The REACH Social Platform’s activities will have a twofold scope:

• Support: to map and provide analysis of research results achieved in previous programmes, to identify current and emerging research trends, and to offer authoritative new knowledge of the CH field to the European Commission and policy makers;

• Coordination: to offer benefits to its participants, expanding knowledge of complementary research domains, and of new participatory research methodologies, generating opportunities for cooperation, offering pathways to wider user engagement with research outputs.

In the context of radical social changes taking place at global levels, Europe faces a serious challenge: the need for its citizens to live together in peace and mutual respect and to value and enjoy the diversity of cultures, which they bring to their respective societies. The REACH project is based on the proposition that CH plays an important role in contributing to social integration in Europe, and that a fuller and more detailed picture of the range, type and impact of research and participatory research methodologies, current and future, associated with these subjects will further enhance their potential for social good.

The REACH pilots cover the following thematic areas:

• Minority Heritage, focusing on marginalised minorities and, in particular, on Roma communities, led by ELTE Eötvös Loránd University;

• Institutional Heritage, comparing participatory approaches in the case of large CH institutions with international audiences as opposed to smaller institutions that target local users, led by Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK);

• Rural Heritage, promoting participation in cultural and environmental protected areas as a way to solve conflicts between preservation of CH, (re-)use of the territory and economical activities, led by University of Granada;

• Small Towns Heritage, analysing the representations of CH in small contexts and (re-)valuing their heritage, led by Charles University.

Each pilot validated and improved different approaches to participation, particularly focusing on strengths and challenges.