The study of India’s visual heritage occupies a central position in the broader debates on colonial knowledge, artistic exchange, and the making of global cultural histories. Across centuries, the subcontinent has been represented through an extraordinary range of media (maps, architectural drawings, paintings, photographs, and collected objects) that reflect entangled histories of exploration, empire, and cross-cultural translation. These visual representations shaped and continue to shape the ways India has been imagined and understood, both within South Asia and in Europe.
These images, whether artistic, scientific, or documentary, functioned as instruments of knowledge and power, framing India within a set of visual and epistemic conventions that continue to inform both scholarly discourse and heritage practices today.
The workshop ‘Cultural Heritage and Visual Representations of India’ seeks to reassess visual archives as dynamic, multilayered repositories of cultural heritage.
Participants will address how images constructed knowledge about India and how those representations continue to shape curatorial, academic, and public understandings are especially welcomed. The event will take place over three days, consisting of two days of workshop activities and a final seminar day with keynote speakers.
‘Cultural Heritage and Visual Representations of India’ is organised in collaboration with the European Research Council (ERC) project “ID-SCAPES – Building Identity: Religious Architecture and Sacral Landscapes of Christian Minorities in India and Bangladesh”. More information can be found here.
Anyone can apply for this workshop, regardless of their academic background or previous experience with the study of visual documents. For more practical information and instructions on how to apply, see below.
Dates: June 29th to July 1st 2026
Venue: Centro de Estudos Nuno Portas
Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto
Via Panorâmica, S/N
4150-564 Porto
Portugal
Important notes
Participants can be reimbursed according to the COST rules, please see the Annotated Rules, Annex 1. If you are selected for financing from ESIND, your travel and daily allowance will be covered according to the rules. In this case, up to 400€ for transportation plus a total of 465€ for allowance.
Participants will have to arrange travel by themselves. The scientific committee will select 6 ESIND participants with reimbursement and 4 additional participants without reimbursement.
Please note that your expenses will be reimbursed only after completion of the workshop and submission of all required documents.
Registration and selection process
Who can apply?
- Anyone (MA students, Ph.D. students, and all later career researchers) affiliated with an institution belonging to a COST country (go to https://www.cost.eu/am-i-eligible/ ).
Selection criteria:
- Coherence of the motivation letter with the aims of the workshop
- relevance of applicants’ studies and research experience to the topics of the ESIND project (as described in its MoU) and the research focus of the workshop
- active contribution to the ESIND activities and goals, and other qualifications relevant to the ESIND activities and goals.
- status of Young Researcher and Innovator
- preference will be given to applicants from the ITC countries (link to https://www.cost.eu/uploads/2021/03/ITC.pdf )
- Preference will also be given to applicants from the ESIND Working Groups.
The decision will be made in accordance with COST rules.
How to apply?
STEP 1
- Send your application to idscapes@arq.up.pt by April 1st 2026:
One PDF containing the author’s name, affiliation, contact email, a biography note of up to 500 words, and a one-page motivation letter addressing the topics of the workshop.
STEP 2
- You will get the confirmation email by April 15, 2026.
- Sign up on the e-COST platform: https://e-services.cost.eu/user/login
- Accept or decline the invitation by April 20, 2026.
STEP 3
- During the Workshop, please make sure you sign the attendance list for each individual day. Your expenses cannot be reimbursed for days when you are not signed in.
- Fill in the reimbursement claim in e-COST, no later than July 15th, 2026
