Presenting Empaths, where communities and heritage professionals come together

Policies say heritage must encourage community participation in heritage interpretation (HI) yet despite the best intentions, many heritage professionals still struggle with the skills and techniques to effectively deliver participatory HI.

In parallel with its established training programme, IE has subsequently teamed up with Greek, Italian and Austrian partners in a two-year Erasmus+-funded project to develop and test a pilot online and onsite training programme to upskill heritage professionals with these necessary competencies where people participate and interpreters facilitate.

Join the project team for a lively panel discussion to learn more about Empaths, to chart progress to date and share key findings and lessons learned as they gear up to test the training programme in three very different pilot territories during 2026.

The Empaths partnership includes Interpret Europe which is paired with UNESCO Global Geopark Karawanken-Karavanke straddling the Austria-Slovenia border, Greek professional training provider, HERITΛGE with its partner the Ethnological Museum of Thrace and The Story Behind, an Italian consultancy specialising ethical branding, storytelling and HI which is teamed with the Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei near Naples.

Originally presented live in November 2025 as part of the 2025 Global Excellence in Heritage Interpretation Webinar Series.