With a total budget of €1,999,716, a duration of 24 months, and a planned start date of September 2026, the project is coordinated by the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (Germany). The Technical University of Crete participates as a full project partner, contributing to the advancement of innovation, entrepreneurship, and knowledge transfer at the European level.

The consortium also includes Université de Lorraine, University of León and Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, together with research organisations, companies and innovation stakeholders from Germany (Additive|Drives GmbH, ERZLABOR Advanced Solutions GmbH, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and MiViA GmbH), Greece (MONOLITHOS Catalysts & Recycling Ltd.), France (WEEEMET), Italy (RINA Consulting – Centro Sviluppo Materiali S.p.A. (RINA-CSM)), Sweden (New Energy Institute) and the Netherlands (RJB Renewable Holdings B.V.). The project is further supported by the Associated Partners: Hasselt University (Belgium), PLASTIKI GROUP CO (Greece), Silesian University of Technology (Poland), Technical University of Leoben (Austria) and Universitatea din Petroșani (Romania), strengthening the consortium with complementary expertise in higher education, research, innovation and industry collaboration.

EURECA-SPARK aims to strengthen the innovation capacity of the EURECA-PRO European University on Responsible Consumption and Producation, creating an integrated ecosystem that connects higher education, applied research, industry collaboration and entrepreneurship. The project focuses on strategic priorities including critical raw materials, sustainability, digital transformation, climate technologies, and the translation of research results into societal and economic value.

At the heart of the project is the development of a fully digital and flexible MicroDegree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, consisting of at least ten microcredentials. The programme will be jointly designed by universities, research organisations, industry partners and innovation support organisations, offering challenge-based learning built around real research and market needs.

In parallel, EURECA-SPARK will establish a comprehensive start-up pathway, connecting education with incubators, innovation hubs and the business acceleration services of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Through close collaboration with the EIT RawMaterials, 28DIGITAL and EIT Climate-KIC Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), the project will strengthen EURECA-PRO's role as a European innovation hub while promoting digital mobility, widening participation and equal access to entrepreneurship education.

About the EIT Higher Education Initiative

EURECA-SPARK is funded by the EIT Higher Education Initiative, with the support of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, aimed at boosting the entrepreneurial and innovation capacity of higher education institutions across Europe. 

For more information: https://eit-hei.eu/funded-projects/explorer/eureca-spark/ 

This invitation is a practical recognition of the international scientific presence and research work developed at the Technical University of Crete and particularly the Laboratory of Environmental Engineering and Management directed by Prof. Stefanakis in the fields of environmental engineering, ecological engineering, nature-based solutions, wastewater treatment and reuse and the circular economy.

During his month-long stay in Catania, Prof. Stefanakis actively participated in the academic life of the University, giving lectures and specialized seminars to undergraduate and postgraduate students, doctoral candidates and researchers. He presented modern research developments and applications related to natural wastewater treatment technologies, sustainable water resources management, climate change resilience and innovative green infrastructures.

During the visit, working meetings were also held with faculty members and research groups of the University of Catania, with the aim of expanding the cooperation between the two institutions. The discussions focused on the development of joint research proposals within the framework of Horizon Europe and other European programs, the joint supervision of doctoral theses, the exchange of students and researchers through international mobility programs, as well as the implementation of joint scientific publications and educational actions. It is worth noting that many of these activities and collaborations are already taking place between the two Institutions and laboratories.

The visit confirmed the active role of the Laboratory of Environmental Engineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete in the formation of high-level international research collaborations and in the production of innovative knowledge with significant environmental and social impact.

Strengthening the international presence of the Technical University of Crete is a strategic priority of the Institution. The participation of faculty members in high-profile academic activities, such as Visiting Professor positions, contributes substantially to the University's extroversion, to the transfer of know-how, to the development of international collaborations and to the attraction of new research and educational opportunities.

The collaboration between the Technical University of Crete and the University of Catania is expected to strengthen in the coming years, creating new perspectives in research, education and innovation, for the benefit of the academic community of the two institutions.

The decision was unanimously endorsed by CIHEAM's 13 Member States, together with the European Union and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), highlighting both the institutional significance of this distinction and the international recognition of Professor Zopounidis' exceptional academic achievements.

Professor Constantin Zopounidis is an internationally distinguished scholar and Professor at the School of Production Engineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete, Greece. The global impact of his scientific work is evidenced by his outstanding bibliometric record, which includes 27,949 citations, an h-index of 87, and an i10-index of 296 according to Google Scholar. These indicators reflect the breadth, continuity, and international influence of his research across the fields of operations research, decision sciences, financial engineering, and multicriteria decision analysis.

Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Zopounidis has received numerous international honours and has held leading academic positions. Among his most prestigious distinctions is his appointment as Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques) by the French Republic, one of France's highest honours for contributions to education and academic excellence.

Professor Zopounidis' association with CIHEAM, through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (CIHEAM MAICh), dates back to 1987 and has been characterized by continuous and substantial academic engagement. Over nearly four decades, he has played a pivotal role in the Institute's postgraduate education by supervising master's students, serving on thesis evaluation committees, and mentoring numerous MAICh graduates who have gone on to pursue doctoral studies and assume prominent academic, research, and leadership positions across Europe.

The conferral of the title of Professor Emeritus of CIHEAM represents the culmination of a long-standing and highly productive collaboration that has made a lasting contribution to strengthening the academic excellence, research capacity, and international standing of CIHEAM MAICh, while further advancing CIHEAM's mission of fostering higher education, scientific research, and cooperation throughout the Mediterranean region.

The symposium brings together distinguished researchers from Greece and the global Hellenic scientific diaspora, creating a unique platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, scientific excellence, and the development of innovative responses to major societal and technological challenges. Through its participation, the Technical University of Crete reinforces its commitment to international scientific cooperation and to advancing research that supports sustainable development and societal progress.

Professor Georgios Arampatzis will participate in the session "Smart / Resilient Infrastructures: Education, Research and Innovation". His presentation will focus on the development of Green and Resilient Energy-Flexible Production Processes through the integration of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and systems-based approaches, highlighting recent research activities of TUC in the fields of sustainable industrial systems, circular economy, and the green and digital transition.

The HIAS Symposium is open to researchers, innovators, engineers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and other interested participants. Those wishing to attend may register through the official symposium website, where additional information on the programme, speakers, and venue is also available. 

Registration is now open:
https://symposium2026.hellenic-ias.org/registration

Further information on the program, speakers, and venue can be found at:
https://symposium2026.hellenic-ias.org/

Space Systems Engineering and Exploration
Interdisciplinary Approaches from Space Habitability to Space Mining. Integrated Technologies and Frameworks for Modern Space Missions.

The programme will take place at the Technical University of Crete in person from 4 to 12 July 2026 and will be completed with the online component from 13 to 27 July 2026.

The activity is organized within the framework of Erasmus+ KA131 Mobility and is co-funded by the European Union.

The programme’s thematic areas include, among others: Celestial Science, Space Engineering, Earth Observation, Navigation & Telecommunications, Space Mining, Space Architecture, Human Performance & Health, Robotics, Space Policy & Law, Space Management & Innovation

The online component of the programme focuses on a practical introduction to Earth Observation applications for space-related applications and mineral exploration, field measurement processing, ASD FieldSpec, and comparison with Sentinel-2 satellite data.

The programme is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students, PhD candidates, and researchers with an interest in the field of space.

The programme is co-organized by the Technical University of Crete with the participation of:

• EURECA-PRO European University Alliance
• AGH University of Krakow
• TU Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF)
• University of Lorraine (UL)

Scientific Coordinator: Professor Panagiotis Partsinevelos,
School of Mineral Resources Engineering, Technical University of Crete

Programme website: https://spacebip.tuc.gr/

The modern Internet ecosystem has become increasingly complex, creating new opportunities for adversaries to exploit subtle design and implementation flaws in ways that challenge existing security and privacy protections. In this talk, I will present an overview of my research on identifying emerging threats by adopting an adversarial perspective. My work combines empirical analysis, automated black-box testing, and large-scale measurements to uncover previously unknown attack vectors and inform the design of more secure and privacy-preserving systems. I will highlight research demonstrating how seemingly benign platform features can be repurposed for persistent user tracking, how automated methods can systematically uncover previously overlooked privacy risks across modern web platforms, and how mechanisms intended to strengthen authentication can inadvertently undermine security. Together, these works illustrate how offensive security research can reveal hidden weaknesses, leading to stronger defenses and more trustworthy Internet technologies.

About the Speaker

Jason Polakis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He received his B.Sc. ('07), M.Sc. ('09), and Ph.D. (’14) degrees in Computer Science from the University of Crete, Greece, while working as a research assistant in the Distributed Computing Systems Lab at FORTH-ICS. Prior to joining UIC he was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University, in NYC. He is broadly interested in identifying the security and privacy limitations of Internet technologies and mobile systems, and designing fully automated auditing frameworks, robust defenses, and privacy-preserving mechanisms. His work has revealed significant flaws in popular web services and browsers, and major vendors have deployed his proposed defenses. His research is regularly published in the premier computer security conferences (IEEE S&P, USENIX Security, ACM CCS,  ISOC NDSS), and has been covered by popular media outlets (e.g., The New York Times, WIRED, CNN, NPR). His research has also been recognized with the best paper award at NDSS '21, and he has received the NSF CAREER award.

The team ranked 3rd among the 10 finalists, with its proposal being recognized for its innovation, sustainability, and potential for practical implementation at the new Heraklion International Airport.

The team also included Dr. Evangelia Pantelaki, Dr. Manolis Karachalios, Dr. Eleni P. Paraschi, and Dr. Konstantinos N. Malagas. The team's success was further supported by the guidance of Georgia Kostourou, who served as the team's mentor.

This distinction highlights the importance of connecting academic research with the real-world challenges of the aviation industry and the development of modern, sustainable airport infrastructure. It also reinforces the active role of young researchers at the Technical University of Crete in developing solutions with meaningful economic, environmental, and societal impact.

Dimitris Zopounidis conducts research in the fields of business analytics and data science, with applications in airport sustainability, air transportation, the banking sector, and decision support systems. His work places particular emphasis on bridging academic research with real-world implementation.

Hyperspectral imaging is a rapidly advancing, nondestructive analytical method that records not just colors but also provides detailed information about the chemical composition at every location within an image. Additionally, it expands our vision into invisible parts of the optical spectrum, allowing opaque objects to appear transparent, thus exposing their internal features.

Despite significant research efforts and investments allocated towards improving this fascinating technology, hyperspectral imaging has been limited by a narrow frequency range close to the visible spectrum and by low image quality comparable to that of 1970s camcorders.

Decades of groundbreaking research led by Professor Costas Balas have successfully closed numerous scientific and technological gaps in the field. Under his guidance, a team of talented scientists and engineers—most of whom graduated from the ECE department at TUC—created a novel hyperspectral camera that provides artificial vision and spectroscopy over the broadest frequency range and with the higher image resolution globally. 

The new technology was quickly adopted and set up at the University of Hamburg's Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures. In April 2026, it was moved to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples-Italy as part of the collaborative project “TabulaRasa”. The study aimed to explore one of the most difficult types of ancient written artifacts: the Charred Roman wax tablets from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Specifically, the mission sought to tackle a long-standing challenge in the study of ancient manuscripts: how to identify and interpret the almost invisible ink marks on charred writing surfaces.

 Roman tablets were commonly used for writing everyday’ s life documents. Ink writing, particularly poses a special difficulty, especially with the Vesuvian tablets. Since these items were buried and charred during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, the wooden surfaces became blackened, causing dark ink—especially carbon-based ink—to blend almost completely with the background.

By exploiting the broad frequency spectrum spanning from ultraviolet to deep infrared, along with the ultra-high-definition imaging features of the new hyperspectral imager, the ink marks appeared almost "magically". At critical invisible frequencies they ancient writings popup with strong contrast against their background, making them visible once more after 2000 years. A notably significant achievement was the recovery of a fragment from Herculaneum that included a mention of olive harvesting.

The innovative technology introduces new possibilities for nondestructive analysis of natural or artificial materials, with numerous new applications that are currently being actively researched and developed.

Key team members: 

• Athanasios Tsapras, M. Eng, MSc
   
• Charalambos Boras M. Eng
   
• Dr. Nikolaos Kaminakis
   
• Dr. Gianni Nteroli
   
• Ioannis Roidis 

Links 

• https://tabularasa.hypotheses.org/4957
   
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iq1Lpjt2Oc&t=192s (Minute 03:15-05:00)

The next lecture of the series, hosted by the School of Mineral Resources Engineering (MRE) of the Technical University of Crete, will be delivered by Christian Frigaard Rasmussen, PhD Fellow with the Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University in Denmark, and member of the Arctic Environment research group. Christian Frigaard Rasmussen’s PhD research focuses on Arctic mine sites in permafrost-dominated areas, with particular emphasis on the spatial distribution of terrestrial pollution and the effects of climate change on mine-waste redistribution.

Rasmussen' lecture is titled:

"Geochemical Tracers for Identifying Environmental Drivers
of Pollution Distribution in East Greenland"

and is scheduled to take place on:

Thursday, July 2, 2026 at 12:00 EET (11:00 CET)

and can be attended either physically or virtually:

Room M3.108 (School of MRE @ TUC Campus)​
https://tuc-gr.zoom.us/j/96511690683?pwd=BF3BVAhr7YpNSuHBrRf5FWGdrw3EwF.1

The lecture is open to all interested members of TUC and EURECA-PRO. An official, electronic certificate of attendance will be issued to all actual attendees who will register their participation during the lecture.

Abstract

This presentation will indicatively address the use of geochemical tracers to understand environmental controls on pollution distribution in East Greenland, contributing to broader research themes related to environmental geochemistry, mining impacts, Arctic ecosystems, and the sustainable management of mine-affected areas.

Short Bio

Christian Frigaard Rasmussen holds a BSc in geosciences, where he worked with the geomorphology Glacial Curvilineations (GCLs). He also holds a MSc in Geology specializing in arctic geomorphology and geochronology of permafrost landscapes, specifically looking at natural dust deposition in high Arctic environments. For his PhD, he works with mines in Arctic areas dominated by permafrost. He primarily looks at the spatial distribution of terrestrial pollution and the consequences of climate change on mine waste (re-)distribution.

The event may be broadcast live through the official TUC Facebook page and will be recorded, while photographic material will be taken. The digital material will be displayed on the websites and on the official channels of the Technical University of Crete, EURECA-PRO TUC and the European University EURECA-PRO and will be published on social media, press releases and newsletters. For any issue, which concerns your personal data, you can be informed through the page with TUC's privacy policy.

EURECA-PRO is funded by the European Union under the Grant Agreement No 101124439 "EURECA-PRO 2.0". Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Professor Gidarakos will take part in the thematic session “Management of Industrial and Hazardous Waste,” where he will discuss the current challenges and future prospects of the safe management of hazardous waste, as well as the pivotal role of scientific knowledge and innovation in advancing the circular economy.

The conference is organized by Polyeco and ANAKEM under the auspices of the Municipality of Heraklion, the Unified Waste Management Association of Crete (ESDAK), and the Intermunicipal Enterprise for Solid Waste Management (DEDISA). It will bring together representatives from government, local authorities, the scientific community, and the business sector to exchange knowledge and best practices for promoting the circular economy and sustainable waste management in Crete.