Competence Centre for Heritage Studies and Technology

For a period of five years beginning in 2016, the University of Bamberg will receive one million euros annually for the establishment of a Competence Centre for Heritage Studies and Technology. The decision was handed down by the ministry cabinet in a special session on 5 August.

The University of Bamberg is expanding its research resources to include the Competence Centre for Heritage Studies and Technology. The centre is set to launch its operations in the 2016/2017 winter semester. The €5 million required for the centre’s establishment comes from the “Nordbayern-Initiative,” a Bavarian state government programme that is investing a total of €598 million in Northern Bavarian economic development through 2018.

Bamberg’s Heritage Sciences, which comprise one full department and two individual professorships, already enjoy an exceptional reputation throughout Europe. The programme’s interdisciplinary orientation – one that draws on fields in the humanities, engineering and materials sciences – and its strong focus on the practical relevance of research and course curricula are one-of-a-kind in Germany and indeed in all of Europe.

Godehard Ruppert, president of the University of Bamberg, sees the new centre as an important development for the unique programme and the university. “The new Competence Centre for Heritage Studies and Technology, and the unique array expertise that it brings with it, will serve to further strengthen the already impressive national and international visibility of Bamberg’s heritage sciences, and will assure continuing development in the long term,” he says.

The new competence centre’s concrete goals include the expansion of knowledge and technology transfer with non-university research institutions, industry and trade organisations, as well as the further development of technological competence and the internationalisation of teaching and degree programmes.

Expansion of Bamberg’s Heritage Sciences

The new competence centre will expand and strengthen the Heritage Sciences’ humanities-based profile, and will also place a stronger focus on the history and theory of heritage conservation and on the fields of heritage sociology and cultural theory as it pertains to historic buildings. The core areas of this new focus will be international cultural asset protection and local remembrance cultures and techniques.

The second field of activity is geared towards an engineering-based approach to studying processes and technologies as they relate to historic buildings. Building Research and Architectural History will expand into the fields of digital architectural documentation and digital property management.

The third new focus will involve the Restoration Sciences in Architectural Conservation. In addition to the field of historical materials science, activities will be expanded to include technology-based applied conservation sciences, particularly digital 3D and ndt (non-destructive testing) technologies.

Godehard Ruppert sees the university’s development perspectives confirmed by the approval of the new project, stating, “This is a clear success for our strategy of further strengthening our strongest areas.” University chancellor Dagmar Steuer-Flieser adds, “Heritage conservation and Bamberg – they belong together, both from a civic and an academic perspective.”

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