Innovation in Ancient Worlds

Inclusive methods and responsible tech for Ancient Studies

CIAW is a non-profit center supporting teaching and research on the Ancient World—linking philology, epigraphy, archaeology, and ancient history with practical, ethical digital methods.

Foundation

CIAW grew from collaborative teaching and research across universities and vocational IT programs.

Origins: CIAW builds on the teaching and research experience developed across several institutions, including the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM), and Kyoto Prefectural University (KPU). These diverse contexts—spanning ancient history, pedagogy, and digital methods—shaped the vision that eventually led to the creation of CIAW.

Symposium

Neurodivergent Perspectives in Teaching Ancient History: Innovation, Empathy, and Access

Online Symposium (via Microsoft Teams) — 5 March 2026
Organised by the Center for Innovation in Ancient Worlds (CIAW),
with the support of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), and partner institutions.

AI & Antiquity organises a yearly symposium devoted to neurodiversity and inclusive teaching practices in Ancient Studies. This programme explores how ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and other cognitive profiles can reshape university pedagogy, assessment models, and student engagement, particularly within disciplines traditionally structured around neurotypical learning standards.

Topics include accessible course design, creative and sensory approaches to learning, assistive technologies, emotional and cognitive engagement with material culture, and the responsible use of AI tools for neurodivergent learners.

Provisional Programme

Date: 5 March 2026 (CET – Spanish time)
Format: Online (Microsoft Teams)

09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome and Introduction
Carlos Heredia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
09:15 – 09:45 | The Positive Contribution of Neurodivergence to Ancient Studies
Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, Institut Catholique de Toulouse
09:45 – 10:15 | Neurodivergent Approaches to Chronology and Narrative in Historiography
Kenneth Arthur, University of St Andrews
10:15 – 10:45 | The Neurodiverse Teaching the Neurodiverse: Case Studies and Reflections of a Dyspraxic
Julia Tomas, The Open University
10:45 – 11:15 | The Relaxed Tutorial Project: Neurodivergent Pedagogy in Classical Studies at The Open University
Cora Beth Fraser, The Open University
11:15 – 12:00 | Break
12:00 – 12:30 | Somewhere in Time: An Experience in “Living” History (Historia Viva)
Borja Antela-Bernárdez, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
12:30 – 13:00 | The Case Study of the ‘Simulacrum’ in the Latin Learning Process
Sebastián Altamirano, Universidad de Costa Rica

Publication: Selected contributions will be published in AI & Antiquity, Volume 2, Issue 2 (late 2026).

AI & Antiquity

Our open-access journal exploring Artificial Intelligence, inclusive pedagogy, and Ancient Studies.

AI & Antiquity: Journal of Teaching and Technology in Ancient Studies (ISSN 3081-4553) is CIAW’s flagship publication. It brings together research on inclusive pedagogy, digital humanities, and the critical use of AI in Ancient Studies.

Every issue is freely available online, sustaining our commitment to open access, reproducibility, and inclusivity.

Explore Volume 1→

Mission

What we do

Provide training on inclusive pedagogy for Ancient Studies.
Develop open resources for languages, texts, material culture, and data.
Offer guidance on responsible AI and reproducible workflows.
Connect educators, researchers, technologists, and heritage professionals.
Reinvest all support into research, teaching, and community activity.

How we work

We favor practices that are transparent, testable, and adaptable: clear learning goals, small reproducible steps, and tools that reduce friction in teaching and analysis.

Activities

Hands-on formats tailored to the Ancient World.

Workshops & Seminars

Hands-on sessions where participants work directly with primary sources and digital tools. Topics range from text editing and epigraphic transcription to palaeography, archaeological datasets, and ancient languages. Each workshop emphasizes evidence-based teaching methods, encouraging participants to test approaches, reflect on results, and exchange strategies that can be transferred to their own classrooms or research contexts.

Inclusive Resources

We design teaching materials with accessibility as a starting point rather than an add-on. This includes scaffolded lesson plans that break down complex tasks into manageable steps, checklists to support executive function, and multimodal content such as alt-texted figures and captioned clips. Templates for accessible assignments allow educators to adapt activities to diverse cognitive profiles and classroom realities.

Networking & Mentoring

CIAW provides spaces for peer exchange, especially aimed at early-career scholars, teachers, and independent researchers. We foster collaborative groups where methods can be shared, feedback offered, and joint publications developed. Mentoring initiatives connect junior academics with more experienced colleagues, with a focus on pedagogical practice and the dissemination of teaching artefacts that often remain invisible in traditional research outputs.

Experimental Projects

We explore responsible ways of integrating AI and gamification into Ancient Studies classrooms. Rather than relying on technological spectacle, our focus is on game-based activities that foster engagement, critical thinking, and collaboration. Examples include role-playing debates based on historical sources, point-based challenges for text analysis, or reconstructive tasks framed as collective missions. These projects test how playful approaches can enhance interpretation, retention, and inclusivity in learning environments.

Ethics & Methods

Digital tools are never neutral. CIAW organizes forums and produces guidelines that highlight issues of transparency, data provenance, licensing, and bias. We encourage critical reflection on the promises and limits of AI, asking not only what these tools can do but also what they risk obscuring. By documenting methods and making assumptions explicit, we help build a culture of accountability in the digital humanities and Ancient Studies.

Open Publishing

All outputs are made available as open access whenever licensing permits. Beyond journal articles, this includes reproducible workflows, annotated examples, and adaptable teaching packs. Our aim is to reduce duplication of effort and empower educators and researchers to integrate tested methods into their own practice. Open publishing also reinforces transparency and allows the wider community to scrutinize, improve, and reuse our work.

Current Projects

Initiatives we are actively running or coordinating.

Teaching Innovation at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) (2025–2026)

Seminar on Ancient World outreach at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, UAB

“Forgotten Voices in Antiquity” — a UAB Teaching Innovation Project (GI517492) dedicated to exploring inclusive pedagogy and the critical use of AI in Ancient Studies.

This initiative reconsiders how Ancient History is taught by foregrounding historically overlooked groups and analysing how digital tools — especially generative AI — shape academic content, classroom dynamics, and learning processes. Its approach combines thematic renewal, active learning methodologies, and a reflective, critical examination of technology’s role in higher education.

Scope: Implemented across undergraduate courses in History, Archaeology, Humanities, and related programmes.
Focus: Integrating marginalized perspectives into course design; fostering critical engagement with AI-generated outputs (bias detection, omissions, narrative distortions); gamified activities to strengthen participation; and supportive strategies for neurodivergent learners.
Outputs: Teaching guides, case studies, and adaptable resources made openly available for colleagues and institutions seeking to advance inclusive pedagogy.
Method: Small-scale pilots followed by structured reflection, refinement, and dissemination through UAB’s teaching innovation forums.
Impact: Enhanced student engagement, improved critical digital literacy, and transferable models for inclusive and accessible university teaching.

Leads (IP): Carlos Heredia & Isaías Arrayás (UAB, Department of Ancient and Medieval Studies).

Inclusive AI Workshops — Faculty of Philosophy & Arts, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)

“Forgotten Voices in Historical Analysis” — a faculty-level innovation project combining practical training in AI with inclusive teaching strategies.

The project develops workshops for students and staff across History, Archaeology, Humanities, and Ancient Studies. Its aim is to foster critical and creative engagement with AI, highlight silenced voices in historical narratives, and strengthen digital literacy through responsible practices. Neurodivergence and accessibility are built in from the start, ensuring a broad impact on teaching and learning.

Scope: Practical sessions across BA programs in the Faculty of Philosophy & Arts.
Focus: Bias detection in AI-generated texts and images; reconstruction of narratives from marginalized groups; prompting skills and ethical awareness for students and teachers; inclusive, neurodivergence-aware activities tailored to diverse learning needs.
Outputs: An open didactic guide, case-based teaching artefacts, and faculty seminars for dissemination and transferability.
Method: Preparation, implementation, and reflection phases (2025–2026), with ongoing feedback loops to refine activities.
Impact: Strengthened student participation, improved digital ethics, and new faculty-wide teaching resources for sustainable use of AI in education.

Leads (IP): Carlos Heredia & Isaías Arrayás (UAB, Department of Ancient and Medieval Studies).

Internal Course on AI in Continuous Assessment — Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)

Tailored training program funded under the Formació a Mida 2025–26 call at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The course addresses the challenges and opportunities of generative AI in higher education assessment, with explicit attention to inclusivity and neurodivergence.

Scope: Faculty and teaching staff (BA/MA courses) engaged in continuous assessment at UAB.
Focus: critical, creative, and responsible use of AI tools (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) in designing assessments that are inclusive of marginalized voices and neurodivergent learners.
Outputs: teaching templates, AI-assisted rubrics, inclusive assessment prototypes, and a shared repository of transferable resources for different disciplines.
Method: synchronous online workshops (3 sessions, 8 hours total) combining live demonstrations, collective reflection, and design of adapted evaluation tasks. Emphasis on accessibility (structured instructions, multimodal feedback, neurodivergence-aware strategies).

Leads: Unitat de Formació UAB

Archeion

Archeion is a dissemination project that uses social media, podcasts, and short-form video to bring Ancient Studies and AI debates to a wide audience.

Scope: outreach across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and podcast platforms, designed for both general audiences and students without prior specialization.
Focus: accessible explanations of AI in education, specialized topics in Ancient History, and inclusive storytelling that highlights women, marginalized groups, and neurodiverse perspectives.
Innovation: experiments with engaging formats—narrative podcasts, micro-reels, AI-assisted captions, interactive explainers—while maintaining scholarly rigor.
Outputs: visual explainers, narrative podcasts, downloadable packs for teachers, and curated micro-content adaptable for classroom use.
Impact: building community around Ancient Studies, fostering critical reflection on technology and history, and democratizing access to academic debates.

Values

Principles that shape how we teach, design, and share knowledge about the Ancient World.

Openness

Open by default. Materials and processes are shared whenever licensing allows.

Open access Shared data Reproducibility

Collaboration

Across fields. Classicists, archaeologists, historians, and technologists work together.

Co-authorship Shared tools Mentoring

Equity

Access first. We design for learners historically excluded from Ancient Studies.

Accessible formats Inclusive rubrics Diverse boards

Critical Reflection

Context before code. We document methods, limits, and biases.

Method notes Ethics checklist Bias audits

Neurodiversity

Inclusive design for teaching and researching the Ancient World.

Neurodivergence—including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette, high sensitivity, giftedness, and common co-occurrences—invites better learning design. Many learners face sensory overload, executive-function challenges, or cognitive fatigue in settings built for neurotypical norms. CIAW turns these realities into concrete choices across teaching, events, and digital materials.

Why it matters in Ancient Studies

Dense primary texts, complex grammars, and lecture-heavy delivery can exclude. Neurodivergent strengths—pattern recognition, creative problem-solving, hyperfocus, lateral thinking—improve textual analysis, inscription reading, data modeling, and argument building for everyone.

How CIAW implements this

Structured & creative paths: Step-by-step itineraries for clarity; exploratory tasks for divergent thinking (e.g., alternate commentary formats, map-based prompts).
Scaffolded materials: Goals first, chunked tasks, time estimates, and checklists for editions, translations, and cataloguing.
Sensory-aware delivery: Readable contrasts, captioned media, calm pacing; quiet rooms when possible.
Assessment options: Beyond essays: concept maps, annotated corpora, short video briefs, or reproducible notebooks.

The role of AI at CIAW

Personalized pathways: Adaptive prompts and templates (structured vs. exploratory).
Multimodal access: Visual reconstructions, audio summaries, interactive timelines, layered glossaries to reduce cognitive load.
Supportive mediation: AI-assisted summaries, vocabulary helpers, and comparative examples that shift effort from decoding to meaning.
Interface comfort: Dark/light modes, adjustable spacing and size, reduced motion, offline packs.

Our commitments

Accessible writing & visuals: Clear headings, consistent hierarchy, alt text, captions, legible contrast ratios.
Neurodiversity-aware feedback: Actionable, specific, time-bounded comments in workshops and mentoring.
Open artefacts: Teaching prompts, rubrics, and student-facing guides shared when licensing allows.
Ethical AI: Transparent workflows with notes on limits, bias, and data provenance.

See CIAW resources and templates in our contact section.

Get involved

We partner with educators, departments, and cultural institutions to co-design inclusive activities and materials. To adapt a course, redesign assessments, or run a neurodiversity-aware workshop, get in touch.

Non-Profit Character

Independence & sustainability: CIAW is non-commercial. Support comes from contributions and grants and is reinvested in teaching, research, and community work.

Get involved

Collaborate on courses, workshops, or resources for the Ancient World.

Collaborations

Email (Founder): carlos.heredia@uab.cat

Journal: AI & Antiquity (open access)

Support

We welcome in-kind contributions, micro-grants, and shared expertise. All support returns to non-profit activity.