CONNECTING ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE

Their core work

CARARE is a Dublin-based European NGO that aggregates, standardizes, and publishes digital records of archaeological sites and architectural heritage from institutions across Europe, making distributed collections discoverable through pan-European research infrastructures such as Europeana and ARIADNE. Their core work involves mapping, normalizing, and aligning archaeological and architectural datasets from national heritage bodies, museums, and research institutes to shared data standards, enabling interoperability across borders. They act as an intermediary layer between heritage data holders and large-scale European platforms, brokering the technical and organizational agreements needed to bring fragmented national collections into a coherent European digital space. Their value to consortia lies in their existing network of heritage data providers and their practical experience turning heterogeneous heritage records into machine-readable, searchable assets.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CARARE's H2020 participation spans a narrow but meaningful window from 2019 to 2023, which limits the depth of evolution analysis. In the early phase, their work was tightly focused on archaeological datasets and the networking infrastructure needed to connect them across European institutions (ARIADNEplus). Their more recent project (4CH) shows a broadening toward cultural heritage conservation competence — moving from pure data infrastructure toward applied knowledge centers that support practitioners working with physical heritage assets. The direction is clear: from data aggregation toward integrated, practice-facing heritage services.

CARARE is moving from back-end data infrastructure toward practice-facing heritage competence centers, suggesting future collaborations may bridge data science with conservation practice and heritage management.

How they like to work

CARARE has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as a coordinator — across both H2020 projects. Despite this secondary role, they operate within exceptionally large consortia: their two projects collectively involved 55 unique partners across 28 countries, a breadth unusual for a small NGO. This signals that they are a trusted specialist node embedded in major European heritage networks, brought in for their data-provider relationships and domain credibility rather than for project management capacity.

CARARE's two projects connected them to 55 unique partners across 28 countries, reflecting participation in flagship pan-European consortia rather than smaller regional projects. Their network spans heritage institutions, universities, national archaeological bodies, and digital infrastructure organizations throughout Europe.

What sets them apart

CARARE occupies a rare niche as a dedicated European-level NGO that specifically bridges archaeology and architecture — two heritage domains that are frequently siloed in national institutions but need to be integrated for pan-European infrastructure. Their position as an Irish entity with deep ties across 28 European countries makes them a credible neutral aggregator, free from the national-interest constraints that can complicate data-sharing among larger institutional partners. For consortium builders, they bring ready-made relationships with heritage data holders and practical experience navigating the organizational complexity of cross-national data agreements.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ARIADNEplus
  One of Europe's flagship research infrastructures for archaeological data, with a large multi-national consortium — CARARE's participation confirms their role as an established contributor to European archaeological data systems.
• 4CH
  CARARE's highest-funded H2020 project (EUR 107,188), focused on building a European Competence Centre for Cultural Heritage Conservation — a strategic expansion beyond data infrastructure into applied heritage practice.