Nektarios Chrysoulakis, Director of Research at the Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics (IACM) of FORTH and head of the Remote Sensing Lab, will coordinate a large international research project on the evolution of the European initiative Copernicus. This project is funded by the Framework Programme H2020 (Space) of the European Commission with a total amount of 2.9 million euros for the time period 2020-2022, of which 0.5 million euros will specifically fund the research activities at the IACM.

The project “CURE: Copernicus for Urban Resilience in Europe” focuses on research for the exploitation of satellite technology to support urban resilience, towards improving the quality of city life. The academic research labs and companies that will participate in CURE are from Greece, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and Denmark. All members of the programme are distinguished scientists with world renowned expertise and a reputation in Earth Observation, urban climate and urban planning. CURE will synergistically exploit Copernicus Core Services to develop a cross-cutting application for urban resilience, consisting of individual applications for climate change adaptation/mitigation, energy and economy, as well as healthy cities and social environments. Case studies will be developed in several European cities, including Heraklion.

“In addition to the extensive research funding from the European Commission, CURE will contribute significantly towards the international recognition of the IACM as a centre of excellence in the domain of Earth Observation research and training of young researchers, not only in Heraklion, but also at a European level. Furthermore, it will advance the internationalization of the Remote Sensing Lab of IACM, as a successor of the recently completed URBANFLUXES project, while contributing to the creation of new knowledge for Space exploitation in developing services for improving the quality of life and striving towards a smart and resilient city of the future.”, Nektarios Chrysoulakis explained.

For more information, please contact Dr. Nektarios Chrysoulakis (tel.: +30-2810-391762), email: zedd2@iacm.forth.gr ).