(Chair: Marina DÖRING-WILLIAMS, Austria)
Applied research – a matter of course in the natural and technical sciences – still represents the exception in cultural and art studies. The customary settings for an exchange of academic content are lectures, conferences and specific thematic workshops, meaning that as a rule academics remain within their ivory tower.
And yet disciplines that are concerned primarily with the documentation, analysis and interpretation of material from the field of “cultural heritage” often simultaneously gather findings and experience that amount to far more than the theoretical evaluation of content.
The section “Applied Research” therefore aims to offer space to projects which, in addition to the pursuit of pure research tasks, have developed methods and insights that
- could have an influence on the presentation and mediation of the object under investigation or relevant research findings (museums, archaeological sites);
- could lead to practical consequences regarding concepts of usage, restoration and redevelopment;
- promote transdisciplinary work – also and especially with unexpected partners;
- may make the findings of “pure research” more accessible to a wider (selected) clientele, without losing any of their academic substance,
- etc.