18 July. News on the distance learning course organized by ICCROM and its partners, the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE).

The first six weeks have been dedicated to introducing the participants to risk identification and management, and fundamental concepts and terminology.

Within an online classroom environment, the 30 participants and lecturers have been organized into groups, each focusing on a type of cultural heritage such as archeological sites, historic sites, built heritage, archives, and museum collections. Groups have discussion forums on various topics and a wall for more informal exchanges.

The first two months have consisted of weekly assignments in addition to videos and PowerPoint presentations by lecturers, and illustrated texts to facilitate the learning process. Participants are now working on their own specific risk management projects related to a heritage asset in their country.

The structure of the course is based on the risk methodology developed in partnership with the CCI and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN).  For the first component, “Establish Context”, participants discussed their own case studies and reasons for doing risk assessment. Examples reasons varied from learning to prioritize when planning interventions, to increasing the reputation of the Institute, to preparing for the future.

The second component, “Identify Risks”, was introduced through exercises such as mapping risks on graphs, relating causes and their effects, and writing a risk summary sentence. Participants were also provided with tools to carry out comprehensive risk identification. As a result, they prepared a draft report, which presents the rationale for their individual projects and the risks they identified on their heritage asset. The final report will be handed in at the end of the course.

For more information and if you have any questions, write us at risk2011(at)iccrom.org.

Member States represented: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, Yemen

updated on: 18 July, 2011