Digital Innovation for Sustainable Heritage (DISH)
About the project
Digital Innovation for Sustainable Heritage (DISH) is an interdisciplinary project focusing on the use of digital methods for cultural heritage to sustainably support Gotland's archaeological and built heritage in the face of challenges such as climate change, construction, tourism, and the risk of armed conflict.
Studies within the project
Zahra Mohamadi will develop an open-source toolkit using AI and game tech can digitally preserve Visby’s heritage. Read more about Zahra's research.
Zahra Mohamadi
The ongoing digital transformation offers unparalleled potential to safeguard cultural heritage against threats like climate change, structural decay, and geopolitical instability. However, the sector faces significant challenges in sustainably managing complex digital data and creating accessible public experiences.
My PhD project addresses this gap by developing an open-source digital toolkit. Built on game engine technologies, this toolkit is designed to empower heritage professionals to create immersive virtual museums and exhibitions and generate precise digital twins of historical sites and artifacts within a user-friendly environment. A core innovative dimension involves integrating artificial intelligence—specifically, large language models (LLMs)—to automate the analysis of scholarly texts and aid in the AI-assisted reconstruction of historical environments. Using the rich medieval heritage of Visby as a living laboratory, the research will formulate new, scalable protocols for digital conservation, data management, and public engagement.
About me
This research is driven by my commitment to developing practical digital solutions for today’s complex cultural and preservation challenges. The project is inherently interdisciplinary, sitting at the intersection of game design, software development, archaeological method, and artificial intelligence.
I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from Tehran University, Faculty of Fine Arts, and a Master’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Historical Buildings and Urban Fabrics from Shahid Beheshti University. With a background in 3D visualization methods and programming, I am now pursuing a PhD at the Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation at Uppsala University - Campus Gotland.
PhD student at the Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation; Conservation
Supervisors
- Mattias Legnér, Professor at Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation; Conservation
- Patrick Randolph-Quinney, Associate Professor at the Department of Archaeology, Ancient History and Conservation; Archaeology
- Eliel Camargo-Molina, Associate Professor at the Department of Game Design