Dr. Naomi Oosterman (Arts and Culture Studies, ESHCC), together with an international team of researchers, has been awarded a €3,000,000 MSCA Doctoral Network (DN) grant for her project HERITOUR – Enhancing collaborative synergies between heritage and tourism. This marks the first time that Erasmus University is the principle investigator and coordinator for this specific grant. Prof. Dr. Stijn Reijnders is co-initiator, and together with Oosterman serves as scientist-in-charge.
Enhancing collaborative synergies between heritage and tourism
HERITOUR’s research objectives address the tensions between the preservation of cultural heritage on the one hand, and economic reliance on tourism on the other. HERITOUR argues for the importance of developing sustainable and cooperative solutions that support both heritage conservation and economic resilience while taking into consideration how colonial legacies, climate change, and geopolitical exclusion complicate these solutions. The project furthermore aims to bridge the divide between Europe’s heritage and tourism sectors, which often operate independently despite having shared challenges.
About HERITOUR
HERITOUR is a project in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions that aims to implement doctoral programmes by establishing long-lasting collaborations between universities and external partners. HERITOUR forms a consortium of six universities (EUR, Midsweden University, University of Stavanger, University of Granada, University of Aruba, Middle-East Technical University) and ten associated partners based in Norway, Germany, Aruba, Sweden, and Turkey. A total of 10 Doctoral Candidates will perform research on four lines of inquiry: digitalisation, sustainability, resilience, and democratisation. The Department of Arts and Culture Studies will host two doctoral candidates on the topic of democratisation, who will be jointly supervised by Naomi Oosterman and Stijn Reijnders. The candidates, for a period of three months, will perform research tasks within two heritage and tourism organisations. The consortium will furthermore develop a dedicated three-year doctoral training program specifically tailored to pressing questions in heritage and tourism research. The project will start in January 2026.
Coordinatorship Enablement Package
Engagement & Research Services (ERS) of Erasmus University supported the development of this application via a Coordinatorship Enablement Package (CEP, €20.000) and the support of two dedicated grant officers (Masja Kempen and Angela Noble) and one research assistant (Lara de Poorter). HERITOUR will furthermore be supported by an ERS Project Manager. Stijn Reijnders, Professor of Cultural Heritage at Arts and Culture Studies, will furthermore lead one of the work packages.
- Researcher
- More information
For more information, please contact Dr. Naomi Oosterman via oosterman@eshcc.eur.nl The project website is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2026.
