The SCH hosts the third BCThubs Plenary Meeting in Malta

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has had the pleasure of hosting the third BCThubs Plenary Meeting, held between the 8^th and 10^th of April, 2024, at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Malta.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is one of the key partners in this project and a key player in the Maltese Hub, in partnership with other organisations from Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy. Other partners based in Malta include Divers Alert Network (DAN) Europe, the Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS) and Aqua Biotech (ABT).

BCThubs, which stands for Blue Culture Technology Excellence Hubs in EU Widening Member States, is an EU project that aims to build Blue Culture Technology Excellence Hubs in the participating widening countries, Malta, Greece, and Bulgaria. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is a Work Package leader for Work Package 3 which seeks to establish the propensity for this project, along with the criteria needed for the successful implementation of the Hubs within a wider European context.

The Plenary Meeting, an international seminar that brings together partners of the consortium on a bi-yearly basis, was kicked off by the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, Mr. Kurt Farrugia, who spoke about the need to enhance underwater resources for divers as part of the ongoing effort to valorise underwater cultural heritage. Malta’s participation in this project, particularly the Superintendence’s review of national policies that promote the preservation of cultural heritage, is indicative of the need to increase awareness, push for development of research and innovation, and develop technology that will protect our cultural heritage.

The remaining three days saw presentations from all 15 consortium partners, where the progress and implementation of the six Work Packages were discussed. These presentations highlighted exciting research and innovations currently undertaken by the project’s partners,which include the development of innovative technology, as well as technical support and skills training for divers. This technology includes the development of high-resolution electro-resistivity, shallow water sediment coring, and VR for remote accessibility of underwater cultural heritage, modelling and reconstruction of opto-acoustic seafloor DTMs and photomosaics integrated with remote sensing, Augmented Diving capabilities along with the implementation of wearable devices to safeguard and monitor diver’s health underwater. A holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to both underwater cultural heritage as well as the Blue Economy is highlighted further through the cross-sectoral approach to the overall project.

The first day also saw the consortium’s visit to the sister island of Gozo wherein international partners were granted the opportunity to visit the Maltese Hub which will be located at the Institute of Tourism Studies in Qala, Gozo. The opportunity to visit the BCThubs site in Gozo offers partners first-hand exposure to the project’s initiatives and underscores the importance of collaboration between academia, government, societal actors and private industry in achieving shared objectives. Additionally, the provision of a site in Qala, Gozo, for investigation and development of a 3D model using innovative technology like Virtual Reality promises to engage the public and enrich underwater cultural heritage appreciation.

The final day was devoted to a synergy event wherein the Maltese BlueMissionMed HUB, the Early Career Ocean Professional Programme, uBlueTec, and Coastal SAGE projects were presented and discussed. BCThubs looks forward to fostering more connections and synergies with these exciting initiatives.

The Superintendence wholeheartedly thanks all 15 partners for joining us in Malta for a fruitful three-day meeting packed with invaluable work and collaborative discussion. The third Plenary Meeting proved to be a major success in furthering the international cooperation and knowledge dissemination promoted by the BCThubs project. With over a year since the inception of BCThubs, we have reached a critical stage in the realisation of significant achievements as a consortium of 15 partners. Our collaborative efforts have forged connections and unlocked the potential for future collaborations.

🔔 Next steps  
BCThubs project is organizing the “Widening the Big Blue Horizon” International Conference, which is about #Innovative #Technologies & Sustainable Strategies for the #Protection and #Management of #Underwater #Cultural #Heritage.  

🙌 We are happy to invite you to #Volos, #Greece between December 4th and 6th 2024. The conference will be a hybrid event to welcome a broad audience and bring together researchers, experts, and stakeholders from different fields to share views, knowledge, and experience. 

➡ Find out more about the Conference topics and the Call for Papers here: www.bcthubs.eu/conference  
📢Don’t forget the submission of abstracts is until 31st May 2024!