Image source: University of Liverpool
The Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) at the University of Liverpool has been awarded £912,000 to establish the UK’s first National Centre for Digital Heritage Research.
Digital heritage is the use of digital technology to improve the understanding and preservation of cultural and natural heritage.
The funding, from UK Research and Innovation, is aimed at making Liverpool a global leader digital heritage, preservation and enterprise, and creating an ecosystem and strategy for the Liverpool City Region.
The new centre will be located at VEC’s Sci-Tech Daresbury base.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced the project as one of a number of national projects funded under its World Class Laboratories Fund, which aims to expand and upgrade the UK’s world class research infrastructure, including digital infrastructure.
VEC head of digital industrialisation, Dr Konstantin Vikhorev, said: “The new centre builds on the VEC’s 13-year history of leading digital transformation across many different industries and will provide access to cutting edge facilities that will pioneer a new approach to preserving, promoting, and progressing cultural heritage through technologies such as AI, blockchain and the metaverse.”
Showcase and collaboration
The organisation’s visualisation lead, Dr Simon Campion said the award will help to showcase digital heritage beyond Liverpool, support collaborative projects and create immersive virtual reality exhibitions.
The project was developed in partnership with the City of Liverpool head of heritage preservation and development, Alan Smith and Professor Elizabeth Maitland, chair of international business within the University of Liverpool’s Management School.
