'Egypt's Living Heritage: Community Engagement in Re-Creating the Past' explores and promotes the engagement of local communities with their heritage through the deployment of the arts as particularly effective in the transmission of the values and meanings that intangibly inhere in tangible artifacts, architecture and environments. It selects as its case study the area of Historic Cairo, in tandem with the Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo (launched by UNESCO-WHC in 2010), in order to address the interface between past and present in multi-dimensional ways. The intellectual research is motivated by questions of what of the past continues in the present and of how the living transmission of the past is effected, as will be explored through workshops bringing together UK and Egyptian scholars and arts practitioners and through the screening of documentaries pertinent to this enquiry. Building on this basis, research by practice will involve communities in the curating of their own artisanal and creative products, together with the cultural memories and legacies attendant on these, through both oral history and specialist ateliers. Conventional approaches will be combined with more experimental methods as the working communities of Historic Cairo and contemporary visual artists, musicians and writers from Egypt and the UK will be brought together in order to create a forum for the sharing of skills and ideas towards, in the first instance, an exhibition, with the further aim of generating new forms of entrepreneurship leading to increased revenue opportunities. In addition, the psycho-geography of Cairo will be explored through the analysis of dreams in relation to Egyptian myths, folk tales and literature as will be disseminated through a short film. The project will serve to realize connections between the traditional and contemporary, between the popular culture of the past and the popular and youth cultures of the present, and between Egyptian cultural heritage and international recipients, with outputs including publications and an insiders' heritage map. In the process of this range of activities, new cultural, social and intellectual networks will be formed towards the establishment of a new research centre and the ongoing preservation of heritage through community engagement.

It is evident that Egypt's material cultural heritage is one of the country’s major characteristics, as well as a significant resource for the national income. A principal means by which Egyptian cultural heritage is presented to the public is through museums, which started developing in Egypt since the middle of the 19thcentury. Yet, museums in Egypt are facing a serious setback, which is affecting their cultural, social and economic roles; it is the need for specialised education and professional training in Museum Studies. Out of more than twenty universities in Egypt offering, for decades, undergraduate and postgraduate education in different aspects of archaeology, cultural heritage and the history of Art, only a handful are offering some individual courses in museum related topics. Accordingly, the great majority of those who working in museums in Egypt are not specialised in that field. This has resulted in the lack of innovative, attractive and informative displays in most Egyptian museums. Also the educational and social role of museums in Egypt is quite limited due to the paucity of dedicated public educational and outreach programs. Accordingly, this project aims to contribute significantly in capacity building in the field of museums in Egypt by developing a multi-level graduate education program in Museum Studies (Diploma & Master Degree) to be offered to students from different backgrounds. The proposed programs aim to provide a profound understanding of contemporary theory and practice in aspects of museum studies, and the role of museums in the wider context of cultural heritage. Hence it would provide the basis for a professional career in that field or a sound foundation for further research.The study of cultural heritage is multi-disciplinary by nature. Hence, the consortium, which includes specialists in archaeology, engineering, museology and heritage management, collectively provides the expertise & skills required for the project fulfilment.