Kuala lumpur: Universiti Malaya (UM) is set to strengthen Malaysia's role as a regional hub for manuscript heritage research and cultural cooperation following its appointment as the UNESCO Chair on Manuscript Heritage of the Silk Road. In a statement today, UM said the appointment of Dr. Mehdi Soltanzadeh as the chairholder would establish a regional platform for research, teaching, training and community engagement in manuscript heritage, while strengthening international cooperation in the field.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the appointment also places UM within the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme, a global network of more than 1,100 UNESCO chairs and university networks across over 130 countries aimed at advancing research, education, and international cooperation. Through this initiative, UM will serve as Malaysia's regional coordinating centre for efforts to preserve, document, digitise, and promote manuscripts connected to the Silk Road, as well as those reflecting historical intellectual exchanges between the Malay World and other civilisations.
This initiative will support the development of a digital repository of manuscripts, establishment of documentation and metadata standards, the coordination of collaborative research, and provide postgraduate training in manuscript studies. The initiative would also facilitate field surveys across libraries, museums, archives, and selected collections, while providing a platform for international workshops, seminars, conferences, academic exchanges, and joint publications with partners worldwide.
The chair would also connect UM with UNESCO's interdisciplinary network of more than 10,000 academics and researchers, further expanding the university's international engagement and promoting the principles of Open Science and knowledge sharing. By integrating cultural heritage preservation with digital innovation, the UNESCO Chair on Manuscript Heritage of the Silk Road will position Universiti Malaya and Malaysia as a regional centre of excellence for manuscript studies and UNESCO-related cultural cooperation.