| Summary: | We live in a society increasingly technological and digital. It is a mainstream tendency with inevitable impacts also for the museum sector. How is this transformation-affecting museum professional’s profile roles? What new competences are necessary and expected? Are there changes or up-skilling to be made? What kind of professional training is needed? These are some of the questions that led to the development of project Mu.Sa – Museum Sector Alliance (2016-2019), a project funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme that directly addresses the shortage of digital and transferable skills in the museum sector, by supporting on-going professional development. In this short article, we discuss the project rationale, its objectives and methodologies, but also the key findings of the first phase of the research activities carried out in Portugal, Greece and Italy. Among other aspects, the research highlighted a very fragmented experience across the three countries in terms of the digital shift, partially determined by different contexts (policies, governance), and the availability of the necessary investment in resources (financial, logistical), including human resources and the strengthening of digital competences in museum professions across the whole organisation. On-going professional training for digital competences was also a need recognized in the three countries, and four emerging job profiles were identified. The development of training programmes in the framework of Mu.Sa project may contribute to empower museum’s workforce and, consequently, help museums to achieve digital transformation with more proficiency and agility.
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