The event, now in its sixth year, follows an announcement by the Creative and Cultural Skills Council, in November 2013, that there is a significant IT and digital skills gap across the UK’s cultural heritage sector.

Dr Roisin Mullins, Lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Academic Lead at Software Alliance Wales said: “Through working in partnership with Software Alliance Wales, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David offers academic expertise to support the development of ‘digital humanities’ as a professional discipline that delivers practical solutions to tackle the recognised skills gap and, as importantly, helps the sector gain hands-on experience of new and emerging technologies.” 

Conference delegates include students, professionals and individuals from across commercial, public and third sector organisations who want to investigate the latest technical survey and interpretation techniques.

Dr Mike Heyworth MBE will deliver the keynote address on behalf of the Council of British Archaeology.  Other keynote speakers include Jonathan Purday from Europeana who will talk about various projects, including a crowdsourcing project on World War One; while Steve Burnard, from Adobe, will talk about the Creative Cloud - a new and more intuitive way of working and creating.

Attendees will also be invited to participate in a series of workshops, including ‘WordPress for Websites’. The ninety minute workshop on Thursday 13th February, will be delivered by Nathan Jorgenson, Liaison Officer at Software Alliance Wales.

Nathan Jorgenson, a Wordpress expert committed to sharing knowledge, skills and best practice with a community of like-minded people, explained: “Software Alliance Wales will introduce Digital Past delegates to the accessible world of developing and managing websites; raising the profile of our rich cultural heritage sector while helping local projects to increase exposure and reach a wide audience.”

Software Alliance Wales, led by Swansea University, is a partnership with Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, University of South Wales and University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The £13.4m initiative is supported by the European Social Fund through the Welsh Government.

Dr Mullins concluded: “Digital Past is a great opportunity for IT professionals, academics and key decision-makers across the cultural heritage sector to work together to develop the digital humanities skills demanded by employers and, at the same time, to offer employees with these high value skills a rewarding career in the fast growing knowledge economy.”