Within the project we will carry on interdisciplinary research on digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the area of cultural heritage. We will work with human-centered perspective on the development of AI systems, oriented on the development of a novel research infrastructure regarding Jagiellonian University (JU) heritage. The project’s core team includes representatives of the Archive (AUJ), the Museum (MUJ), and the Library (BJ), as well as the team of computer scientists from the faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science (WFAIS) specialized in interdisciplinary research on AI, supported by the JU IT center. 

Furthermore, the multidisciplinary team of the project includes experts from other faculties of the JU representing research domains such as sociology, history, history of art, information studies, and law. They will closely collaborate with the core team on specific topics within CHExRISH sub-projects thus expanding the multidisciplinary analysis of the JU heritage. 

Main objectives of the project include: 

1. Creation of prototype novel unified software infrastructure called JUHMP: Jagiellonian University Heritage Metadata Portal, for accessing Jagiellonian University heritage, currently being stored and analyzed separately in AUJ, MUJ, and BJ. We will enrich these data sources to create a knowledge graph allowing unified access to the JU heritage collections. 

2. Provisioning of research tools based on AI methods to the academic community simplifying the research on the heritage collections. 

3. Conducting multidisciplinary research with experts from different domains reflecting the broad diverse perspective on the JU Heritage. 

4. Integration and analysis of multiple personal databases hosted by AUJ within a new information system to cover the complete history of the JU. 

5. Development of a set of new application interfaces for the integration of databases of AUJ, BJ, MUJ within JUHMP. 

6. Emphasizing the universality of the developed methods by applying the prototyped solutions also to other resources, incl. cultural heritage collections related to Krakow or Malopolska. 

7. Contribution to the long-term sustainability of projects in digital cultural heritage and digital humanities in the JU, by the development and practical assessment of a set of good practices for metadata acquisition (with optional digitization of assets). 

8. Creation of new interdisciplinary study programs for digital technologies in humanities with close collaboration with the JU Doctoral Schools. 

The above-mentioned objectives will be developed with a rich network of societal, organizational and business partners and stakeholders from selected important institutions related to cultural heritage in Poland and Europe represented in the Project Partners Board. The research aspects of the project are developed in collaboration with the Scientific Advisory Board that includes representatives from the academia specializing in the area of the project. 

Various dissemination and outreach activities are planned, including symposia and seminars. 

CHExRISH is led by the Project Steering Committee which includes Prof. Grzegorz J. Nalepa (Project Coordinator, WFAIS), Prof. Przemysław Żukowski (Director of AUJ), Dr Joanna Ślaga (Deputy Director of MUJ), and Tomasz Zacharski (Deputy Director of BJ) as well as Dr Jacek Partyka (Head of Old Manuscripts Division in BJ).