Digital Futures for Cultural Heritage International Conference

28–30 May 2026

Digital Heritage Centre, IAPS, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

About the Conference
The Digital Futures for Cultural Heritage International Conference brings together scholars, creative practitioners, museum professionals, archivists, media researchers, technologists, filmmakers, and community advocates to examine how digital technologies are reshaping the preservation, circulation, interpretation, and experience of cultural heritage in the twenty-first century.

Hosted by the Digital Heritage Centre (DHC) under the Insitute of Asia and Pacific Studies (IAPS), University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), the conference explores the relationship between heritage and digital media through interdisciplinary dialogue and creative engagement. The conference places special attention on digital storytelling, archives, AI, immersive media, cultural memory, community participation, performance, and creative practice.

The conference combines keynote addresses, paper presentations, multimedia exhibitions, creative practice showcases, screenings, performances, and heritage engagement activities across Ningbo and Hangzhou.

Abstract submissions and presenter registrations are now closed. Participants who are not presenting may now register to attend the conference using the separate registration link for non-presenting participants.

Organisers
Hosted by:

• Digital Heritage Centre (DHC), Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies (IAPS)
• School of International Communications, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Conference Partners

• Ningbo Yong Opera Research and Training Center
• China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou
• Beijing Huayi Wuzhou International Cultural Exchanges Co.

Keynote and Plenary Speakers

Professor Phillip McIntyre - University of Newcastle, Australia

Professor Phillip McIntyre is an internationally recognised Communication and Media scholar whose research focuses on creativity, cultural production, and practice-led inquiry. Widely regarded as a founding voice in Songwriting Studies, his scholarship examines how creative work is produced, evaluated, and sustained across media and cultural industries. He is the author of Creativity and Cultural Production and co-editor of The Creative System in Action and Educating for Creativity within Higher Education, with recent work including Paul McCartney and His Creative Practice. He has led major ARC-funded projects, contributed to national research assessment outcomes, and is a frequent keynote speaker on creativity, innovation, and research practice.

Title and Abstract: Creativity, Cultural Heritage and Digital Futures.

I want to begin by explaining the limits and extent of my keynote. Firstly, I will be using Raymond William’s understanding of ‘culture’ (1981: 13). He saw culture as a combination of the anthropological ‘whole way of life’ approach, combining this with the more common sense idea of culture as ‘artistic and intellectual activities.’ This combination can be shorthanded as culture = whole way of life + artistic and intellectual activities. ‘Heritage’ I take to be those accumulated aspects of culture that survive, sometimes over millennia, and provide a rich source for both innovation and tradition. Secondly, I am also presuming that the terms ‘digital futures’ refers to the digital technologies (Flew 2005; Arthur 2009) that are having such a profound impact on culture across the globe (Dhiman 2023; Grilli & Pedota 2024). Here, I take a middle ground on the technological determinist and social determinist dichotomy, choosing to see the technological and the social as aligned (Lax 2009; Hill 1988: 33-34). Thirdly, I want to introduce into this mix the idea that creativity (Niu, W. & Sternberg, R., 2006; Simonton 2006; Glăveanu 2020; Verger & Glăveanu 2025), that is, the emergence of novelty valued in at least one social setting (Hennessey 2017), results from a system in action (Csikszentmihalyi 2014; McIntyre et al 2016). This creative system is comprised of a choice making entity called an agent, be it a person, a group, organisation or institution, and a domain of knowledge or what Bourdieu calls a space of works, that is the heritage accumulated by collective work which presents itself as a set of possible uses (Bourdieu 1996: 235). There is also the field which is comprised of all those who have knowledge of the domain to varying degrees and provide judgements on the novelty being offered. Then, I hope to draw these three broad conceptual areas together and illustrate this with a number of examples from my own research over the last thirty years. I will conclude by arguing, in its simplest and most profound sense, that all things old are made new again.

    

Dr Martin Gieselmann – Heidelberg University, Germany

Dr Martin Gieselmann is Managing Co-Director of the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) and Executive Secretary at the South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University. His research work focuses on global aspect of interchange of Asian cultural production including media, cinema, literature and performing arts. The talk will highlight examples how digital humanities explore South Asian material and look into documentation, presentation and circulation of texts and artefacts in recent years.

Title and Abstract: Digital(izing) Cultural Heritage from South Asia: Concepts, Experiences and Prospects

South Asia has a rich cultural heritage that stretches beyond today’s geo-political borders of the Subcontinent. At the South Asia Institute (SAI) of Heidelberg University research on this rather connected cultural heritage has made use of digital tools and methods in multifaced and often interdisciplinary ways. Next to philological, text- and manuscript-based research stand material-manifested work focusing on architecture or geography. But also Indological and anthropological approaches to South Asia have long opened up to digitalization that enables scholars to tackle new research questions in “living traditions” such as festivals and rituals. This keynote will use examples from research work at SAI as to show how digitalization is applied to South Asia research, what lessons can be learned from it and where recent developments are heading for. 

    

Dr Nic Leonhardt – LMU Munich, Germany 

Dr Nic Leonhardt is an Associate Professor, theatre scholar, cultural historian, and a writer. She is the Principal Investigator of Global Theatre Histories: Connections, Dis:connections, Challenges, a five-year Heisenberg project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which focuses on Iranian theatre and female theatre networks. Nic teaches Theatre Studies and Global Theatre Histories at LMU Munich, Germany. Since 2019, she has served as president of SIBMAS and is also the editor of the Journal of Global Theatre Histories. Her interdisciplinary research includes global theatre history, media, and popular cultures at the turn of the 20th century, visual culture, and archives. She was previously a senior researcher on projects at LMU Munich, Heidelberg, and the German Historical Institute, Paris.

Title and Abstract: Between times, between worlds – Digital Futures of Past Performance Pleasures

Inheriting a legacy brings with it a variety of obligations, expectations and emotions. When we inherit, a whole apparatus of necessities and regulations springs into action. When we inherit, we feel inspired and called upon to act with dignity and respect. The more we engage with the inherited object, the more it becomes part of our lived reality. The aura of the object influences our thoughts and actions in the present, and we feel compelled to preserve this aura for the present or the future. When we inherit, we think transgenerationally.

This is more than just poetry. A legacy is a complex matter.

The performing arts and cultures of this world create legacies for us or for the societies of tomorrow on a daily basis, and have been doing so for centuries or millennia. How do we deal with this? What skills and repositories are needed if we wish to keep yesterday’s cultural heritage alive?

In my talk, I will draw on examples from the performing arts to focus primarily on digital repositories and the digital possibilities for managing cultural heritage. In doing so, I will examine both successful and sustainable projects as well as initiatives that have failed, and highlight the pitfalls that can arise when attempting to create a digital future for cultural heritage, both regionally and internationally.  

    

Professor Ambrish Saxena – New Delhi, India

• Plenary: Digitizing Culture, Leaving People Behind: A Critical Review of Access Inequalities

Preliminary Programme at a Glance

Day 1 – 28 May 2026

• Opening Remarks
• Keynote Address
• Parallel Paper Sessions
• Digital Documentation and Intangible Heritage
• AI, Immersive Media and Cultural Interpretation
• Cultural Performance Segment
• Poster and Digital Exhibition Walkthrough
• Welcome Dinner

Day 2 – 29 May 2026

• Keynote Address
• Parallel Paper Sessions
• Archives, Memory and Digital Curation
• Community-Led Heritage Sessions
• Heritage Screening and Discussion
• Creative Practice and Short Film Presentations
• Yong Opera Cultural Visit

Day 3 – 30 May 2026

• Keynote and Plenary Sessions
• Roundtable Discussion
• Publication and Network Discussions
• Museum Visit and Guided Tour
• Cultural Heritage Excursion to West Lake

Download the Full Detailed Schedule (PDF).

Conference Themes

• Digital Documentation and Intangible Cultural Heritage
• AI and Cultural Interpretation
• Archives, Memory and Digital Curation
• Community-Led Heritage Practices
• Digital Storytelling and Cultural Communication
• Creative Practice and Screen-Based Heritage Work
• Performance, Archives and Cultural Memory
• Heritage, Access and Digital Inequalities
• Immersive Media and Cultural Experience
• Museums, Media and Cultural Futures

Multimedia Exhibition and Creative Practice Showcase

The conference includes a dedicated multimedia and creative practice component featuring posters, digital exhibits, short films, practice-led research presentations, photography, and screen-based heritage projects.

A special exhibition focusing on Yong Opera and digital cultural storytelling will also be presented during the conference. Selected works will be showcased in the IEB Alumni Space at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.

Venue and Cultural Engagement

The conference will take place at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China.

The conference includes visits to:

• Ningbo Yong Opera Research and Training Center visit on 29 May 2026. Return transport between UNNC and the venue will be provided for registered participants.
• Day trip to China National Silk Museum and West Lake on 30 May 2026. The programme will include keynote and roundtable sessions hosted at the museum, followed by a cultural visit to West Lake, one of China’s most recognised heritage sites. Return bus transport from UNNC, along with lunch, will be provided by the conference organisers.

These activities are designed to connect conference discussions with heritage practice, cultural preservation, and public engagement.

For comprehensive planning, download our official Conference Handbook.

Audience Registration

Participants who are not presenting may now register to attend the conference using the separate registration link for non-presenting participants.

Publication Opportunities

The conference does not publish formal proceedings. Selected contributors may be invited to expand their presentations for consideration in an edited collection or peer-reviewed publication connected to the conference themes.

Travel and Accommodation

Address:
University of Nottingham Ningbo China
199 Taikang East Road
Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

The Frequently Asked Questions document, which includes suggested accommodation options and travel guidance, is available for download by clicking the link here.