EXCALIBUR Partners Gather Expertise in First WP3 User Workshop

January 2026 – The EXCALIBUR project has successfully conducted its Initial User Workshop as part of Work Package 3 (WP3), marking a critical milestone in the project’s mission to revolutionize the digitization, study, and conservation of burial cultural heritage.

Bringing Together Interdisciplinary Expertise

Co-led by the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (ECoE) and the Heritage Management Organisation (HEMO), the workshop brought together cultural heritage experts, archaeologists, anthropologists, conservators, and project partners from across Europe. The primary focus was to define user requirements for digitizing and conserving burial excavations, findings, and human remains, aligning these needs with the overall scope of the EXCALIBUR project.

Why This Workshop Matters

The Initial User Workshop represents the foundation of Task 3.2 (Interdisciplinary user requirements and analysis in burial CH), a crucial component of the project’s implementation plan outlined in the Grant Agreement. This task ensures that the technological solutions developed by EXCALIBUR are firmly rooted in the real-world needs of cultural heritage professionals who will ultimately use them.

According to the project framework, this workshop serves multiple strategic purposes: (i) identifying the expectations and requirements of end-users, (ii) stimulating creative thinking about potential benefits from EXCALIBUR’s technological tools, and (iii) gathering input from diverse specialists including anthropologists, archaeologists, museologists, conservators, curators, and historians.

Key Partner Contributions

The workshop showcased the collaborative nature of the EXCALIBUR consortium:

  • ECoE and HEMO (Workshop Co-Leader): Coordinated the session and will prepare the draft structure for Deliverable D3.1, allocating responsibilities among partners
  • CERTH (Project Coordinators): Provided coordination guidelines and best practices for successful WP3 task execution
  • DUTH, IHU, SMAEK: Presented preliminary needs and requirements from their respective cultural heritage contexts
  • All Partners: Engaged in round-robin discussions to outline their planned contributions to the deliverable

Moving Forward: A Living Framework

The workshop’s outcomes will directly feed into Deliverable D3.1 (State-of-the-Art in study, conservation, and restoration in burial CH, user requirements, and technological challenges), which will be structured as a living, online document. This collaborative approach ensures that all partner expertise, from 3D scanning and CT-scan analysis to AI-powered restoration planning, is integrated into a cohesive framework.

By mid-January 2026, ECoE will share an indicative timeline for the development and submission of D3.1, ensuring that the project stays on track with its ambitious goals.

The Bigger Picture

This initial workshop is the first in a series of demonstration and user engagement events planned throughout the EXCALIBUR project lifecycle. As outlined in the Grant Agreement, these workshops form a crucial part of the project’s interpersonal communication strategy, gathering structured feedback from the User Group and cultural heritage professionals to refine the project’s innovative tools and methodologies.

The insights gathered will directly inform the development of EXCALIBUR’s advanced toolkits for digitization, AI-based analysis, and conservation planning, ultimately contributing to the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) ecosystem.

Stay Connected: Follow our progress as we work to preserve the past and unveil the future of burial cultural heritage. Join the conversation on our social media channels for updates on upcoming workshops and project milestones.

Contact: For more information about WP3 activities, reach out to Dr. Konstantinos Roussos at the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (konstantinos.roussos@eratosthenes.org.cy).

Introduction of EXCALIBUR in ECCCH ecosystem

The EXCALIBUR project participated in the webinar: “The European Collaborative Cultural Heritage Cloud in Action: Join us to explore the latest update”, which was organised by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation, on Monday, 1st of December, 2025.

The EXCALIBUR project was presented by Dr. Eleftherios Anastasovitis, member of the Coordinator team of the Brain, Health & Virtual Reality (BHV) Research Group [1], at CERTH-ITI. The overview of the project was briefly described, presenting the main use cases and objectives of EXCALIBUR. 

Dr. Anastasovitis emphasised the innovative toolkits of the project through the interdisciplinary collaboration of the EXCALIBUR consortium that consists of 14 partners. The toolkits will be developed in full alignment with the requirements and directions of the Cultural Heritage Cloud. Moreover, Dr. Anastasovitis highlighted the future involvement of the European Cultural Heritage community with the outcomes of EXCALIBUR, through the Open Call of the project.

Our next steps include intensive work with the ECHOES Integration Task Force (EITF) and enhancing the collaboration with the ECCCH ecosystem and sister projects.

EXCALIBUR at the ECHOES webinar for German-speaking communities

On 14 January 2026, EXCALIBUR was presented during the ECHOES webinar for German-speaking communities, hosted by the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek). The online event welcomed around 60 participants from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, showing strong regional engagement with the Cultural Heritage Cloud community.

EXCALIBUR was presented by our partner Dr. Mélanie Flossmann-Schütze (SMAEK) as part of a panel discussion alongside two other ECCCH Sister Projects: TEXTaiLES, and ECHOLOT. The webinar also shared initial insights from the ECHOES Consultation, supporting continued dialogue and stronger regional networks across the Cultural Heritage Cloud community.

Find out more here.

EXCALIBUR in the DG RTD webinar for ECCCH

The Directorate General for Research and Innovation (RTD) organises the event: “The European Collaborative Cultural Heritage Cloud in Action: Join us to explore the latest update” [1], on Monday 1st of December, 2025, from 14.30h until 16.30h CET (online).

Complementing the Cultural Heritage Cloud call 2025 webinar on 30 June, the Directorate General for Research and Innovation would like to invite you to a new webinar focused on presenting the 10 new tools projects for the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage.

The EXCALIBUR project is among the 10 new tools projects and will be introduced by Dr. Eleftherios Anastasovitis, member of the Coordinator team of the Brain, Health & Virtual Reality (BHV) Research Group [2], at CERTH-ITI. Dr. Anastasovitis will explain the EXCALIBUR project, the technical challenges, and collaborations in the context of the ECCCH ecosystem. We will be glad to meet you online. 

The Directorate General for Research and Innovation is the Commission’s department that is responsible for EU policy on research, science and innovation, with a view to help create growth and jobs and tackle our biggest societal challenges.

EXCALIBUR succeeds funding

The EXCALIBUR consortium welcomed the positive results of the evaluation with great enthusiasm. The interdisciplinary research project EXCALIBUR was evaluated together with 32 other proposals under the HORIZON-CL2-2024-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-05 topic: “A European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage – Innovative tools for the study, conservation and restoration of heritage objects” [1]. The EXCALIBUR received an overall evaluation score of 14.5 out of 15.0, managing to be the one of the two proposals selected for funding. At the same time, it is one of the 10 selected proposals of the call “A European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage – 2024 (HORIZON-CL2-2024-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01) ” out of a total of 145 proposals.

The EXCALIBUR project: “Advanced toolkits for interdisciplinary and enhanced study, conservation, and restoration in burial excavations and findings” seeks to leverage the ECCCH infrastructure to develop and implement a set of innovative tools and methods [2]. The project focuses on creating digital twins of cultural heritage objects, related to burial excavations and findings, providing enhanced capabilities for the study, conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. By addressing the gaps in both research and practice, as well as in stakeholder engagement, EXCALIBUR aims to transform how bioarchaeological findings are studied, shared, and interconnected with relevant artefacts, sites, and burial traditions, fostering a deeper understanding of past populations, while contributing to the vision of ECCCH.

The EXCALIBUR consortium consists of four (4) research centres (CERTH, CWI, CRS4, ECOE), three (3) academic partners (LMU, DUTH, IHU), three (3) SMEs (OKYS, CTL, PIX4D), and four (4) Cultural Heritage (CH) organisations (HEMO, ICOMOS, SA, SMAEK). As such, EXCALIBUR builds a very strong team of researchers, developers, associations and organisations related to the need of the project, for whom the issue of the study, conservation and restoration of heritage objects is of importance. In addition, EXCALIBUR will provide financial support to third parties of CH, through an open call.

The EXCALIBUR project is Coordinated by the interdisciplinary team of the Brain, Health & Virtual Reality (BHV) Research Group [3] of CERTH-ITI. It began in October 2025 and its duration is 42 months. EXCALIBUR is glad to contribute in the Cultural Heritage Cloud ecosystem [4].