From 17 to 19 June 2026, Hanna Schreiber and Julia Krzesicka-Haberko represented our UNESCO Chair during a series of meetings held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in connection with the 11th session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The visit brought together several complementary dimensions of the 2003 Convention ecosystem: the statutory work of the General Assembly, the civil-society perspective represented by the ICH NGO Forum, the global capacity-building system of the Convention, and academic cooperation within the network of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks active in the field of intangible cultural heritage. For us, the meetings offered an important opportunity to contribute to discussions on the future governance of the Convention, the role of knowledge in safeguarding, and the need for more inclusive and accountable forms of cooperation.
The 11th session of the General Assembly of the States Parties
The eleventh session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the 2003 Convention was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 17 to 18 June 2026. During the two-day session, 185 States Parties discussed key issues concerning the safeguarding of living heritage around the world and the future implementation of the Convention.
The agenda included, among others, the report of the Intergovernmental Committee to the General Assembly, the report of the Secretariat on its activities, proposed revisions to the Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention, the use of the resources of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund, the accreditation of non-governmental organizations to act in an advisory capacity to the Committee, and the election of new members of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The election of new Committee members was one of the important statutory items of the session. The following States Parties were elected: Norway from Group I; Albania and Bulgaria from Group II; Guatemala from Group III; Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines from Group IV; Djibouti, Guinea and Mali from Group V(a); and Oman from Group V(b).
For us, participation in the General Assembly was an opportunity to observe how the Convention’s priorities are negotiated at the intergovernmental level, particularly in relation to periodic reporting, the evolving Operational Directives, the role of accredited NGOs, and the broader institutional architecture of safeguarding.
Participation in the ICH NGO Forum activities
In parallel with the General Assembly, Hanna Schreiber took part in activities organized by the ICH NGO Forum, representing the Association of Folk Artists / Stowarzyszenie Twórców Ludowych, an NGO accredited by UNESCO to provide advisory services to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. These meetings provided a valuable space for dialogue among accredited NGOs, researchers, practitioners and other actors involved in the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.
The programme included the Organizational and Strategic Reflection Meeting, the Meet-up Session of Accredited NGOs: Exchange and Collaboration, the Working Groups Open Meeting: Join the Work, and the session New to the Convention: A Welcome Session for Accredited Organizations. These meetings highlighted the importance of civil-society engagement within the Convention ecosystem and the need to strengthen cooperation between NGOs, academic institutions, communities and policy actors.
The ICH NGO Forum activities also provided an opportunity to present and discuss the special edition of #HeritageAlive, entitled ICH and Armed Conflicts. Sharing Experiences from the Field. Hanna Schreiber contributed to this publication with the chapter “Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Military. New Partnerships in Uncertain Times”, which addresses the role of armed forces in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in crisis and conflict-related contexts.
As discussed in our separate post, the chapter reflects on the outcomes of the first-ever conference and workshop in Wrocław, Poland, which brought together military forces, heritage specialists, NGOs and public officials to discuss the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in military activities. The Paris presentation of the publication placed these questions within a broader international debate on the impact of armed conflicts on intangible cultural heritage and on the role of living heritage in supporting resilience, dignity, social cohesion and recovery.
[Read more about Hanna Schreiber’s chapter in the #HeritageAlive special edition.]
Global meeting on capacity-building and the network of facilitators
Hanna Schreiber also participated in a global meeting devoted to capacity-building approaches under the 2003 Convention and the role of the Convention’s network of facilitators. The meeting created an important space for exchange on how capacity-building can support States Parties, communities, NGOs and other stakeholders in implementing the Convention in a more effective, context-sensitive and participatory way.
The discussion was particularly significant in light of the new institutional context within UNESCO’s Culture Sector. The meeting took place with the participation of Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, appointed in June 2026. His presence underlined the importance of capacity-building, cooperation and living heritage within UNESCO’s broader cultural mandate.
For Hanna Schreiber the meeting was na occassion to listen to panelists: Janet Blake, Martin Andrade and Monalisa Maharjan and to further engage in a discussion on the ways AI is influencing how ICH is practised, documented and transmitted. She underlined that the link between AI and ICH is intersectoral and transversal, impacting many fields crucial for ICH such as human rights, intellectual property rights or data sovereignty.
Coordination Meeting of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks active in the field of intangible cultural heritage
On 19 June 2026, Hanna Schreiber and Julia Krzesicka-Haberko participated in the Coordination Meeting of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks Active in the Field of Intangible Cultural Heritage, held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and online.
The meeting was convened to strengthen cooperation among UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks working on living heritage and to reflect on their role within the implementation of the 2003 Convention. The meeting recalled that the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, created in 1992, is UNESCO’s global network for inter-university cooperation, bringing together higher education and research institutions in support of UNESCO’s mandate. While the Programme includes more than 1,000 Chairs and Networks worldwide, only around twenty focus specifically on the intangible cultural heritage.
The meeting therefore responded to a clear need: to make cooperation among UNESCO Chairs working on living heritage more systematic, visible and strategically aligned with the priorities of the 2003 Convention. Participants discussed how academic institutions can better support communities, States Parties, NGOs and other stakeholders through research, teaching, capacity-building, policy engagement and innovation.
The presence of Nayef Al-Fayez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, gave the meeting additional institutional significance. It confirmed the importance of strengthening dialogue between UNESCO’s Culture Sector and academic institutions working on living heritage, especially at a time when intangible cultural heritage is increasingly connected with questions of emergencies, sustainable development, digital transformation, human rights, education and governance.
Results of survey
The meeting began with a presentation of the results of a survey conducted among 15 UNESCO Chairs and Networks active in the field of intangible cultural heritage. Our UNESCO Chair also took part in the survey. The results were presented against a broader snapshot of the network, which currently includes 17 UNESCO Chairs and 2 UNITWIN Networks. The overview showed a clear regional imbalance: most Chairs and Networks are institutionally based in Europe and North America, with more limited representation from Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa, and no Chair or Network from the Arab States region. At the same time, the geographical reach of their activities appears to be considerably broader than their institutional location.
The thematic results of the survey were particularly important for us, as they helped situate our UNESCO Chair’s profile within the wider network. Respondents identified formal and non-formal education (19%), inclusion (16%), climate change (15%), urban contexts (14%), digital environments (12%), economic dimensions (10%), foodways (9%) and emergency situations (5%) among their main thematic and transversal areas of work. From our perspective, these results show that urban contexts, digital environments and emergency situations are present within the network, but they are not yet among its dominant areas of activity. This is precisely where our UNESCO Chair brings a distinctive contribution: through its focus on intangible cultural heritage in urban contexts, digital environments and artificial intelligence, emergencies, legal and institutional frameworks, and public and global governance.
The governance dimension was also visible in the survey findings on core actions under the 2003 Convention. Eleven Chairs and Networks reported involvement in policy development, while fourteen reported engagement in community-based inventorying and safeguarding. These results confirmed the practical relevance of academic institutions within the Convention ecosystem, while also showing the need to further strengthen critical, governance-oriented and policy-relevant approaches to safeguarding living heritage.
Discussion in Three Thematic Areas
Following the presentation of the survey results, the meeting continued with a structured discussion organized around three thematic areas: coordination and visibility within the Convention ecosystem; knowledge, innovation and capacity-building; and regionally balanced and sustainable cooperation. Each discussion was opened by short introductory remarks from invited speakers. For the second thematic area, devoted to knowledge, innovation and capacity-building, the introductory remarks were delivered by Hanna Schreiber.
Coordination and visibility within the Convention ecosystem
The first dialogue focused on practical mechanisms that could strengthen regular coordination and exchange between the Secretariat and UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks working on living heritage, while also increasing their visibility.
Participants discussed the need for more stable and accessible communication tools, including a virtual gateway or shared platform presenting current activities, publications, events and opportunities developed by UNESCO Chairs and Networks. Other proposals included regular annual gatherings, dedicated communication channels, stronger online visibility, and better dissemination of ongoing initiatives in different languages.
The discussion also addressed the value of joint academic and educational formats, such as special issues of journals, conference panels, student exchanges, joint PhD opportunities, summer and winter schools, internships and other international training formats. Hanna Schreiber also expressed our UNESCO Chair’s readiness to contribute to initiatives that would strengthen the visibility of intangible cultural heritage within broader academic debates, especially in the context of the forthcoming Association of Critical Heritage Studies Conference, to be held at the University of Warsaw in 2028, where a dedicated panel on intangible cultural heritage is planned.
Knowledge, innovation and capacity-building
The second dialogue asked how UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks can contribute more strategically to knowledge production, innovation and capacity-building for safeguarding living heritage.
Hanna Schreiber emphasized that the key issue is not only knowledge production, but also knowledge accountability. From the perspective of intangible cultural heritage governance, it is not enough to ask how more knowledge can be produced and disseminated. It is also necessary to ask what kinds of knowledge should not be made too easily available, under what conditions knowledge is shared, who benefits from its circulation, and how to avoid extractive or harmful uses of community-based knowledge.
This question is becoming particularly urgent in the context of digital environments, artificial intelligence and what may be described as the “digital fossilization” of living heritage. Digital tools can support safeguarding, documentation and education, but they can also freeze, decontextualize or overexpose practices, meanings and forms of knowledge that should remain situated, relational and community-governed.
She also stressed the importance of building relevance and relations with sectors that do not yet fully understand intangible cultural heritage. This includes public institutions, legal actors, the military, digital technology sectors, urban policy actors and educational institutions. Safeguarding living heritage requires not only speaking within the already existing heritage sector, but also building bridges with fields where ICH perspectives are still underrepresented.
Several participants underlined the need for more theory-based approaches, critical reflection and ethical research practices. Discussions addressed questions such as how to avoid exploitative research on bearers’ knowledge, how to co-construct research with communities, and how to make academic work genuinely useful for the Convention system. Participants also reflected on the need to open academic discussions to people outside academia, including NGOs, practitioners, communities and other non-formal knowledge actors.
In this context, citizen science and participatory research approaches could also be identified as potentially valuable ways of connecting universities with wider publics and communities engaged in safeguarding living heritage.
Regionally balanced and sustainable cooperation
The third dialogue focused on what is needed to foster more balanced, inclusive and sustainable cooperation across regions within the network of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks.
A major topic was the structural imbalance in access to funding, institutional capacity and international visibility. Participants pointed out that not all Chairs and Networks have equal access to research grants, mobility schemes, translation resources, administrative support or opportunities for international dissemination. This imbalance affects not only academic cooperation, but also the ability to respond to needs identified from the ground.
The discussion also addressed the risk of knowledge extraction, especially in cooperation between better-funded institutions and partners from regions with fewer resources. Participants emphasized that cooperation must be based on recognition, reciprocity and long-term commitment, rather than on one-sided extraction of data, case studies or local expertise.
Among the proposals discussed were joint applications for research funding, capacity-building in project management and fundraising, shared platforms for resources and opportunities, and more inclusive mechanisms for involving students, early-career researchers, NGOs and community representatives. Participants were also encouraged to look closely at the funding priorities adopted by the Intergovernmental Committee and to align future cooperation with the strategic priorities of the Convention.
For our UNESCO Chair, these discussions strongly resonate with our focus on public and global governance. They show that safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is not only a matter of documentation or transmission, but also a question of institutional responsibility, ethical cooperation, epistemic justice and sustainable governance.
Visit to the Literary Institute in Maisons-Laffitte
Thanks to the support and cooperation of the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to UNESCO, Hanna Schreiber also had the opportunity to visit the Literary Institute in Maisons-Laffitte, one of the most important places in the history of Polish intellectual and political life in exile.
The Archives of the Literary Institute in Paris, kept by the Association Institut Littéraire “Kultura” in Maisons-Laffitte, are inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The visit was therefore also an opportunity to reflect on the links between documentary heritage, intellectual history, cultural memory and the broader UNESCO framework for safeguarding and transmitting heritage of outstanding significance.
Towards more accountable and inclusive cooperation
The Paris meetings confirmed the importance of strengthening the role of universities within the 2003 Convention ecosystem. UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks have a unique capacity to connect research, education, policy, communities and international cooperation. At the same time, their work must remain accountable to the communities, groups and individuals concerned, and attentive to the ethical and political implications of knowledge production.
For us, the visit to Paris was an important moment of exchange, reflection and strategic networking. It allowed us to contribute to debates on the future of the Convention, to strengthen relations with other UNESCO Chairs and civil-society actors, and to further develop our research and public engagement agenda in areas such as heritage governance, intangible cultural heritage in emergencies, urban contexts, digital environments, artificial intelligence, legal frameworks and participatory forms of safeguarding.
We are especially grateful to the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to UNESCO and to Mariusz Lewicki, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Poland to UNESCO, for their support, cooperation and continued attention to the role of intangible cultural heritage within UNESCO’s work.
The meetings also showed that the future of safeguarding living heritage will depend increasingly on the ability to build bridges: between academia and communities, between NGOs and public institutions, between local knowledge and global policy, and between critical reflection and practical action.
