Working Group

Technical Heritage in Universities

Chair

Workshop at Universeum Conference 2026 in Coimbra

Valuate Objects in (technical) University Collections in Practice

In this workshop we explore how we can valuate objects in university collections and who should be involved in the process. We will use valuation methodologies developed by the Dutch National Heritage Department and adapted for technical heritage at TU Delft, and we will discuss the process and dilemmas of applying specific methods.
If time allows, we will also consider if and how we should document this process for the future.

As a participant you can use objects of your choice or objects provided by the organizers.
The workshop is an excellent prelude for the talk about finding the balance in valuation by Liselotte Neervoort on Friday.

Organizers: Liselotte Neervoort and Laila Zwisler

See also Conference Website

About

The working group discusses and learns about the management of technical heritage in universities and the heritage of technical academia. The aim is to advance the practices of the community for both experienced professional as well as newcomers.

The group will start out identifying challenges and issues in the field of technical heritage, but also identify the expertise present in the community and create a forum for sharing existing knowledge.

In this process, we will find topics, which we need to learn more about as a community and we may initiate projects furthering the knowledgebase.

The technical heritage group will decide how to work going forward during the initial phase, but we envision a forum for discussing, sharing and co-operating at the Universeum meetings, in morning coffee sessions and online seminars. We expect to invite experts to sessions and establish or cooperate with projects studying questions and issues.