2nd Widening the Big Blue Horizon Conference

2nd Widening the Big Blue Horizon Conference We are pleased to invite you to the second edition of “Widening the Big Blue Horizon” International Conference, which introduces Innovative Practices and Policy Pathways for the Sustainable Management and Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Conference will take place on 3 and 4 December 2026 in Burgas, Bulgaria, and is organized by the BCThubs Horizon Europe project.

The Conference aims to bring together experts and stakeholders from academic and research institutes, the maritime research and innovation industry as well as the public sector, aspiring to build a constructive forum for knowledge and experience exchange and the discussion of current approaches in support of the research, preservation, accessibility and management of Underwater Cultural Heritage. In this context, it will be an opportunity to present state-of-the-art technologies, results and lessons learnt of research projects and enhance capacity building for the protection and valorization of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH).

The conference programme will cover 5 main topics:
1. Innovative Technologies in Maritime Research.
2. UNESCO Best Practices and the Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
3. Adaptive and sustainable approaches to Climate Change impacts on Underwater Heritage.
4. Integrating 3D, geospatial, semantic, and data-driven frameworks for Underwater Cultural Heritage: building a Digital Ecosystem for maritime and coastal knowledge.
5. Policy Pathways for Accessible and Sustainable Underwater Heritage.

Key Dates & Information:
Type of participation: paper and/or poster presentations
Abstract submission deadline extended: 15 February 2026
Link for abstract submission: https://forms.gle/ik2ZsQggo524W1bp6
Notification on acceptance after blind review by: 15 March 2026
Paper submission deadline by: 1 September 2026
Paper guidelines: TBA
Registration opening: TBA
Conference Language: English

More information and updates about the conference: https://bcthubs.eu/conference2026

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