The Open University of Cyprus (OUC) is organizing an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) entitled: “Cyprus Experimental Field School (CEF): From Cultural Heritage to Materials Science – The Female Potters of Cyprus”. The BIP, with scientific coordinator Dr Xenia Charalambidou, will be held in Cyprus (Nicosia, Kornos village and Agios Demetrios village) from July 8 to July 16, 2024. The objective of this BIP is twofold. First, it seeks to provide a fully immersive experience of dynamic pottery cultures from apprenticeship through to vessel use and also in material science analyses. Secondly, it aims to give students the requisite skills, in consultation with potting elders, to apply this knowledge to explore how multistage hand-built pots were made and used in the past. In this BIP, the archives of ethnoarchaeologist Dr Gloria London, who has documented the Cypriot female potters since 1986, serve as a nucleus from which one can thoroughly document the dynamic context of their practices.
The BIP is coordinated by the Open University of Cyprus (OUC), and the following Universities from Greece and Poland are the members of the consortium: University of Crete, University of Thessaly, University of the Aegean, University of the Peloponnese, University of Patras, University of Warsaw. In addition to Dr Xenia Charalambidou (OUC), Dr Gloria London and Beatrice McLoughlin (the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens), academics and researchers from the University of Cyprus, and the Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center (STARC) of The Cyprus Institute are collaborating as guest instructors. Female potters in Cyprus will be contributing to the instruction of the BIP with workshops that will be provided to all participating students.
Blended Intensive Programmes are funded in the context of the Erasmus+ Programme, and are short, intensive programmes that use innovative ways of learning and teaching, including the use of online cooperation. By enabling new and more flexible mobility formats that combine physical mobility with a virtual part, BIPs aim at reaching all types of students from all backgrounds, study fields and cycles.
