Thursday 22 October, 6pm to 8pm, at the Embassy of Tunisia. An evening on Tunisia's heritage and the technology now being used to protect it, with د. لورا هاريسون and د. كارولين نيكرسون, hosted by the Embassy with Tanit XR and TAYP. Free. Seating is limited and entry is by guest list, so reserve first and read on after.
1515 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. Reservations close Friday 16 October and there are no walk-ins. Questions: info@tanitxr.org.
Over the past year, د. لورا هاريسون and د. كارولين نيكرسون have been at the centre of Tanit XR's work: leading its scientific programme, building its partnerships with universities and institutions, running hackathons and workshops, and travelling to Tunisia this summer to work alongside Tunisian colleagues at the sites themselves. They will talk about that year, what they saw in Tunisia, and where the work goes next. Ines Said, founder of Tanit XR, opens the evening and introduces them.
You will see the technology up close. Tanit XR documents Tunisian heritage with photogrammetry, lidar and Gaussian splatting, much of it captured on ordinary phones by trained volunteers, and brings the results to anyone in the world through a browser, a headset, or a virtual museum. The collection is already open at tanitxr.org/explore, and VR headsets will be in the room for anyone who would like to stand inside it.
And you will meet the model behind it. Tanit XR is run by volunteers in many countries, most of whom had no connection to Tunisia when they joined. They meet every week, study Tunisian history together, and several have since travelled to Tunisia or now speak about its heritage in their own cities. Culture travelling in both directions, with technology as the bridge, is what the evening is about.
Tunisians and friends of Tunisia equally. Anyone who cares about heritage, or works where technology, culture and social impact meet. Students very welcome. No technical background needed.
د. لورا هاريسون is Tanit XR's المسؤولة العلمية. An archaeologist who specialises in digital documentation, from lidar and photogrammetry to immersive technology, she was the founding director of the Access 3D Lab at the University of South Florida, with museum experience at institutions like the Smithsonian and the جديد York State Museum. She is the author of two books on archaeology and digital heritage, Associate Editor of the journal Studies in Digital Heritage, and a Commissioner on the City of Tampa's Historic Preservation Board.
د. كارولين نيكرسون leads Partnerships and المجتمع at Tanit XR, and is Executive Director and co-founder of Florida Community Innovation, the nonprofit that serves as Tanit XR's fiscal sponsor. Her work brings together civic engagement, public interest technology and citizen science, including roles with SciStarter, CitSci and the NASA-funded EMERGE مشروع. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Education and Communication from the University of Florida and a Master of Public Policy from American University.
Ines Said, founder of Tanit XR, is a Tunisian XR artist and developer from Nabeul, and a 2026 Auggie Awards finalist.
