Dr Joanna Rivera-Carlisle is an interdisciplinary researcher and cultural practitioner whose work examines how digital technologies are shaping living heritage practices and the community knowledge systems which sustain them. Drawing on decolonial theory and applied HCI research, she investigates how immersive and AI-supported technologies can be used in ethically grounded and community-centred ways, with a particular focus on co-creation methodologies and the role of audience participation in shaping institutional heritage practice. Joanna has designed governance frameworks, evaluation toolkits, data taxonomies, and research infrastructures across a range of institutional and community settings, including the British Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Metagov Foundation. Alongside her research, she co-leads Studio Picot, a research and strategy consultancy specialising in culture, heritage, and digital innovation.
• Intangible cultural heritage (ICH): safeguarding, documentation, and community-centred stewardship
• AI and emerging technologies in heritage contexts, including critical and decolonial perspectives on their application
• Extended reality (XR) as experimental museology and community engagement tool
• Digital governance and participatory decision-making in cultural institutions
• Design justice and spatial justice in heritage practice
• Cultural policy, heritage investment frameworks, and institutional strategy
• Co-creation methodologies and community-led knowledge production
• Postcolonial and decolonial approaches to contested collections and repatriation
