What is a European Partnership?

European Partnerships are initiatives in which the European Commission and private and/or public partners commit themselves to jointly support the development and implementation of a research and innovation program. The aim is to solve big societal problems that no single country could solve on its own, through transnational research projects involving not only researchers, but also professionals, public administration, civil society, etc., so that the results of the research are disseminated and useful on as wide a scale as possible. A European Partnership is primarily funded through Member States contributions, with supplementary funding from the European Commission.

The European Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage

The European Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage (RCH) is a European Commission proposal for a European Partnership under the Research and Innovation Cluster 2: Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society. The bid will be submitted to HORIZON-CL2-2025-03-HERITAGE-01 by the deadline of September 2025 and if successful will start in 2026.

Read the full draft proposal

What does the RCH Partnership aim at tackling?

The aim of the RCH Partnership is twofold: to strengthen the means of preserving Europe’s cultural heritage and to contribute to climate neutrality in other sectors by bringing forward traditional and innovative practices, techniques and materials resulting from cultural heritage research.

It will address two main challenges: 1) the limited research and evidence regarding adaptation strategies and the impact of climate and environmental change on cultural heritage; and 2) the need for enhanced understanding, use and recognition of how cultural heritage can inform policies and guide implementation measures, including the role of traditional and local knowledge. 

The RCH objectives are to:

  • Build capacity by fostering new application-oriented interdisciplinary (SSH and STEM) research collaborations between the CH and climate research communities.
  • Increase collaboration across countries and regions and to move away from a focus on individual geopolitical regions to overcome the fragmentation of the wide landscape of stakeholders, competences, resources, policies, programmes and initiatives.
  • Provide resources and incentives to conduct holistic research and nurture collaborative actions to drive the transformation towards more sustainable development, just futures and a healthier way of life and overall well-being.Increase collaboration across countries and regions and to move away from a focus on individual geopolitical regions to overcome the fragmentation of the wide landscape of stakeholders, competences, resources, policies, programmes and initiatives
  • Develop a coherent methodology for obtaining reliable information, quantitative and qualitative data about CH and climate change and about the costs and benefits of adaptation measures, particularly those emphasizing processes and lifecycles relating to circular economy.
  • Improve the long-term monitoring of CH, through the use of innovative technologies and risk management models to document, inventory and predict the negative and positive impacts of climate change on and through CH.
  • Create and disseminate new knowledge, techniques, skills, strategies and materials for sustainable preservation, conservation, and management of climate-related risks in the CH field as well as preventing from other man-made related risks.
  • Promote innovations in industries and to provide scaled-up solutions and applications for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
  • Integrate CH into mainstream climate change and environmental regulations, policies and adaptation strategies, by operationalizing heritage-based solutions and knowledge of the past, thus contributing to the EU Green Deal, European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage and the UN SDGs.
  • Develop policy recommendations to enhance social cohesion and the European sense of belonging through CH in communities and societies impacted by climate change.

Preparation of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA)

The activities within RCH will follow the directions of the SRIA, which has been under development since 2023 in the framework of the ARCHE project through an inclusive and collaborative process that public workshops, consultations and several rounds of feedback with the partners of RCH. The SRIA is thus a tool developed by the community, for the community, boosting cooperation and transcending disciplinary, sectorial and geographical boundaries.

It stands on 7 Research and Innovation Principles and includes 3 Priority Areas (Cultural Heritage and Environment; Cultural Heritage and Society; Cultural Heritage and Management) and 3 Cross-cutting Themes (Communication, Education and Public Engagement; Science, Technology and Innovation; Science, Policy and Society Interface).

Future activities

  • Joint transnational calls (JTC) for research projects;
  • “Additional activities” that aim at valorising and disseminating research results. They include: Mapping and strengthening regional, national and transnational ecosystems, Building and training interdisciplinary communities, Accelerating transfer to policy and society (pilot living labs), Strategic Foresight and SRIA updates, Monitoring results and assessing impact, and Fostering international collaboration.

The preparation of the Partnership is carried out by the Horizon Europe project ARCHE (Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe), coordinated by the Foundation for Heritage Science (Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine – FSP), with the support of JPI Cultural Heritage and Global Change.

©Archaeological site of Tróia (Portugal), STORM Project.