About

Satellite image of Western Desert in central Egypt
Photo by USGS on Unsplash

The CURIA Lab supports innovative analysis to measure the impacts of loss to culture including both property and heritage. We promote data and analytical tools that are flexible and responsive to the needs of key stakeholders. In doing so, we aim to support accountability and cultural justice processes. Our data collection and analysis efforts currently include Syria, Egypt, and Italy with plans to expand geographically over the next 5 years. We invite participation and input from researchers, practitioners, and community members directly affected by cultural heritage loss and recovery.

VISION

The long-term vision is to provide a flexible platform for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of research on cultural heritage dynamics and community impacts, particularly in the aftermath of loss.

MISSION

CURIA seeks to create a space dedicated to disseminating data and analyses of cultural heritage and cultural property research, with an emphasis on creating tools that are flexible and respond to the needs of key stakeholders. In doing so, the lab will serve as a point of connection for practitioners, researchers, and community members affected by cultural property loss and recovery to improve capacity building and resilience.

Why CURIA?

CURIA stands for Cultural Resilience Informatics and Analysis.
RESILIENCE
because we are committed to a research agenda that studies long-term institutional responses to cultural property change and loss;
INFORMATICS
to denote our work on data processing and metadata documentation;
ANALYSIS
for our focus on empirical mixed-methods research questions and rigorous answers.
Curia is also the Latin word for an assembly of people and reflects the type of lab environment that we strive for: an ethical and operational commitment to openness, equity, and access in cultural property justice and accountability.

USERS

  • The data exploration tools are intended to provide an interactive method of engaging with data across our projects. For those interested in research and capacity-building, the full data are available upon request. To access the full data, please click “request access” for the relevant file and fill out the form.

  • The project materials on Italy, Egypt, and Syria demonstrate a range of approaches to and findings on cultural heritage dynamics and resilience.

  • The project materials on Insurgent Artifacts speak to the creation and relevance of “standards” or “best practices” to urgent science and cultural heritage research.

TEAM

and

FUNDING

The CURIA Lab was created by Dr. Fiona Greenland of the University of Virginia and Dr. Michelle D. Fabiani of the University of New Haven. The Lab has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia, and the Quantitative Collaborative at the University of Virginia.
We study cultural property dynamics and community impacts.
University of Virginia logoUniversity of New Haven logoNational Science Foundation logo

Contact

Michelle Fabiani
Co-director
mfabiani [at] newhaven.edu

Fiona Greenland
Co-director
fg5t [at] virginia.edu