MISSION

The Nordic Center for Cultural Heritage and Armed Conflict (CHAC) is an independent international research organisation that assists international organisations, governments, military organisations, and museums to understand and develop better approaches to the developing role of cultural heritage in 21st century armed conflicts.

CHAC nurtures a large international network and functions as a international platform for research development, knowledge exchange, dialogues and processes across state authorities, international organisations and expert communities.

CHAC´s approach stands on a foundation of interdisciplinary academic research combined with profound experience with policy work. Among other things, CHAC stands out by injecting the Humanities into policy development in defence and security and organisations. Read more about our approach here.

CHAC is firmly anchored in the academic community and subscribes to the usual codes of conduct for integrity and independency in academic research.

HISTORY

CHAC was founded in 2017 to sustain projects and networks developed by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Project “Best Practices for Cultural Property Protection in NATO-led Military Operations.” (NATO SPS CPP) (2015-2017).

The NATO SPS CPP project was supported by all 28 NATO Member States through the NATO Science for Peace and Security Committee, and enjoyed profound collaboration with a range of national and international stakeholders. Read more about the NATO SPS CPP here.

CHAC has over the years grown into a lead organisations on the topic with substantial impact on policy development in states and international organisations.

CHAC is anchored at the Department of Regional and Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.