ASEF Young Minds: Heritage Science and Cultural Heritage Valuation with Lana Nastja Anžur

On Thursday, May 14, 2026, a popular science lecture as part of the ASEF Young Minds series took place at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana. The lecture was delivered by ASEF Fellow of the 2024 generation Lana Nastja Anžur, a doctoral student at the Heritage Science Laboratory of the University of Ljubljana. The event was organized by ASEF in collaboration with Young Professionals in Heritage Science Slovenia (HERI SCI) and the Alumni Club of the Faculty of Arts UL (Department of Archaeology).

In her lecture, “Heritage Science and Cultural Heritage Valuation: Connecting the Public, Experts, and Different Disciplines,” Lana presented contemporary approaches to researching cultural heritage and highlighted the importance of involving the public in heritage valuation and preservation processes. The central part of the lecture focused on her doctoral research conducted in Slovenia and Mauritius, involving more than 900 participants from both the general public and the professional community.

She discussed how people from different cultural environments perceive heritage and how cultural heritage can contribute to social cohesion, identity, and sustainable development. She also introduced the use of exploratory factor analysis to identify different groups of values connected to cultural heritage and emphasized the importance of inclusive approaches that integrate not only expert perspectives but also the experiences and values of wider communities.

In the second part of the lecture, Lana shared her research journey and international collaborations developed through her ASEF research visit with Dr. Saša Čaval at Stanford University. Participants also learned about the activities of HERI SCI, an organization that connects young interdisciplinary researchers in the field of heritage science.

The event offered valuable insight into contemporary cultural heritage research and highlighted the importance of connecting science, society, and sustainable development in the preservation and understanding of heritage.

The project promoting the dissemination of young researchers’ work following ASEF research visits abroad is supported by the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth and the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad.