APAC Labs at the International Conference “Climate Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East”

APAC Labs researchers had a strong contribution in the international conference “Climate Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”, organised by the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts and the Cyprus Institute in Larnaca this September. 

Assoc. Prof. Nikolas Bakirtzis co-organized with Anthi Kadeli from the Cyprus Department of Antiquities the workshop “Climate Change Impacts on Cultural Heritage: Threats and Responses”. The workshop provided participants with an introductory discussion of the challenges facing cultural heritage as result of the climate crisis from a range of different fields, offering diverse perspectives from experts across the cultural heritage discipline and sharing expertise and good practices from their efforts to engage the problem. Participants had the opportunity to pose questions as well as to share experiences related to the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage, generating a lively exchange of ideas that helped frame broad aspects of the challenge as well as to develop a shared understanding of the urgent need to preserve our common heritage. In the context of the workshop, APAC Labs researcher Anastasia Tsagka and Assoc. Prof. Sorin Hermon spoke about the use of digital platforms as tools in climate risk assessment and management for heritage monuments and sites. 

Bakirtzis and Kaldeli also convened one of the main conference’s panels on the topic “Impacts and Adaptation Pathways: Cultural Heritage”. Panelists Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou (Europa Nostra Cyprus Hub), Prof. Mona Haggag (University of Alexandria and Archaeological Society of Alexandria) and Dr. Ann Bourges (C2RMF, ICOMOS France), addressed different aspects of the challenges facing cultural heritage and shared their expert perspectives. 

APAC Labs work was also presented during the poster session of the conference. Co-authors Valentina Vassallo, Anastasia Tsagka, Sorin Hermon and Nikolas Bakirtzis presented interdisciplinary work at the UNESCO world heritage site of St. John Lambadistis on the Troodos mountains. Another poster authored by Athanasios Koutoupas, Rahaf Orabi, Sorin Hermon and Nikolas Bakirtzis shared the 3D documentation and workflow of the Shatby Necropolis in Alexandria specifically aimed at capturing the current conservation conditions at the site and creating a monitoring system of its architectural features, frescoes decorations and other remains.