Athina Kouloumpatsani

Athina Kouloumpatsani is a PhD candidate researching the relationship between digital technologies and the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage within UNESCO’s framework. Her thesis, Digitising Living Heritage: Community Participation, Authenticity and Mediation in Greece’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, examines how digitisation reshapes the representation, governance and lived meanings of heritage practices. Through qualitative case studies of community-based cultural traditions in Greece, her research investigates how digital platforms mediate relationships between heritage communities, institutions and cultural policy, with particular attention to authenticity, participation and ownership. She holds an MA in Lifelong Learning and Special Education from the University of Macedonia and a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). Alongside her doctoral studies, she has extensive professional experience in the design, coordination and evaluation of international and EU-funded projects related to culture, education, innovation and digital transformation. Her research interests include digital heritage, participatory governance, cultural policy and the socio-cultural implications of digitisation.