We’re excited to announce that the draft program for the Digital Heritage International Congress 2025 is now available:
| Time | Monday Sept 8 |
Tuesday Sept 9 |
Wednesday Sept 10 |
Thursday Sept 11 |
Friday Sept 12 |
Saturday Sept 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Registration | Registration | Morning Scientific Sessions | Morning Scientific Sessions | Morning Scientific Sessions | Social Trip & Tuscany Wine Tasting |
| 09:30 | DH Expo Opening | DH Expo Opening | DH Expo Opening | DH Expo Opening | ||
| 10:00 | ACM Web3D (Opening) / Panel, Tutorial and Roundtable Sessions | DH Congress Opening Ceremony | ||||
| 12:00 | DH Expo Opening Ceremony | Keynote Talk | Keynote Talk | Keynote Talk | ||
| 13:00 | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Afternoon Scientific Sessions / ACM Web3D | Afternoon Scientific Sessions | Afternoon Scientific Sessions | Afternoon Scientific Sessions | ||
| 15:00 | ACM Web3D Session / Project Meeting Sessions / Policy Roundtable Sessions | |||||
| 16:00 | DH Closing Ceremony | |||||
| 19:00 | Social Dinner in Siena |
The program, although not already assigned to a specific slot, includes: Co-Located Events, Special Strategic Sessions and Policy Roundtables.
Contributors can choose a thematic track or a special session during the submission phase (more in Papers)
| Session | Organized by | Chairs | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACM Web3D | ACM SIGGRAPH, Web3D Consortium | Nicholas Polys (Virginia Tech), Anita Havele (Web3D Consortium) | The 30th International ACM Conference on 3D Web Technology (Web3D 2025) is a major annual event for the 3D Web community. Sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH, in cooperation with Web3D Consortium and supported by Eurographics. This year’s conference will be co-located with Digital Heritage 2025, a premier international event that unites multiple heritage domains and conferences under one platform. As the leading global event on digital technology for documenting, conserving, and sharing heritage – from landscapes and monuments to museums, collections, and intangible traditions. The purpose of the Conference is to study and share the principles of the latest advancements in interactive 3D technologies, including Digital Heritage. The conference will bring together experts from around the world to discuss the latest research, development, and practices related to these technologies. | 8-9 Sept. 2025 |
| Digital Technologies for the Conservation and Management of Heritage Round-Table | Pascal Lievaux | Vania Virgili (E-RIHS Digilab), Xavier Rodier (ECHOES), Livio De Luca (Notre-Dame working group) | After the disaster occurred at Notre-Dame and the successful restoration guided by digital technologies, this high-level panel focuses on the contribution of digital technology to the conservation and management of heritage, whether tangible or intangible (following 2003 UNESCO Convention). The questions around which the panelists will discuss include: “how do we develop systems that are both easy to use and sustainable over time?” “How to produce and cross-reference heterogeneous data produced by a wide range of players (curators, architects, archaeologists, art historians, chemists, etc.), as well as how to preserve and make them accessible over time, including 3D models?” | tbd |
| Exhibiting the ‘Unexhibitable’: PERCEIVE and the Case for Digital Heritage | PERCEIVE Project | Catlin Langford, Donata Magrini | How can cultural organisations exhibit sensitive and fragile colour materials? How can we reconstruct the colours of the past? What role can new digital technologies play? This panel will consider the idea of ‘exhibiting the unexhibitable’. Based on PERCEIVE’s work, the session chairs invite researchers and professionals to submit original work that could nurture discussion around the exhibition of cultural objects which no longer feature their original colours, or objects which cannot be exhibited because of their light sensitivity and tendency for colours to fade.
[*PERCEIVE is working on new ways to perceive, preserve, curate, exhibit, understand and access fragile, coloured cultural heritage. Using 5 scenarios, we focus on ‘care’, ‘accessibility’ and ‘authenticity’, promoting and expanding access to cultural heritage and its wider integration in society. Research has focused on the latest innovations and possibilities of digital heritage, working in conjunction with world-leading cultural organisations including Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Munch museum and Victoria and Albert Museum.] |
tbd |
| Computer Applications in Archaeology | CAA | Lisa Fischer, Jeffrey Barron Glover | tbd | |
| Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage | ECHOES | Emanuel Demetrescu, Sorin Hermon | Session about the future of CH research, conservation, preservation, and valorization, as set by the EU Commission’s vision for creating a collaborative cloud for Cultural Heritage. The initiative focuses on heritage digital twins, treated as digital commons, ensuring their digital continuum within an innovative digital ecosystem. This is achieved through the development of a cloud-based infrastructure populated with tools, services, and applications. The EU-funded project ECHOES organises the session to push for a paradigm shift in the CH domain, transforming it into an open, data-driven, and collaborative discipline. One of the key objectives is to enhance the competitiveness of EU professionals and research networks within the international landscape. It aims to bring together professionals from the broad spectrum of CH to discuss challenges in creating an open, sustainable, and interoperable digital ecosystem. Topics may include, but are not limited to: data governance, semantic technologies, cloud infrastructure and collaborative tools, artificial intelligence, collaborative workflows, knowledge graphs, and cross-sectoral engagement strategies for building a collaborative digital ecosystem. The session welcomes contributions from all interested participants, both within and beyond the ECHOES project. Submissions can address theoretical, applicational, or conceptual aspects related to the session’s topics, including examples and case studies. | tbd |
| Digital Technologies for CHANGES | CHANGES Foundation | Silvio Peroni, Ivan Heibi (Univ. Bologna) | Session dedicated to research work produced around the topics of Project CHANGES, in particular regarding the use of digital technologies for Cultural Heritage (CH) domains. We welcome contributions that work on making the digital enhancement of CH a permanent and widespread practice in CH institutions to increase the knowledge, curation and management of artefacts in all forms, expand the involvement of the general public, thus, improving accessibility, inclusiveness, critical thinking, participation, enjoyment and sustainability. In particular, we would like to focus on research on the following themes: a) decentralised and interlinked infrastructures and knowledge graphs of digital CH and (in)tangible objects; b) Web-based environments for sharing CH and involving users in museums and art collections in situ or remotely; c) new design approaches to virtual technologies for CH including eXtended Reality; d) gamification, serious games, edutainment, 2D/3D; e) models and multimedia (including video storytelling); f) guidelines, workflows, tools and prototypes for digitisation and simulation for enabling digital approaches to CH; g) Internet of Things and sensors networks; h) AI-based methods and tools for CH; i) location-based technologies connected to GIS for CH (e.g. sites); l) Open Science and CH research | tbd |
| H2IOSC Project Development and Results | H2IOSC | Alberto Buccero, Riccardo Colella | In the framework of DH25, the DHILAB of ISPC-CNR in Lecce will organize a special session dedicated to the developments and research results achieved on the Italian PNRR H2IOSC project, which focuses on the creation of a strategic cluster of four digital infrastructures for humanities and cultural heritage in Italy. The session aims to host at least 8 invited speakers, who will present the work carried out by their respective research teams within the H2IOSC PNRR project. The session will be structured in two parts, with a coffee break in between, and will last no more than half a day. Each speaker will have 15 minutes for the presentation, followed by a 5-minute Q&A. The session will be moderated by two session chairs, who will facilitate the discussions and ensure a smooth flow of presentations. | tbd |
| Heritage Under Fire: Digital and Cultural Challenges in Conflict Zones | From Space to Place Initiative | S. Campana (University of Siena), M. Nebbia (University College London) | In most areas affected by conflict, archaeology and heritage sites are damaged and destroyed either as deliberate act of war and propaganda or as collateral damage of overall bombing and shelling. This session aims at discussing how the international community of heritage specialists and archaeologists is tackling cultural heritage damage monitoring and management in conflict areas. We identified four key areas for a broader discussion with scholars and practitioners that are involved in projects related to conflict archaeology: The role of digital technologies (remote sensing, AI, virtual reality, etc..) before, during and after the conflict. The significance of assessment before the conflict, of monitoring during the conflict, and management after the conflict. Assessment data ownership and liability; Standardization of assessment, methodologies and approaches, including the definition of categories of damage (urban shelling and bombing, looting in urban areas and remote areas, earthworks on archaeological areas), damage mapping approaches (different methodologies yield partial but complementary results), framework for comparisons across different conflict areas; Interoperability and data sharing among different projects and different actors. Data is sensible and dangerous to collect, especially during the conflict, but for understanding the purpose of destruction sometimes is necessary; Relationship between the international community of researchers and the local partners based in areas of conflict. Different concepts of heritage in different countries and regions vs a common digital strategy and documentation standards. | tbd |
| Phygital Worlds and eXtended Reality in Cultural Heritage | XR Salento | Lucio Tommaso De Paolis (Univ. Salento) | The term “phygital” refers to the blending of the physical and digital worlds. It describes how digital technology is increasingly integrated into physical spaces and experiences, transforming objects and environments by providing new and personalized ways to engage with them. Extended reality (XR) is revolutionizing how the public experiences and interacts with cultural environments, as well as how researchers’ study and preserve tangible and intangible heritage. This special session aims to bring together XR experts to explore the “phygital” world and the potential new frontiers of virtual cultural heritage. The special session will be a satellite event of the XR Salento 2025 conference, which will take place in Otranto (Lecce, Italy) from June 17 to 20, 2025 | tbd |
| Play, Learn, Explore: Cultural Journeys of Hidden Treasures through Serious Games | Serious Games Society | Chiara Eva Catalano (SGS – CNR IMATI), Francesco Bellotti (SGS – University of Genoa), Kevin Körner (SGS – University of Tubingen) | Serious Games (SGs) have become a valid tool for learning and training in the last few years. Thanks to methodologies and technologies dedicated to the design, authoring, configuration/adaptation and use of SGs, it is possible to design and personalise contents and presentation modalities to the different user needs and preferences. This session aims to explore the maturity and potential of serious games in communicating and promoting cultural experiences. The focus will be on the relationship between cultural sites or objects and visitors, soliciting particularly games that encourage physical visits and foster interaction between art and people, potentially mediated by technology. Special attention will be given to small and lesser-known cultural venues that have limited access to such technologies and interactive experiences.
The Serious Games Society (SGS) was created to bring together leading institutions, companies, and individuals involved in researching and developing Serious Games. Its goal is to serve as a central reference point for Serious Games and gamification at the scientific, technological, and professional levels, offering a platform for generating, sharing, and coordinating SG-related research and development activities at both European and international levels. It also publishes the International Journal of Serious Games and organises the annual GALA conference, which brings together the community. With its extensive experience in applying games across various sectors, including Cultural Heritage, SGS is well positioned to contribute to advancing the scientific discussion on games for culture at Digital Heritage 2025. |
tbd |