BCTHubs: Kick-off Meeting and Introduction

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, represented by officers from the Underwater Archaeology Team within the National Inventory, Archaeology and Research Unit, attended the Kick-off Meeting for the launch of the BCTHubs (Blue Culture Technology Excellence Hubs) project, an EU project which sees the international cooperation of 15 partners from Malta, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy.

The Kick-off Meeting, held on February 7, 2023, in Larisa, Greece, was attended by the various partners of the project, as well as the Governor of Thessaly, Mr. Kostas Agorastos, with Thessaly being the coordinating region of the project. The meeting allowed participants the opportunity to become familiar with one another, establish lines of communication, delineate the work packages, tasks, activities, and deliverables of the project, and, finally, to discuss the monitoring of the project progress and reporting.

The meeting was divided into two sessions between morning and afternoon. The morning session was dedicated to management issues, wherein EU representatives presented financial and administrative guidelines for the smooth implementation of the project and policy aspects of the Excellence Hubs were explained. The afternoon session included an overall project presentation by the Project Coordinator, brief consortium partners’ individual presentations, and presentations of the WPs by the respective responsible partner.

The overall project structure, timetable, aims, and objectives were also discussed, wherein all participants expressed their motivation and commitment at developing a strong network  which will benefit further research and protection of underwater cultural heritage in Europe.

The meeting proved to be a great success in bringing together all partners and fostering the international cooperation and cohesion promoted by the BCTHubs project.

The BCTHubs project and its initial findings were eventually presented to the SCH staff during one of its regular In-House Education Sessions. The structure of the project, along with proposed outcomes, were presented and discussed to both inform and promote the project.

The Superintendence is working towards building its team to continue working on the project and representing the entity as one of the Maltese partners spearheading the research and development of Blue Culture Technology.