International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property 
On 23 January 2025, ICCROM, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine (MCSC), the Maidan Museum, the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE), and the Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative (HERI), officially launched the GIS-Based Risk Map for Cultural Heritage in Ukraine. This pioneering tool, developed by ICCROM’s First Aid and Resilience for Cultural...
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Application deadline: 15 March 2024
Please note that this call is open to current residents of Ukraine only.
Online Foundational Course: 1–5 April 2024
Location: Zoom
In-Person Training: 15–29 April 2024
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
With the generous support of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture
ICCROM, within the framework of its flagship programme of First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis (FAR), is pleased to announce a call for participation in the training for Ukraine’s first national team of cultural first aiders in close collaboration with the following local institutions:
Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MoCIP)
Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE)/ Heritage Emergency Response Initiative (HERI)
Maidan Museum (National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity)
The training will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation in Ukrainian.
This course includes simulations, site visits, evening programmes and excursions, which are hands-on, hectic and time-intensive. To ensure complete skill transfer, the course demands full-time commitment from the participants during both online and in-person activities.
The selected participants will receive a 100% scholarship from the organizers.
Amid the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, heritage buildings, collections, knowledge, practices and traditions are being increasingly threatened by intentional and indiscriminate damage due to warfare and military operations, as well as climate-induced extreme weather events such as snowstorms, wildfires, urban flooding and riverine flooding.*
There is an urgent need to develop capacities for a proactive team of cultural first aiders that can be readily deployed to assess, document and secure endangered and damaged heritage in the face of a large-scale emergency.
As of January 2024, UNESCO confirmed damage to 337 cultural heritage sites, while Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy documented severe damage or destruction of 872 cultural heritage sites across 15 regions. Additionally, one-third of Ukraine’s population has been displaced by armed conflict, including numerous heritage professionals and cultural bearers, resulting in significant gaps in the nation’s ability to mitigate risks, prepare for emergencies, respond to crises, and plan recovery.
To tackle these crucial gaps in capacities, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture is supporting ICCROM and its flagship Programme, First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis, to establish Ukraine’s first national, ready-to-deploy team of 20-25 cultural first aiders.
This initiative has been conceived in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MoCIP), the Maidan Museum and the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE)/Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative (HERI).
The trained cultural first aiders will be able to assess, mitigate and reduce the impacts of disaster and conflict risks to all forms of heritage (movable, immovable and intangible). In an emergency, they can quickly deploy to document, secure and salvage various types of historic structures and museum, library and archival collections. Post-emergency, the cultural first aiders will be able to prioritize actions, stabilize damaged heritage and facilitate recovery and rehabilitation of all forms of heritage. The trained team will also develop skills to work in tandem with diverse actors, including emergency responders, civil protection, and military and humanitarian aid professionals, while ensuring personal safety and security.
Upon qualifying, this team of cultural first aiders will be certified by ICCROM in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MoCIP).
The online and in-person training will establish Ukraine’s first national team of 20–25 proactive cultural first aiders.** Participants will engage in multi-actor simulations, hands-on activities and on-site exercises to develop skills on assessing risks to different types of heritage (movable, immovable and intangible), as well as how to plan, scale and implement cultural first aid operations in large-scale emergencies.
The training is based on extensive field experience and interdisciplinary collaboration with professionals worldwide. The FAC training*** has built a network of over 2 000 cultural first aiders in more than 120 countries, with the support of over 130 partners.
This training will also bring in the principles and methods developed at the European level as part of the Proculther and Proculther-net project, such as “Key Elements of a European Methodology to Address the Protection of Cultural Heritage during Emergencies”, as well as the European Quality Principles for EU-funded Interventions with Potential Impacts upon Cultural Heritage with examples of good practices on cultural heritage and the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles.
Specific sessions on personal safety and security will allow participants to work securely in hazardous conditions. Consultations with local communities and cultural bearers will seek to enhance participants' ability to develop people-centred heritage protection projects.
The training modules will include:
Understanding values associated with cultural heritage in emergencies
Using methods and tools for comprehensive risk assessment for all types of heritage
Implementing multi-hazard risk mitigation at heritage places
Improving early warning systems and implementing effective emergency preparedness measures
Activating emergency response protocols for heritage
Providing logistical support and preparing teams for emergency response
Planning and implementing first aid interventions to stabilize heritage at-scale
Prioritizing personal safety and security when working in hazardous conditions
Amplifying the training by preparing teams of cultural first aiders
Developing and testing interagency coordination mechanisms
Planning people-centric heritage recovery projects during an ongoing crisis
Enhancing crisis communication.
Developing community-based heritage indicators to promote peacebuilding efforts
Adopting carbon-neutral strategies for sustainable recovery processes
Introducing the European quality principles for EU-funded interventions and the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles
Online foundational workshop (1–5 April 2024)
Before the immersive in-person training course, participants will engage in a preparatory online course, during which participants will learn key concepts and develop a common language for first aid to cultural heritage in times of crisis.
Two-week in-person training in Kyiv (15–29 April 2024)
Following the foundational course, participants will gather in Kyiv for a two-week in-person training component. Through site visits, immersive 3D models and hands-on modules, participants will learn to assess risks, document damages and stabilize all forms of heritage to ensure its long-term recovery, as well as promote sustainable peace.
Post-training follow-up (May–August 2024)
Supported by distance mentoring, participants will develop and implement concrete actions at a pre-selected damaged heritage site or institution identified with the help of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and other local partners to test the knowledge and skills they gained through the training.
During peace times and at the end of the training, participants will be able to:
Assess and reduce risks to all forms of heritage
Document, secure and stabilize immovable heritage sites and buildings based on the priorities identified during damage and risk assessment
Evacuate and salvage museum, library and archival collections
Implement emergency documentation and sustainment of intangible heritage
Implement emergency structural stabilization, salvage and evacuation at affected sites
Analyze a given emergency and collaborate with relevant actors to provide cultural heritage first aid
Recognize diverse values associated with at-risk cultural heritage in an emergency and use their understanding to prioritize and provide ethical cultural heritage first aid
Conduct on-site damage and risk assessments for cultural heritage in emergencies, while being familiar with basic safety requirements in crises and ensuring the safety of cultural first aiders
Identify strategies to integrate emergency preparedness and response for cultural heritage into local systems for emergency management and humanitarian assistance
Form effective teams to communicate and coordinate with multiple actors in an emergency
Collaborate with conflict-affected communities to secure endangered heritage and foster dialogue, which will help build long-lasting and sustainable peace
Be familiar with European Quality Principles for EU-funded Interventions with Potential Impacts upon Cultural Heritage and examples of good practices on cultural heritage
Be introduced to the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles, which create bridges between diverse backgrounds, cutting across disciplines and building on participation at all levels through sustainability, inclusion and aesthetics
This course offers a unique collaborative learning opportunity for 20–25 mid-career professionals committed to protecting Ukraine's cultural heritage from the overlapping risks of the ongoing armed conflict and climate-induced disasters.
Those who can apply include but are not limited to site managers, architects, engineers, archivists, librarians, museologists, curators, conservators, as well as professionals with a background in cultural heritage who are actively working in the Command of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces’s Cultural Property Protection (CPP) unit(s) and the fields of emergency management, humanitarian assistance, disaster risk management, humanitarian aid, cultural property protection and civil protection.
Priority will be given to professionals representing an institution from regions most affected by the ongoing armed conflict.
Upon selection, each participant will be required to produce letters from a representative of their institution attesting to their voluntary participation and time commitment for the duration of the training.
Each participant is also expected to identify a damaged heritage site of national or regional significance in their region and identify concrete actions on how they can test the knowledge and skills they gained at this site.
To apply, duly and carefully fill out the online application form.
Please note that only complete applications with a clear statement of intent and relevant permission letters will be considered.
The application deadline is 9 March 2024
The final selection of participants will be communicated by 20 March 2024.
The trained team will receive a certificate from ICCROM and local partners upon meeting the following conditions:
Full attendance of both online (1–5 April 2024) and in-person training (15–29 April 2024) component
Successful completion of examination — a written exam module and a multi-actor emergency simulation — at the end of the training
The training team will comprise international and national resource people with extensive experience safeguarding heritage in crises. International resource people will be identified through ICCROM-FAR’s network. The team will consist of skilled professionals from ICCROM's FAR Programme and former trainees and subject experts from EU Member States and Ukraine. Additionally, local civil protection and security experts will contribute insights into activating national emergency response systems in Ukraine, enhancing the training's relevance and applicability to the local context.
For any questions or queries, please contact the FAR Programme at far_programme@iccrom.org
*Please refer to Think Hazard Maps, which highlights Ukraine’s high exposure to the risk of wildfires and urban flooding and provides oblast-specific climate data for assessing risks.
**A cultural first aider is a person who has the necessary knowledge and skills to assess, document, and protect cultural heritage before, during, and after a large-scale emergency.
***Refer to the First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis Handbook and Toolkit.