The Cyprus Institute

The ground-breaking Urban Sustainability Hub “NOUS” was inaugurated on Friday, December 8, 2023, by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, alongside political and state representatives.

 

“NOUS”, which is now fully operational and ready to serve citizens, aims to promote a model of urban development based on innovative entrepreneurship, making our cities sustainable, livable, and resilient to the negative impacts of climate change. Additionally, “NOUS” is expected to contribute to adopting a sustainability culture and creating a networking environment for actions related to sustainable urban development.

 

In his welcoming address, the Mayor of Strovolos, Mr. Andreas Papacharalambous, noted that the creation of the Urban Sustainability Hub “NOUS” is a step towards the broader development of the historical center of Strovolos, in alignment with the municipal council's plans for implementation by 2030. “In Strovolos, we are fostering green development, rooted in environmental consciousness, and highlighted that at “NOUS”, citizens can collaborate with the Municipal Council in shaping the future of our city”, he emphasized.

 

The President of the Republic, H.E. Mr. Nikos Christodoulides praised “NOUS” Hub as a pioneering collaborative project, where the contributions of local academic and scientific institutions play a crucial role in implementing an innovative development model that positively transforms the character of our municipalities. “NOUS” provides an excellent opportunity for exchanging views, networking, and cultivating a sustainability culture while addressing significant environmental and social challenges”, he stated. He also, underscored the importance of investing in research and innovation, leveraging opportunities offered by the EU.

 

CyI President, Prof. Stavros Malas, highlighted the Institute’s role in cultivating a sustainability culture in collaboration with the University of Cyprus and the Municipality of Strovolos. “Promoting sustainable development goals is fundamental for creating a sustainable and healthy economy. Taking action to promote innovative business ideas is crucial for addressing key challenges related to environmental and social development”, he concluded.

 

Rector of the University of Cyprus, Prof. Tasos Christofides, indicated that “NOUS” would be the center uniting efforts for a better tomorrow, supporting those who wish to create innovative solutions for the challenges we face. “The space will serve as a platform where the educational community, the municipality, and society collaborate to develop sustainable solutions”, he noted.

 

During the inauguration of the Urban Sustainability Hub “NOUS”, PwC Cyprus presented the strategy and corresponding sustainability action plan for the Hub.

 

“NOUS” is part of the European U-SOLVE strategic project, funded by ENI CBC MED, focusing on the environment, green economy, innovation, digital reform, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Project partners in Cyprus include The Cyprus Institute, who is leading the project, the University of Cyprus and the Municipality of Strovolos. U-SOLVE involves similar actions in Italy, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine.

The Cyprus Institute, in collaboration with the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus, the Embassy of Spain in Cyprus, and the Commissioner of the Environment organised a workshop entitled “Progressing in Green Transition: Advancing the Clean Energy Agenda Through Industrial Applications of Solar Energy”. The event took place at CyI’s premises, on Friday, 1st of December 2023, in the presence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Annita Demetriou.

The workshop provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss the progress made in achieving the objectives set by the European Union towards green transition, with a particular emphasis on the potential use of solar energy in industrial applications.

Given the priority placed on advancing the green transition by the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the event highlighted the collaborative framework between Spain and Cyprus in policy, technology, know-how, and applications. Experts from both countries deliberated on policy issues, joint initiatives, and actions in the field of solar energy and energy storage. Additionally, the event showcased collaborative projects implemented in Cyprus by local research organizations and companies.

In his welcome address, CyI President, Prof. Stavros Malas, expressed the obligation for Cyprus, as an energy-isolated country, to engage in discussions towards the green transition. He emphasized the need for informed decisions in contrast to past erroneous policies and shared insights from CyI researchers. He highlighted the important role of solar energy for a country like Cyprus which, as he noted, if it was covered with photovoltaics, it could meet the entire energy needs of Europe.

In her speech, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Annita Demetriou, stressed the urgent need to adopt correct policies towards green transition, given Cyprus’ current lag. She stated that the people of Cyprus cannot continue to bear high penalty fees due to the failure to achieve the European Union's set goals.

Taking the floor, the Commissioner for the Environment, Mrs. Maria Panayiotou, highlighted the significant threat of climate change and stressed the necessity of transitioning to renewable energy sources. She added that the green transition should include adopting the circular economy and reducing electricity consumption.

Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Cyprus, Mrs. Myrto Zambarta, noted that the transition to green energy aligns with a substantial part of the European Union’s Green Deal. She proposed setting a goal for every home, public building, and industrial unit to become energy self-sufficient.

The Ambassador of Spain to Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Gabriel Ferrán Carrión, congratulated The Cyprus Institute for co-organizing the workshop to provide a platform for the exchange of views, experiences, and policies on the green transition and the achievement of EU goals. He highlighted that green transition is a crucial pillar for Spain's presidency of the European Council.

Following the workshop, a panel discussion on the state of progress towards the European Union's goals for the Green Transition took place, featuring representatives of Ministries, academic and research institutions, private companies and societal stakeholders. 

In a significant move to combat the escalating threat of wildfires in Cyprus, multi-asset broker Exness has pledged €300,000 towards the deployment of three state-of-the-art fire-detecting drones (unmanned aerial systems), developed by The Cyprus Institute’s Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory, for the Department of Forests. These drones are specifically tailored to Cyprus’ unique terrain and are set to significantly enhance the Department of Forests’ firefighting capabilities and early wildfire detection efforts.

Prof. Jean Sciare, Director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center and Head of the Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory at The Cyprus Institute, stated that this day marks a very important milestone in CyI’s collaboration with the Department of Forests and the joint efforts to better monitor and safeguard Cyprus’ forests, with the support of Exness. “The state-of-the-art drone technology we developed is tailor-made, to ensure the endurance and flexibility needed to perform in the challenging forest environment. At The Cyprus Institute, we remain committed to continuing to support the Department of Forests in the fight against wildfires, through the provision of advanced technology solutions, and training to help accelerate their wide-spread adoption in Cyprus”, he noted.

Researchers from The Cyprus Institute’s Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), coordinated by Prof Franco Marenco, are actively involved with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) upcoming EarthCARE satellite mission, focused on cloud, aerosol and radiation exploration. EarthCARE is a joint venture between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and this latest mission is the most complex to date.

 

EarthCARE (Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) aims to significantly improve our understanding of how clouds and aerosols (atmospheric particulates such as pollution and Saharan dust) influence the climate by exploring how they affect reflecting incident solar radiation back into space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface. The data collected by the EarthCARE mission will provide information on the relationship of clouds, aerosols, and radiation at an unprecedented level of accuracy, helping to improve predictions about the weather and the future climate.

 

The EarthCARE mission is scheduled for launch in 2024 and the CARE-C team will be performing specific activities for the validation and calibration of this novel satellite. Specifically, an Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) team will conduct highly advanced observations of atmospheric composition, including the number and properties of particles from the ground to an altitude of about 6,000m, using bespoke Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) developed in-house. Moreover, a Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) team will collect information on the amount of dust and pollution suspended in the upper atmospheric layers. Sampling of the layers in the upper atmosphere is of significant importance for the calibration and validation of EarthCARE, which collects information on the 3-dimensional distribution of atmospheric particles and not just what is collected on the ground. Scientific activities in preparation of the launch of EarthCARE are already underway and on October 25, 2023, the first dedicated UAV flight took place. Additional activities are scheduled to take place for the duration of the EarthCARE mission.

 

A team from the Cyprus Atmospheric Remote Sensing Observatory (CARO) of the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence, is also participating in the campaign. The strong participation of Cyprus scientists, including the partnership of two European Research Centers of Excellence, strengthens Cyprus’ contribution to the success of this space mission and highlights our country’s research and innovation talent in advancing breakthrough science at an international level.

 

EarthCARE calibration and validation activities are organized by national facilities from 42 atmospheric measurements stations across 18 different countries, coordinated through the EU Horizon-2020 project ATMO-ACCESS and integrates observations to scientists’ networks across European, Asia and Africa.

 

ATMO-ACCESS is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme through the ATMO-ACCESS Integrating Activity under grant agreement No 101008004.

 

More information about EarthCARE at https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/earthcare

CyI researchers from STARC and APAC Labs are participating in an important project for the multi-modal analysis of Ancient Andean Wooden Boards, conserved at the Museo delle Culture of Milan (MUDEC). The project involves analysis of two pre-Hispanic Andean wooden boards, artefacts made around the 14^th century and whose area of origin is not precisely known. They belong to a wider corpus of compartmentalized boards made of stone, wood, and clay often termed “yupanas” or “maquetas”. They are characterized by standardized features, which include the symmetrical opposition of two halves with a recurrent number of compartments that converge in a differently shaped hole/compartment in the centre. However, their precise forms and layouts also show great variability, giving rise to debates about their function (e.g., scale models of pre-Hispanic architecture, counting devices or gaming boards).

 

These items have been found as far away as Cerro Baúl, Moquegua, in southern Peru and Chordeleg, Azuay, in southern Ecuador, arguably making them some of the most widespread pre-Columbian artefacts and crossing several cultural and linguistic boundaries over a large span of time. Only a handful of the known examples were discovered in controlled excavations and the original context of most of them is unknown. Only a few known boards are made of wood and the two analysed boards constitute some of the best-preserved examples.

 

The two important pieces are now exhibited and conserved at the Museo delle Culture of Milan (MUDEC) whose facilities are at the site of an old factory, born out of a salvage operation of industrial archaeology. Today, it is a meeting place for cultures and communities, hosting a multi-cultures permanent collections’ museum.

 

The multidisciplinary research aims at investigating the archaeological artefacts through a set of analyses that will provide the opportunity to see them in a new light. The 3D documentation of these ancient boards will be significant for conservation and preservation purposes. It will allow for the monitoring of structural changes on the basis of environmental changes, and investigate the deformation and fracture mechanisms in order to evaluate the structural condition and plan conservation actions. Dendrochronological analysis will complement previous analysis which focuses on the radiocarbon dating of these two boards. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and biomolecular analyses will shed light on wood degradation and bio-deterioration, and the possible presence of microorganisms, as well as help the researchers to learn more about the type of wood utilized to make these boards.

 

This research is conducted as part of the European project IPERION HS (Integrating Platforms for the European Research Infrastructure on Heritage Science), the University of East Anglia (PhD research topic of Samule Tacconi, under the supervision of Prof. George Lau), the Museo delle Culture of Milan - MUDEC (under the direction of Dr Carolina Orsini, senior curator of MUDEC) that also provided the logistics and local support, the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry of the RWTH Aachen University (Prof. Alina Adams), the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of Evora University (Prof. Ana Teresa Caldeira and Prof. António José Estevão Grande Candeias), in collaboration with The Cyprus Institute (Assoc. Prof. Sorin Hermon, Assoc. Prof. Nikolas Bakirtzis, Dr Valentina Vassallo, Dr Rahaf Orabi and Mehmetcan Soylouglu).

On Thursday, September 21 and Friday, September 22, 2023, The Cyprus Institute celebrates the completion of five successful years of the A. G. Leventis Chair in Archaeological Sciences, held by CyI Professor Thilo Rehren. Established in 2018, as a result of generous support from the A. G. Leventis Foundation, research supported by this Chair has played a pivotal role in advancing archaeological research in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

The event featured official addresses by dignitaries followed by lectures from researchers supported by the A. G. Leventis Foundation, offering profound insights into the Chair’s diverse results impact. The event was addressed by the Deputy Minister of Culture, Prof. Vasiliki Kassianidou, in the presence of Dr Tasso Leventis and Mr. George David.

In his welcoming address, CyI President Prof. Stavros Malas noted that the A. G. Leventis Foundation is at the forefront of supporting a successful ecosystem in Archaeological Sciences. “The Leventis family is a great example of philanthropy and philopatry in Cyprus. A small and young country requires collaboration among various stakeholders to collectively maximize output”, he added.

Dr Tasso Leventis highlighted that the A. G. Leventis Chair in Archaeological Sciences at The Cyprus Institute nicely aligns with the Leventis Foundation’s commitment to archaeological research, environmental protection, and providing humanitarian assistance to the local community.

“Creative talent from different origins and perspectives can contribute to novel approaches and solutions. I am pleased to confirm that The Cyprus Institute could not have advanced to its current level of achievements without such important and well-applied collaborations as those we have created”, he concluded.

The Deputy Minister of Culture stated that the A. G. Leventis Foundation has nurtured a generation of archaeologists who have been able to pursue their dreams in this field of study.

“The establishment of the A. G. Leventis Chair at The Cyprus Institute, along with the appointment of my dear friend, Prof. Thilo Rehren, has propelled STARC, and by extension, The Cyprus Institute, to the forefront of Archaeological Material Studies, making solid and valuable contributions to the field and opening up amazing potential for the study of Cypriot and Mediterranean cultures”, she noted.

In his address, Prof. Thilo Rehren emphasized that “the way to reach a healthy and diverse ecosystem with tangible results is through academic excellence and a set of core values that my colleagues and I share. With that in mind, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to everybody who has given us their support over these five years until today”.

In addition to the Deputy Minister of Culture, the Ambassador of the United States, Mrs. Julie D. Fisher, former Minister Dr. Yiannis Toumazis and former EU Commissioner Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou, the Director of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, Dr. Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou, members of the Board of Trustees and Friends of the Institute Association, as well as experts, scholars, students, and the general public attended the event.

As part of the celebrations, on Wednesday, September 20, 2023, Professor Cyprian Broodbank of the University of Cambridge, delivered an enthralling lecture entitled “Remaking the Middle Sea with Archaeological Science: Eight Questions that Mediterranean Archaeologists Should be Interested in” that transported the attendees through time and science, celebrating the Mediterranean's rich history and the remarkable advances in archaeological science that have continuously reshaped our understanding of this ancient region.

In his talk, Professor Broodbank emphasized that the Mediterranean has played a longstanding role as a crucible for exciting breakthroughs in archaeological science. These advancements have already significantly enhanced our comprehension of its long-term history and dynamics. These milestones span from the groundbreaking radiocarbon revolution, environmental archaeology, and initial strides in provenance studies during the 1950s to the 1970s, all the way to the recent biomolecular innovations and those on the horizon.

The two-day event concluded on Friday, September 22, 2023, with a diverse array of academic lectures on archaeology and archaeological science in the Eastern Mediterranean, showcasing the depth and breadth of ongoing research in this field, under the title of “A Kaleidoscope of Archaeological Sciences”.

The Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East (EMME) region has been recognized as a global climate change hotspot with particularly high vulnerability to climate change impacts. The Cyprus Institute has been instrumental in leading the scientific part of the EMME Climate Change Initiative of the Republic of Cyprus, coordinating thirteen Scientific Task Forces that engaged over 240 scientists and experts in identifying gaps in knowledge and policy, for a concerted regional response to the climate crisis. It has also coordinated the preparation of a Regional Climate Action Plan for this purpose.

Building on this initiative, CyI researchers have worked on energy and climate policy analyses for the region, with the goal to contribute to the assessment of decarbonization challenges of EMME countries and provide insights for policymakers. This work has recently led to two scientific publications in internationally acclaimed journals:

 

In collaboration with Steven Griffiths of Khalifa University of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates, CyI researchers addressed the question how to share the effort of greenhouse gas emission reductions between EMME countries if the entire region is to be aligned with the Paris Agreement[1]. Fairness of global decarbonization effort is foundational to climate change mitigation discussions. The authors explored fourteen approaches, based on the three main equity principles defined by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to determine equitable national emission allocations in the year 2030 for the seventeen EMME countries, on the road to achieving net zero carbon emissions in 2050 (for the 1.5-degree Celsius climate stabilization target) or 2070 (for the 2-degree target). The significant heterogeneity among EMME countries makes it particularly challenging to allocate such targets in a way that is both fair and politically acceptable. 

Moreover, CyI researchers have developed the first fully open-source energy systems model for the EMME region, relying solely on publicly available data[1]. This model is made freely available for researchers in the region or beyond who may wish to conduct more detailed analysis at regional or national level. Scenarios implemented with this model highlight that increased electricity interconnections between EMME countries can offer great benefits by unlocking the largely unexploited renewable energy potential of the region. Electricity trade can contribute very substantially to the cost-optimal achievement of greenhouse gas emission abatement targets, and can even lead the entire EMME region to net zero carbon emissions by the mid-21^st century.

 

Following the completion of a thorough three-year preservation project, the Hellenistic-era Shatby Necropolis in Alexandria is now open to the public, both physically and digitally.

 

The official opening of the Shatby Necropolis took place at the beginning of May, 2023 in conjunction with the international conference “Alexandria and Hellenism in Northern Egypt”, organized on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the Archaeological Society of Alexandria. Researchers from STARC’s Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Laboratories (APAC Labs), presented their work on the digital documentation and 3D modeling of the necropolis, which is the first-ever complete scientific documentation of the site, providing an invaluable record for identification and documentation of threats to the site, both present and in the near future.

 

The conference and the opening of the site mark the successful completion of the Alexandrian Necropolis Project (2020-2023), a multidimensional archaeological project carried out by the Archaeological Society of Alexandria, with the participation of The Cyprus Institute / APAC Labs in the field of digital documentation, and of the University of Athens in the field of research. The project was generously supported by the A. G. Leventis Foundation.  

 

The APAC Labs team undertook the digital documentation of the site utilizing advances in 2D and 3D imaging technologies as well as selected spectral and technical photography applications. The detailed 3D model provides the necessary documentation of the site’s current condition and state of preservation. Such detailed documentation is necessary to establish a detailed record of the monument, which offers much-improved documentation from the 1900s—which was rather incomplete due to time limitations. The site’s digital documentation allows also the identification of all alterations (natural and man-made) that have occurred at the site since its discovery, at least as captured by the 1900s plans.

 

The cemetery was discovered in the first decade of the 20th century, during the systematic excavations of Evaristo Breccia, director of the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria, but the excavation was not completed. After decades of abandonment, the Archaeological Society of Alexandria expedition resumed the excavation of Breccia as part of the Alexandria Necropolis Project. The excavations provided a complete picture of Hypogeum A, identifying among other things its ancient southern facade, anthropological material (skeletons) and objects in good condition. Among the abundant movable finds of the excavation are sculptures, coins, glass objects and ceramics, especially Hadra-type hydria, characteristic of the Alexandrian necropolis. After three years of systematic work (excavation, restoration, digital documentation, upgrading of the surroundings) the Hellenistic necropolis of Shatby is now a modern archaeological park, unique of its kind in Egypt.

Researchers from CyI's Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) are participating in an important multidisciplinary and multi-institutional project for the 3D documentation and digital analysis of the Ariño (Teruel, Spain) dinosaurs fossils dated to the Early Cretaceous (145 Ma to 100.5 Ma –millions of years ago).

 

In 2010, inside the Santa María de Ariño open-pit coal mine, the evidence of the presence of dinosaur bones was found. Over the vast expanse of the mine, lies an abundance of vertebrate skeletons offering a remarkable potential to increase scientific knowledge of European dinosaurs. Two new dinosaur genera were identified: the iguanodontian Proa and the ankylosaur Europelta, as well as many other fossils, mainly vertebrates, from the Albian age (approximately 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 Ma).

 

Currently, four new genera have been described (the aforementioned plus the pleurosternid tortoise Toremys and the goniopholidid crocodile Hulkepholis) and eight new species among the almost 10,000 fossils corresponding to 143 concentrations located inside the open-pit Santa María coal mine. The huge expanse of the site, the abundant and fairly complete vertebrate skeletons and the scarcity of European dinosaur sites in the Albian, make it an exceptional place, which brings a remarkable progress in the knowledge of European vertebrates –some of which represents the most modern known records.

 

The dinosaurs’ fossils are now exhibited and conserved at the Palaeontological Network Foundation of Teruel-Dinópolis, one of the biggest tourist attractions of the province - more than 3 million visitors since its 2010 launching.

 

The research aims at investigating the mechanisms of alteration of the sulfides (pyrite) that the fossils contain and defining an optimal conservation treatment. 3D documentation will allow monitoring the structural changes on the basis of environmental and climatic change, to investigate the deformation and fracture mechanisms in order to evaluate the structural condition of fossils, and obtain an ‘Augmented Heritage Object’ aimed at organizing and visualizing multidisciplinary data for further documentation, conservation and dissemination activities.

 

This research is conducted as part of the European project IPERION HS-Integrating Platforms for the European Research Infrastructure on Heritage Science and the ESPADON project, under the direction of Prof. Vincent Detalle (Cergy Paris University). Collaborators include the National Centre for Research and Restoration in French Museums - C2RMF (Dr Kilian Laclavetine and Dr Xueshi Bai), the Palaeontological Network Foundation of Teruel-Dinópolis (Dr Ana González), the Aragonese School of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Artifacts - ESCYRA (Prof. Nuria Miguel, Prof. Carmen De Peña), and The Cyprus Institute (Assoc. Prof. Sorin Hermon, Dr Valentina Vassallo and Rahaf Orabi).

 

The research has received extensive media coverage in Spain with several newspapers and TV news featured the ongoing work of the STARC researchers on the 3D documentation and digital analysis of the exceptional Ariño dinosaurs’ fossils.

CyI’s High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF) was awarded an honorary distinction at the 2021 Export Awards organized by the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry for its significant contribution and impact for the promotion of international competitiveness of local businesses.

 

The award ceremony took place on Monday, June 26, 2023, at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, in the presence of H.E. Mr. Nicos Christodoulides, President of the Republic. Receiving the award on behalf CyI were CyI President, Prof. Stavros Malas and the Head of HPCF, Dr. George Tsouloupas.

 

The mission of the High Performance Computing Facility is to provide Advanced computing ICT services to CyI and its Research Centres and act as the national supercomputing facility for Cyprus providing computational and data resources to the research and innovation community of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean region.

 

The multi-million HPC infrastructure of the Cyprus institute is sustained through national and European funds and throughout the last decade the Facility has had a major impact on the competitiveness of local industry through the provision of advanced computing and support.

 

The Cyprus Institute’s HPC Facility has played a significant supporting role in a wide range of industries ranging from ICT to Farming and Agriculture, and Maritime. Whether it is for the development of computing algorithms for advanced medical imaging equipment, support of farming for the production of Halloumi and other local produce (through collaboration with the national Agricultural Research Institute), or the development of services for the world-wide Maritime industry for real-time weather-informed intelligent ship routing, tens of Cypriot companies with an outward facing international market have benefited from the Infrastructure of the Institute and the expertise of its engineers.

 

In the near future this support will be further strengthened through the operation of the European Digital Innovation Hub (“DiGiNN” project) for AI, HPC and other advanced digital technologies, which was recently awarded to CyI through a European competitive process, but also via the continuing operation of the CyI-hosted National HPC Competence Center.