HERIFORGE
Designing a community strategy at the intersection of immersive technologies and cultural heritage across Cyprus, Poland and Türkiye.
Overview
I led the research and co-design a community engagement strategy for 3 interconnected hubs across Cyprus, Poland, and Türkiye advancing XR in cultural heritage.
Leading qualitative research in Türkiye and facilitating cross-country coordination for research activities, I developed a community engagement approach through interviews, focus groups, and a consortium-wide strategy workshop. The emerging strategy addressed ecosystem fragmentation and resource scarcity while enabling funding access, international collaboration, and continuous learning.
Currently building this community through Open Calls and sectoral meetings, 5 pillars of our strategy is currently on the move to build a cohesive and interconnected community in Türkiye, Poland and Cyprus.
Client
European Commission
Responsibilities
Design Research
Community Strategy
Workshop Facilitation
Year
2025
Duration
4 months | Part-time
Project Partners
Koç University, KARMA Lab
Culture Unleashed
The Cyprus Institute
The Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Impact
Reached 147 proposals upon its first Open Call for projects, from Pan-European countries, disseminating €50,000 funding and technical support.
461 stakeholders mapped and engaged across 3 countries, through 19 in-depth interviews, 168 questionnaire participants, 4 focus groups and stakeholder contacts.
5 strategic pillars developed from synthesis of 90 challenges, 60 opportunities from 3 countries.
5+ parallel work packages informed, including governance models, R&I strategy, and investment plans through 2030
Research
While mapping 461 stakeholders from academia, civil society, private sector, and public institutions, I conducted 7 interviews with diverse professionals — from XR technologists and museum archivists to digital artists — identifying local barriers, opportunities, and needs. 2 immersive focus groups were hosted, reaching 14 actors in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. These conversations brought light into issues about funding limitations, lack of senior talent, difficulty of collaborations between cultural institutions and XR technologists, as well as temporary one-off projects.
For Poland and Cyprus teams to conduct research in their networks as well, I continuously aligned with and onboarded them to the research design, recruitment criteria and reporting processes and tools.
Design Challenge
How can we develop inclusivity strategies for interconnected communities in Poland, Cyprus and Türkiye, to improve the use of XR technologies for cultural heritage?
Synthesis
In light of the interviews and focus groups, we identified the importance of capacity gaps and institutional barriers while leveraging opportunities in community organizing and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.
Ecosystem Fragmentation can be overcomed with community organizing, transparent matchmaking, and early proof of concepts. The diverse sectors of arts, cultural heritage, and tech providers need active facilitation, neutral convening spaces, and objective standards to foster collaboration over competition.
Building early adopters who successfully demonstrate XR's value in cultural heritage is essential for encouraging broader institutional adoption and investment.
Brain Drain threatens the ecosystem's capacity to execute complex XR projects, yet the emerging Turkish diaspora presents strategic opportunities for international collaboration and knowledge transfer. Senior talent retention and diaspora engagement are critical for project continuity.
Temporary Partnerships and One-Off Projects need structural support for continuous impact. Cultural institutions and XR technologists struggle to collaborate effectively due to bureaucratic delays, unclear strategy ownership, and temporary funding cycles that prevent long-term planning and relationship building.
Community Strategy
I facilitated the strategy workshop with the HERIFORGE consortium, bringing together members from all work packages to co-create actionable objectives.
Guiding country representatives to share their insights, I guided discussions to identify common strategic pillars. A key consideration was to weave an interconnected community while empowering local ecosystems. Emerging results were in five pillars: growing dynamic community, enhancing funding access, fostering inclusive learning, facilitating international exchange, and advocating for policy awareness.
I contributed to defining these pillars into critical actions, a monitoring framework, and success indicators aligned with Europeana Impact Playbook.
HERIFORGE Mission
A trendsetter in XR and Cultural Heritage, HERIFORGE will bring together cultural institutions, researchers, technologists, and policymakers across Cyprus, Poland, and Türkiye — creating a space where they can experiment, share knowledge, and build ethical practices that shape how Europe uses immersive technologies in cultural heritage
Next Steps
The strategy I co-developed directly informs multiple project deliverables including governance models, cross-border R&I strategy, action and investment plans, and open calls preparation. The outcome report currently published at project's website.
The framework positions hubs to address the pain points identified through my research — bureaucratic delays, talent retention challenges, and the need for continuous support mechanisms — while capitalizing on emerging opportunities in digital transformation, diaspora engagement, and cross-sectoral collaboration across three regional innovation ecosystems.
Until 2030, the project will deploy this strategy to engage a wide-net community, support projects for access to cultural heritage.
You can follow updates at heriforge.eu
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