OWHC Young Travelling Scholarship - Organization of World Heritage Cities

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NEW EDITION 2024

After successful editions in 2018, 2019 and 2022, the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) with its Regional Secretariat for Northwest Europe and North America organizes for a fourth time already a travel scholarship for young people. Equipped with a budget of up to 1.000 €, the winners of the scholarship program have the opportunity to discover World Heritage Cities and experience why our UNESCO World Heritage needs to be preserved.

This project is aimed at young people from ages 18 to 28 in order to make Europe’s and North America’s World Heritage a more tangible experience for the younger generation. Each traveler/team has to visit at least three different cities listed as World Heritage in at least two different countries, with at least two destinations being one of the member cities of the Regional Secretariat of Northwest Europe and North America. Otherwise, they are completely independent at planning their own trip.

The Travellers share their experience on this blog and keep everyone updated on social media (Instagram or Facebook) as they are discovering different World Heritage Cities. At the end of their trips they design a creative output (photographs, videos etc.) of their travels. The project intends to share World Heritage from different perspectives. Applications are taken from all over the world in order to represent different views on several heritage sites.

Seven winners/travelling teams have been selected for our 2024 scholarship!

With an incredible amount of 110 applications received from all around the globe, this years’ participation in the scholarship program was amazing. So many wonderful creative ideas and profoundly researched travel routes through our World Heritage Cities made it hard to choose the winners of 2024. But in the end, seven winners/winning teams will be granted with each 1.000 Euro and start their excursions soon. Meet our winners and learn a bit more about them and their connection to “heritage” below!

Aidan DeLuca

23-year-old Aidan DeLuca is a recently graduated architectural designer from Philadelphia with a deep passion for urban design. His biggest hope is to use his career to bring safety, comfort, health, and equity to the cities in which he designs. He also enjoys listening to music from around the world and learning new languages. Additionally, he loves to illustrate the cities he visits in what he calls a “synthesis of urban sketching and photography”.

With the OWHC Young Travelling Scholarship, Aidan plans to first travel through Central Europe, visiting Brussels and Berlin, before returning to his hometown of Philadelphia to compare his findings. His main focuses are public health, safety and amenities of the cities and as an aspiring architect, he hopes to implement what he learns into his future work.

Travel Route:

Brussels – Berlin – Philadelphia

Social Media:

Instagram: @aidan_james_deluca

Elizabeth Paikoff and Kate Wishewan

Elizabeth:

Elizabeth Paikoff is a 24-year old Engineer-in-Training from Canada who works in the heritage conservation field. She holds an undergraduate in Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering from Carleton University and is currently working as a Structural Restoration Engineer-In-Training at Heritage Standing Inc. in Fredericton, New Brunswick. With the travels, she is hoping to expand her knowledge about heritage and is looking forward to gaining a new experience that will help her achieve a broader perspective in her career.

Kate:

Kate Wishewan is a 24-year-old Canadian academic professional in the heritage conservation field. She holds an undergraduate in Architectural Conservation and Sustainability Engineering at Carleton University and is currently completing an advanced masters in Structural Analysis and Historical Constructions at the Polytechnical University of Canada. Kate is eager to show new perspectives concerning heritage values and shedding light on the passion and care it takes to sustain world heritage sites.

Both Elizabeth and Kate are excited for their travels as they can’t wait to experience the culturally rich Northwestern European heritage cities of the OWHC. Although both of them have a special interest in architecture, they also want to learn more about the invaluable history World Heritage sites hold, documenting all that they have seen with photos and descriptions in the process.

Travel Route:

Brugge – Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin

Laura Jane Hegarty and Benjamin Thom

Laura:

Laura is a 24-year-old artist living in Edinburgh. She holds a masters degree in History of Art with a special interest in feminist studies. Right now, she investigates the “uniting, shared capacities of the human sensory system”, as she is taking time away from academia to do research through travelling, before pursuing her PhD in 2025. An avid visual artist, Laura’s pieces have been exhibited in various galleries throughout Europe. Aside from her artistic ventures, she is also the Creative Director for a small distillery in Scotland and restores traditional Scottish instruments in her free time.

Benjamin:

Benjamin is a 23-year-old Scottish musician and embodies the vibrant cultural tapestry of his country by performing traditional, Scottish folk music. Having studied Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, Benjamin’s interest in heritage shows through being the head of “Nuin Chanter”, a radio show dedicated to the old songs of his country. He is especially interested in the ways in which language, music, and literature influence cultural identity.

While working together in a whisky and folk music bar, Laura and Benjamin often found themselves discussing the rich history of their surroundings. This intrigue of heritage is what now brings them together to explore their interests through travel. Starting in Barcelona, the two will make a journey north towards Berlin to explore both the visual and acoustic components of what they see and hear, with each of them documenting it with their respective expertise.

Travel Route:

Barcelona – Tarragona – Carcassonne – Fontainebleau – Luxembourg – Berlin

Social Media:

Instagram Laura: @laurajhegarty

Lukas Unterreitmeier

Regensburg local Lukas Unterreitmeier is a student in the architecture master’s program at the University of Applied Sciences Regensburg. Having started his own photography business at only 18 years of age, Lukas is fascinated with understanding the rich and diverse architecture of the world around him. With his photography, he is looking to capturing special moments for eternity.

During his travels through Central and Northern Europe and the East Coast of the U.S., Lukas is interested in exploring the World Heritage Cities as they offer a contrast between historical structures and modern architecture. Additionally, this diversity that these cities offer is what draws him towards them. Through his signature style of capturing moments – analog photography – Lukas will document his travels and truly depict the essence of each of his destinations.

Travel Route:

Porto – Regensburg – Philadelphia – New York City – Amsterdam

Social Media:

Instagram: @lu.unxx

Martha Skyrianou

Having just completed her master studies in Sustainable Heritage Management from Aarhus University, 26-year-old Martha Skyrianou from Denmark sees this project as an amazing continuation of getting more insights within the heritage world and enriching her professional experience. Through the skills she learned being employed as a Cultural Project Manager at the Industrial Museum of Lavrion, she is hoping that the travels will give her an even broader perspective on her subject.

Her selected sites all throughout Scandinavia are not only testimonies of the past but also integral parts of our contemporary cultural identity. Therefore, in this journey one of her goals will be to explore this connection between the sites and the local communities capturing it in a creative diary.

Travel Route:

Bryggens – Stockholm – Rauma – Visby

Social Media:

Instagram: @marthaskyr

Lukas Heckl und Nikolaus Kreuzer

Lukas:

Regensburg native Lukas Heckl is 27 years old and an industrial designer nearing the end of his bachelor’s degree. He is an educated draftsman who is proficient in sketching. Additionally, he likes to experiment with technical problems and likes to find unusual solutions.

Nik:

27-year-old Nikolaus Kreuzer, also known as Nik, is from Regensburg and finished his bachelor’s degree in industrial design in 2023. Currently, he is employed as a social worker in a local school. Nik is also a trained carpenter and a photographer who submits his works to local newspapers.

Apart from their studies, what connects Lukas and Nik is their love of bicycles, as they enjoy the sustainability and the interactivity of this way of travelling, like for instance being invited to people’s homes spontaneously. They will explore Central Europe by bike and pay close attention to how heritage affects local habits and interactions, capturing them in portraits, and always comparing what they find with what is customary in their hometown of Regensburg.

Travel Route:

Strasbourg – Nancy – Luxembourg – Brussels – Brugge

Social Media:

Instagram: @heritage_by_bike

Salome Limberger

Salome Limberger, 25, is studying for a Master’s degree in Intercultural Management. She is interested in other countries and likes to explore and understand other cultural ways of thinking and acting.

Salome will go on a journey through Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands because she wants to discover the history, culture and socio-cultural significance of beguinages. She wants to find out how far beguinages as historical places can be adaptable models for future housing projects. At the beguinages Salome will visit, she wants to talk to other visitors and interview them, for example about what World Heritage means to them. Through this intercultural exchange, she would like to elaborate different perspectives on our World Heritage.