The HERISTEM (STEM in Heritage Sciences) Project: Communicating Archaeology During the Pandemic

HERISTEM is a strategic partnership project funded by the Erasmus+ Programme with the main goal of gathering together institutions of higher education, those dealing with heritage preservation and protection, and small businesses to provide transfer of knowledge, skills, and good practices of STEM in the field of archaeology, through intensive courses, seminars, exhibitions, and students/teachers mobility. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent travel restrictions caused inevitable adjustments of project activities. New forms of online content were explored, engaging both professional (online conference, Archaeological Dialogues Without Isolation), and wider audiences (video and interactive content for Researchers’ Night 2020). The feedback and evaluation of these activities revealed that they were great outreach initiatives with high interest from the audience and high engagement with online content, and therefore new possibilities for communication with the public.