The Directorate of Higher Education of UNESCO approved on June 29, 2021 awarding the UNESCO Chair "for threats to the Cultural Heritage and related activities" at the Ionian University, to the Chair holder Stavros Katsios, Professor at the Department of Foreign Studies and Interpreting (DFLTI) and Director of the Geo-Cultural Analysis Laboratory (GeoLab). The Agreement between UNESCO and the Ionian University was signed on 8th and 27th October 2021 respectively.
The UNESCO Chair is the first in Western Greece and the Ionian Islands and the only Chair in a Greek University system on Cultural Heritage. This is of particular importance for Corfu as a city inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Chair focuses on the study and analysis, research and teaching (at undergraduate, postgraduate-doctoral level and lifelong learning) of all kinds of threats to Cultural Heritage (such as environmental, economic, criminal, defense and political, technological, criminal, terrorist threats, etc.) and for any related activity (such as threats to infrastructure, transport, tourism, etc.). Implementing body of UNESCO Chair's activities is the Laboratory of Geocultural Analysis (GeoLab) of the Department FLTI. In addition to the staff of the Laboratory, the Chair is enriched by an international interdisciplinary team of scholars and researchers forming the Steering and Scientific Committies.
Official Website: https://unesco.ionio.gr/