Welcome

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organising Committee, I have the honor to invite you to the 8th International Euro-Mediterranean Conference (EuroMed 2020).

Cyprus is the third largest Mediterranean island at the crossroads of three continents, located in one of the most famous archeological areas of the world. Its civilization starts around the 10th millennium BC and has a high number of monuments and sites registered on the UNESCO WHL. Cyprus cultural heritage is the most important living treasure of its people. It is through this that its identity can be expressed and an awareness of its historical continuity through time can be created.

From the 2nd of November until the 5th of November 2020 we will have the opportunity to come together, exchange our know-how and experiences in the Cultural Heritage research as well as the current and future worldwide developments in this area.

Protecting, preserving and presenting our Cultural Heritage are frequently interpreted as change management and/or change the behavior of the society. Joint European and international research produces a scientific background and support for such a change. We are living in a period characterized by rapid and remarkable changes in the environment, in the society and in technology. Natural change, war conflicts and man-made changes, including climate, as well as technological and societal change, form an ever-moving and colorful stage and a challenge for the society. Close cooperation between professionals, the policy makers and authorities internationally, is necessary for research, development and technology in the field of cultural heritage.

Scientific projects in the area of cultural heritage have received national, European Union or UNESCO funding for more than thirty years. Through the financial support and cooperation, major results have been achieved and published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings with the support of professionals from many countries. The European Conferences on cultural heritage research and development and in particular the biannual EuroMed conference have become regular milestones on the never-ending journey of discovery in the search for new knowledge of our common history and its protection and preservation for the generations to come. They also provide a unique opportunity to present and review results, and to draw new inspiration.

The agenda of this unique conference will include hundreds of excellent oral and poster presentations, as well as workshops and demonstrations from academia and industry, reflecting the wide scope of our work in the area of cultural heritage. We are expecting policy makers, professionals, students and delegates from more than 60 countries of the world to attend this special Euro-Mediterranean conference which is dedicated to the protection, preservation and e-documentation of the Cultural Heritage.

The ultimate aim of the 8th EuroMed conference will be to bring together as many stakeholders as possible from different backgrounds in order to achieve a high level of mutual understanding of the needs, the requirements and the technical means of meeting them. Therefore, our common goal is to focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research on tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, the use of cutting edge technologies for the protection, preservation, conservation, massive digitalisation and visualization/presentation of the Cultural Heritage content (archeological sites, artifacts, monuments, libraries, archives, museums, etc). At the same time, the event is intended to cover topics of research ready for exploitation, demonstrating the acceptability of new sustainable approaches and new technologies by the user community, SME’s, owners, managers and conservators of cultural patrimony.

It is very important that policy makers and a wide public are involved in management of the cultural heritage, and it is useful to inform European citizens about recent developments and scientific achievements in this area. The entire poster exhibition as well as special conference sessions will be dedicated to awareness (outreach) of the public in the whole field of Cultural Heritage.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to this particular international conference. We are confident that everyone will greatly benefit from this event.

Marinos IOANNIDES, CY;  Eleanor FINK, USA;  Lorenzo CANTONI, CH;  Erik CHAMPION, AUS

Conference Chairs