivated. A parallel strand of this research project is focused on how the Fellow's research methodologies and findings could be applied to other communities: exploring engagement/collaborative practices which can accommodate the multiplicity of various originating communities, methodologies for 'sourcing' and conducting community consultations, and how to create best practices for museum engagement and collaboration as an antidote to colonial entanglement of certain collections. This Fellowship will enable an unprecedented UK-wide survey of Tibetan collections, two knowledge exchange workshops for the Tibetan community, pilot community consultation at the V&A, two GLAM sector facing workshops, and the publication of two reports. The first report's focus would be Tibetan collections and culturally informed protocols around the care and display of Tibetan objects. The second report's focus would be the production of a museum toolkit and a set of recommended general guidelines for consultation and collaboration with communities of origin (across different contexts).

PERCEIVE aims at improving the perception, preservation, curation, exhibition, understanding and access of colored Cultural Heritage collections. It aims at developing a reliable way to Study, Reconstruct, Render, Remap, Exhibit and Re-appropriate them. These collections are, in fact, a priority because of their high fragility that requires shared methods to preserve and exhibit them (i.e. textiles start fading in only 10 years, while only small traces of the original polychromy on classical statues is left today), because of the complexity of their study (especially with the attempts of reconstructing their original appearance), and because of the importance of their communication to future generations and of the shaping of European common identity around the concepts of “care” and diversity/variety” (i.e. the different shades of skin colors that were common in the Greek and Roman times). PERCEIVE starts from the twofold needs of better preserving and communicating colored artworks, improving and speeding up scientific process results, that could better be used to maximize visitors' experience with the physical and the digital colored collections. Following the coronavirus emergency, in fact, museums have proved to lack of a digital policy that could guarantee a sustainable remote access for visitors. PERCEIVE aims at advancing the digital capability of scientists and cultural institutions, through a service based AI architecture and tool-kit; and by developing a new design theory for on site and remote VR/AR/MR experiences, based on “Care” “Accessibility” and “Authenticity” concepts, with and for the creative industries. Our expected outcomes include services and tools including: a PERCEIVE Tool Kit connected to an on line easy-to-use Service, PERCEIVE Experience Prototypes for the visitors, PERCEIVE Design Tool Kit for designers and educators.

As the Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme enters its second decade, the Victoria and Albert Museum is eager to take forward the work led to date in coordinating the CDP consortium to deliver a shared vision for world-class collaborative research training with Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at its heart. A Coordination Group Team, based at the V&A South Kensington, will closely collaborate with the 15 CDP4 Award Holders to champion CDP Award Holders and the new knowledge created by CDP students. In CDP4 we aim to take this mission to new HEI collaborators, partner organisations, and potential CDP students of all ages and backgrounds, redefining the role of the CDP scheme as a catalyst for new discoveries and a launchpad for emerging talent to tackle the biggest challenges of today and tomorrow through a variety of different career paths enabled through the scheme's unique training opportunities. To deliver our mission and vision we will focus our activities on four strategic objectives: 1) Creating Connections; 2) Supporting Emerging Talent; 3) Maximising the Impact of Research; 4) Data-Driven Interventions. These respond to the stated objectives of the AHRC that the Coordination Group: 1) works equitably with the CDP consortium and the AHRC to drive, oversee and coordinate the delivery of the cohort development programme through the provision of additional development opportunities for CDP students; 2) builds lasting relationships with the AHRC for the CDP consortium, students and alumni; 3) provides support to increase EDI within the institutions that participate in the scheme; 4) fosters the diverse talent pipeline required for arts and humanities research to thrive. We will deliver our vision, mission and strategic objectives through four workstreams. Each workstream (WS) will be broken down into a series of individual work packages (WP). Workstream 1 - Leading and Supporting the CDP Consortium; Workstream 2 - Cohort Development Programme: Development and Delivery; Workstream 3 - Supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Activity within the CDP Scheme; and Workstream 4 - Alumni Engagement. These workstreams will be delivered in a way that emphasises the importance of cohort. The CDP cohort provides an opportunity for students from different CDP Award Holders, at different stages in their doctoral study, and with different disciplinary approaches, to share experiences and good practice, whilst exploring research synergies to support them during their project, and in preparation for future careers. We aim to create the circumstances for serendipity to flourish, stretching the canvas in preparation for the CDP cohort to develop and expand in new and unexpected ways.

Since the late eighteenth century, alongside Enlightenment philosophy on human rights, western European scholars have conceptualised human universality in universal histories and universal museums. In its investigation of the evolution of museum collections, the 'Universal Histories and Universal Museums' project strongly connects with the third objective of both the 'The Past in the Present' and the 'Care for the Future' programmes: the mediation, and the cultural and social appropriation of the past, from transnational perspectives. Looking at the history of museum collections is one of the ways in which we can examine how history is made, displayed and disseminated through the uses, legacies and representations of the past. Our research will highlight the constituent features of encyclopaedic knowledge about western universal human histories, from the nineteenth century to the present day. It will also examine the assumptions and limitations of such understanding. In particular, the project seeks to address questions regarding the representation of the diversity of cultures that define human universality, the articulation of historical and anthropological approaches to the description of humanity and the influence of social knowledge practices on the structuring of universal knowledge. The project also considers ways thinking about the past help us to prepare for a global future that incorporates more diverse universalities. The first phase of the project will combine critical investigation through four workshops and two historical case studies, based in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Musée du quai Branly. The project's second phase will consolidate the first phase research in a small exhibition based on the two case studies, and a conference timed to align with the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi - a contemporary universal museum. Publications will include a book, articles in peer-reviewed journals and digitisation of key archival resources.