Virtual student seminar: Bridging Continents

On Friday 2nd of November, PhD students in Cultural Heritage and new technologies from the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia (Cyprus) and the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s (Canada) met on virtual grounds to discuss their research and exchange ideas in an online seminar. A wide range of techniques and topics were presented from high resolution close range 3D scanning to aerial surveys with drones, from the iconography of medieval ecclesiastical art to the shape of prehistoric figurines. This melting pot of ideas and approaches not only sparked the creativity of the participants but also enabled them to gain insights into research they are not very familiar with. At the same time it was an opportunity to practice and improve presentation and communication skills through feedback from peers. Fellow students were invited to participate and to join the conversation, which resulted in a mixed audience of Master and PhD students. The seminar was held via a video-conference and contained eight short presentations of 15-20 minutes with time for questions and a short coffee break in the middle. Presentations included: Julia Brenan: “Digital Birch Island” Christina Roditou: “Apostolos Ververis’ photographic expedition to Cyprus in the 1950s; Digital approaches to a photographic archive” James Williamson: “Beothuk House-Pits in the Exploits River Valley” Valentina Vassallo: ”A 3D Digital Approach to the Stylistic and Typo-Technological Study of Small Terracotta Figurines. Ayia Irini, Cyprus as a case-study” Allan Wolfrum: “Hot Rocks: A multi-instrument geophysical approach to locating precontact hearth features in central Labrador” Bryn Tapper: “The application of multi-imaging and multi-lighting techniques in the analysis of Maritime Algonquian petroglyphs” Martina Polig: “Using structured light scanner for archaeological research – a case study about Cypriot-Minoan writing” Despina Papacharalambous: "Love does not envy: Walking through the moral disciplines in the Orthodox cathedral of Nicosia"