The Hunt Museum (IE) recently concluded a dynamic and hands-on 3DBigDataSpace training series, welcoming museum and cultural heritage professionals to develop key skills in 3D digitisation, modelling, fabrication, and accessible display. This capacity-building programme was delivered as part of the European-co-funded 3DBigDataSpace project.

Aimed at cultural heritage professionals at the beginning of their journey in digitisation and a friendly introduction to the processes that lead to high-quality digital assets. With the advent of the common European data space for cultural heritage, this series of workshops aimed to build participants' capacity and confidence to create high-quality digital assets to share and reuse as part of the data space using 3DBigDataSpace tools such as

The training equipped participants with the confidence to adopt 3D technologies in their own institutions by successfully demystifying photogrammetry, scanning workflows, model preparation, and fabrication techniques.

The workshop series combined a full-day, in-person workshop at the Hunt Museum with  four online sessions, covering object capture, mesh editing, fabrication, and inclusive design, through to documentation, licensing and long-term storage of 3D collections. The training was led by facilitator Tadhg Charles, a PhD researcher at Northumbria University, specialising in inclusive heritage co-design. Accompanying Tadhg for the final  session was Beth Knazook from the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) who led the final training session on Documentation, Licensing & Deposit.

Participants praised the balance of theory and hands-on practice:

“The workshop gave me practical skills I can immediately use, especially the step-by-step approach to 3D capture and tactile model preparation.”

Many highlighted the accessibility focus as a standout feature, noting how learning to create tactile and digital replicas will help broaden audience engagement, particularly for visitors with visual impairment.

Another participant commented:

“The encouragement to think about both digital and tactile outcomes has opened new ideas for incorporating 3D into our community programming.”

The inclusion of metadata, licensing, and deposit guidance in later sessions also proved valuable, giving professionals insight into how to preserve and share 3D content responsibly within wider digital repositories.

 What the 3DBigDataSpace training sessions have provided is a practical and welcoming introduction to creating digital assets. With the experience gained and the capacities developed through the training, this group of heritage professionals is now well equipped to begin their journey towards contributing to the common European data space. Looking ahead, the training materials and resources will also be made available to the broader community as individual, self-paced learning opportunities, supporting continued skills development and wider uptake across the sector.