Juan Pablo Angarita Bernal

I am a PhD student at Wolfson College, Cambridge, researching how public GLAM institutions in Colombia and Brazil have acted as sociotechnical infrastructures for cultural heritage since the 1990s. My project examines hybrid mediation initiatives to understand how libraries, museums, and archives function as “knowledge bridges” between institutional and community knowledge, shaping digital transformations, rethinking the value of heritage, and opening spaces for inclusion and environmental awareness. This focus builds directly on my MSc dissertation at the University of Edinburgh, which analysed how participatory practices enabled Colombian libraries to diversify gender representation in their digital collections.

I am supervised by Professor Caroline Bassett and funded by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP with co-funding from the Vice Chancellor’s Award and the International Fee Bursary. I hold degrees in Literature and History and an MA in History from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Beyond academia, I have worked in library management, digital heritage, radio, cultural outreach, music festivals, and Wikimedia events in Latin America.