Another H2020 Funding Success: Major EU TWINNING Grant Awarded to CyI for Promoting Archaeological Science in the Eastern Mediterranean
In its latest achievement in a string of important H2020 funding successes, CyI will team up with the Universities of Cambridge (UK) and KU Leuven (Belgium) to further develop and strengthen its internationally successful doctoral programme, and to expand its research capacity in archaeological sciences. More than €550,000, out of a total budget of approx. €1 million, will be channeled to The Cyprus Institute under the prestigious TWINNING grant, “Promised: Promoting Archaeological Science in the Eastern Mediterranean”, with the remaining funds going to the international partners.
The funding will be used for upgrading and enhancing the scientific performance and academic training capacity of The Cyprus Institute, including its associated Graduate School, in the field of Archaeological Materials Science and Bioarchaeology. The upgrade will be achieved by establishing a three-node network of excellence and linking it with the internationally leading advanced research centres in Archaeological Science at KU Leuven and the University of Cambridge.
This success complements the recent award of a second ERA-Chair Grant to CyI in ‘Modeling and Simulation of Engineering Applications’, and comes hot on the heels after the very important launch of the Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Laboratories (APAC Labs), recently inaugurated by the President of the Republic in the presence of major dignitaries from Cyprus and abroad.
Prof. Thilo Rehren, the A.G. Leventis Professor in Archaeological Sciences at CyI and project leader for this grant said that “the funding success is a further endorsement of CyI’s Doctoral training program, already internationally recognized for its excellence as CyI is the only institution in Europe to have been awarded two Joint European Doctorates. It also recognizes the potential to develop our Graduate School into a truly leading institution of Higher Education in the wider region, by bringing the centuries old, cutting-edge expertise of two major universities from the UK and Belgium to Cyprus”.
“On the research side, we will also benefit tremendously from this award”, he continued. “The Cyprus Institute has already, by far, the highest research funding per researcher in Cyprus, and as one of Cyprus’ leading research centers regularly brings millions of Euros in competitive grants to the island. With this grant, we can now further strengthen the scientific study of Cyprus’ rich archaeological past, contributing to the international recognition of Cyprus as a modern knowledge-based country with deep roots in the history of Europe and the World”.
