Project partners

Established in 2008, the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, ISPRA) is a national public body acting under the vigilance and policy guidance of the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Protection of Land and Sea, focusing on environmental issues of national relevance, including energy, waste, marine and terrestrial nature conservation, and the sustainable use of biological diversity, and providing technical and scientific support to environmental decision makers.

With longstanding experience in project management and monitoring of geological hazards affecting heritage sites, ISPRA's Department of Soil (formerly the Geological Survey of Italy) coordinates PROTHEGO and leads WP1: UNESCO cultural heritage and natural hazards at European scale.

ISPRA project coordinator: Dr Claudio Margottini
ISPRA Project Manager: Dr Daniele Spizzichino

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the UK's largest funder of independent research, training and innovation in environmental science. NERC participates in PROTHEGO with the British Geological Survey (BGS), the national geological survey and the UK's premier earth science centre, founded in 1835 and providing expert services and impartial geoscientific advice to governments, industry, academia and the public.

Bringing on board expertise in radar earth observation and satellite InSAR research, geological hazards, landscape archaeology and cultural heritage monitoring, climate change, knowledge transfer and public engagement, BGS leads PROTHEGO's WP2: harmonisation of PS data and creation of digital factsheets, and WP7: dissemination and communication.

NERC principal investigator: Dr Francesca Cigna (until March 2017), Emma Bee (from April 2017)

Founded in 2003 and based in Limassol, Cyprus University of Technology (Τεχνολογικό Πανεπιστήμιο Κύπρου, CUT) orients towards applied research and offers education in the leading branches of science and technology that have high impact on the economic, technical, and scientific sectors.

With expertise in optical remote sensing for archaeology and cultural heritage management, the Remote Sensing and Geo-Enviroment Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics at CUT participate in PROTHEGO by leading WP5: local scale monitoring.

CUT principal investigator: Dr Kyriacos Themistocleous

Established in 1998, the University of Milano-Bicocca (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, UNIMIB) is a multi-disciplinary university training professionals in economics and statistics, legal, scientific, medical, sociological, psychological and pedagogical, with an extensive network of international collaborations.

With expertise in landslide susceptibility and hazard assessment, rockfall simulation and landslide early warning, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of UNIMIB participates in PROTHEGO by leading WP3: integration of persistent scatterers (PS) and geohazard products and implementation of multi-criteria methodology, and WP4: identification of most endangered sites.

UNIMIB principal investigator: Prof Giovanni B Crosta

The Geological Survey of Spain (Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, IGME), founded in 1849, is today a self-governing Public Research Institution attached to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, responsible for advising the Spanish state, regional and local authorities, including the Civil Protection and others concerned with public safety, on all aspects of geoscience, as well as providing geological advice to industry, academia and the public.

IGME's Geohazards InSAR laboratory and Modelling Group brings on board PROTHEGO expertise in earthquake, landslide and subsidence hazards, risk evaluation and modelling, and leads WP6: local scale investigation and advanced modelling.

IGME principal investigator: Dr José Antonio Fernández Merodo