Abu dhabi: The Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has announced that it will host 'Expert Modules for Strategic Knowledge Co-Creation', a series of focused seminars and workshops with cultural heritage experts that promotes an integrated approach and a unified strategy for preserving and showcasing both cultural and natural heritage. Launching in September 2025, the programme underscores DCT Abu Dhabi's commitment to promoting cultural sustainability, protecting heritage assets, and ensuring meaningful access to cultural resources for future generations.
According to Emirates News Agency, these modules will build upon the inaugural International Forum on Cultural Heritage and Knowledge Development, held in May 2025 by DCT Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), along with other national and international partners, including the UAE Ministry of Culture. The first-of-its-kind Forum focused on advancing culture education, safeguarding heritage, and promoting integrated approaches to heritage protection and development. The Forum itself was a direct response to the recommendations of UNESCO's World Conference on Culture and Arts Education, also hosted in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. Together, these growing initiatives form part of the broader heritage law strategy of Abu Dhabi.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, emphasized the shared mission of heritage preservation, requiring collaboration, knowledge exchange, and collective action. Building on the outcomes of the International Forum on Cultural Heritage and Knowledge Development, the ongoing work to safeguard heritage continues with this series of seminars, workshops, and hands-on field visits.
In line with the UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education (Abu Dhabi, 2024), the MONDIACULT Conference (2022), and the Pact for the Future Summit (2024), the programme reinforces the role of culture and education as interconnected pillars for advancing knowledge and shaping resilient, equitable societies. Furthermore, the initiative's launch is anchored in the belief that everyone, individually and collectively, owns the right to benefit from and contribute to the enrichment of cultural heritage.
Based on the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the programme aims to activate living heritage places where access to culture is integral to exercising cultural rights. It also serves as a catalyst for inclusive, sustainable socio-economic and environmental development. Moreover, the programme affirms that in a world of increasingly complex challenges, cultural heritage remains essential to social unity, economic opportunity, and historical continuity.
DCT Abu Dhabi continues to champion policies and initiatives that ensure cultural heritage is safeguarded for future generations while enabling communities to engage with and benefit from it today. The initiative is built as an integrated approach to heritage protection and promotion, with seminars, workshops, and a global forum aiding in fostering innovative governance, cross-sector collaboration, and capacity building at all levels.
The programme consists of four thematic modules. Module one, Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites, introduces heritage as a shared responsibility and a catalyst for sustainable development. It explores legal, institutional, and practical approaches to protecting heritage sites, from UNESCO frameworks to national and local actions. Module two, Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Cultural Industries), focuses on cultural diversity as a foundation for innovation, inclusion, and resilience. Module three, Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, addresses submerged heritage such as coastal archaeological sites. Lastly, module four, Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, focuses on traditions, knowledge systems, practices, oral expressions, and performing arts.
The modules, conducted over four consecutive days, include seminars, strategic workshops, and field visits. Participants who complete a module will be recognized as part of Abu Dhabi's network of cultural heritage experts, contributing to specialised focus groups and supporting national and regional cultural preservation efforts. The programme is designed for mid-career professionals from the UAE and GCC working in various fields related to culture. Approval from respective departments and superiors is essential for participation, and participants are expected to commit to the full four-day programme per module.