diff --git a/apis_core/apis_entities/api_mappings/cidoc_mapping.py b/apis_core/apis_entities/api_mappings/cidoc_mapping.py
index 370f0fbb0..e7d86ca2b 100644
--- a/apis_core/apis_entities/api_mappings/cidoc_mapping.py
+++ b/apis_core/apis_entities/api_mappings/cidoc_mapping.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.conf import settings
 from rdflib import RDF, RDFS, XSD, BNode, Literal, URIRef, OWL
 
-PROJECT_METADATA = getattr(settings, "PROJECT_DEFAULT_MD")
+PROJECT_METADATA = getattr(settings, "PROJECT_DEFAULT_MD", {})
 
 base_uri = getattr(settings, "APIS_BASE_URI", "http://apis.info")
 if base_uri.endswith("/"):
diff --git a/apis_core/apis_vocabularies/api_renderers.py b/apis_core/apis_vocabularies/api_renderers.py
index 931a695aa..3a05577a1 100644
--- a/apis_core/apis_vocabularies/api_renderers.py
+++ b/apis_core/apis_vocabularies/api_renderers.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from rest_framework import renderers
 import skosify
 
-PROJECT_METADATA = getattr(settings, "PROJECT_DEFAULT_MD")
+PROJECT_METADATA = getattr(settings, "PROJECT_DEFAULT_MD", {})
 
 base_uri_web = getattr(settings, "APIS_BASE_URI", "http://apis.info")
 if base_uri_web.endswith("/"):