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Archive award for Clon woman’s UN team

January 22nd, 2021 7:05 AM

By Kieran O'Mahony

Patricia Sleeman from Clonakilty and head of Digital Preservation Team at the UNHCR in Geneva with Montserrat Canela, chief of Records and Archives Section of UNHCR with their Digital Preservation award. (PIC:Laura Bernier)

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A CLONAKILTY woman working for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva has led a team that has won a major digital award.

Patricia Sleeman, who lives across the border in France with her family, is the head of digital preservation at UNCHR.

Patricia said she was delighted to win the award as it indicates the importance of the archive in a humanitarian context, as UNCHR holds the record of the victim.

‘Never has it been more pressing or more challenging than  in this digital day and age to actively protect the record of this time, especially with the scale of the current refugee crisis,’ said Patricia.

Patricia also wanted to thank her mum, Jennifer, who still lives in Clonakilty as she helped her with her presentation.

‘In fact, she deserves a prize also for patience as I was with her (post quarantine) while doing it for a few months over the autumn. It is an award for the whole team and section.’

The archive consists of a web archive as well as a digital archive spanning 20 years documenting the global operations of UNHCR in some of the most challenging places in the world.

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