CUT hosts a dedicated, large-scale research centre which has dedicated FTE staff, focused on environmental sustainability. The ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (ERATOSTHENES CoE) is a research and innovation centre operating under CUT in Limassol, Cyprus. The Centre specialises in Earth Observation (EO), remote sensing, and geospatial technologies to support environmental monitoring, climate resilience, and sustainable development in Cyprus and across the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa (EMMENA) region.
The Centre hosts a multidisciplinary research team exceeding 100 dedicated FTE researchers, including scientists, postdoctoral fellows, engineers, data scientists, and technical specialists working in Earth Observation, environmental sciences, remote sensing, and geospatial analytics. The Centre continues to expand its research capacity through international collaborations with universities, research institutes, and organisations.
ERATOSTHENES CoE is organised into three main research departments:
- Environment and Climate
- Resilient Society
- Big Earth Data Analytics
These departments address key environmental sustainability challenges including:
- Climate change monitoring and mitigation
- Atmosphere and air quality monitoring
- Agriculture, soil health and food security
- Water resources management
- Land monitoring and environmental protection
- Disaster risk reduction and resilience
- Marine safety and security
- Sustainable energy access
- Artificial Intelligence applications for environmental monitoring
The Centre operates advanced research infrastructure including the Cyprus Atmospheric Remote Sensing Observatory (CARO) and the Earth Observation Data Acquisition Station, enabling satellite-based monitoring and analysis of environmental systems (https://eratosthenes.org.cy/functional-areas/infrastructure-functional-area/). Through these infrastructures and advanced geospatial analytics, the Centre develops operational tools and services supporting climate adaptation, environmental protection, and sustainable resource management.
The ERATOSTHENES CoE also acts as:
- National Contact Point (NCP) for the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS)
- Regional Support Office of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER)
The Centre coordinates and participates in over 60 national, European and international research projects related to environmental sustainability and Earth Observation. These projects support environmental monitoring, disaster risk reduction, climate services, and sustainable development while contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17.
Examples of major funded projects include:
- EXCELSIOR (Horizon 2020)– Establishment of the ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment.
- AI-OBSERVER (Horizon Europe)– Enhancing EO capabilities for Disaster Risk Reduction through Artificial Intelligence.
- CARBONICA (Horizon Europe)– Carbon Initiative for Climate-resilient Agriculture.
- TRIQUETRA (Horizon Europe)– Climate risk mitigation for cultural heritage.
- LandShift (Horizon Europe)– Climate-resilient land use management.
- NEMESIS (Horizon Europe)– Soil health living lab network for combating desertification.
- GreenCarbonCY (Cyprus RIF)- Mitigating carbon emissions from agricultural soils.
- Green-HIT (Cyprus RIF)– IoT platform for forest monitoring and management.
- EDAFOS (ESA)- Desertification risk mapping and assessment tools.
- STEPS (ESA)- Coastal erosion monitoring in Cyprus.
- ATARRI (Horizon Europe)– Atmospheric and solar research in the Eastern Mediterranean.
- AfroGrow (Horizon Europe) – Agroforestry decision-making systems in Africa.
These initiatives contribute to the development of operational environmental monitoring services and technologies in Cyprus, Europe and the wider EMMENA region. The Centre provides operational services and decision-support tools used by national authorities, regional stakeholders, and international organisations, contributing directly to environmental policy implementation, climate resilience planning, and sustainable resource management. The Centre directly supports the implementation of CUT’s Environmental and Climate Policy through research, monitoring, and innovation activities. It therefore represents a key pillar of CUT’s environmental research capacity and impact.
Contribution to teaching of undergraduate and/or postgraduate programmes
The ERATOSTHENES CoE contributes actively to education, training and capacity building at CUT and beyond.
The Centre collaborates closely with the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics and contributes to the teaching and supervision of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students in fields related to Earth Observation, geospatial technologies, environmental monitoring, and climate resilience.
Key educational contributions include:
- Participation in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to Earth Observation, geospatial technologies and environmental monitoring.
- Supervision of MSc and PhD research projects and theses in collaboration with academic departments.
- Participation in PhD supervising and examining committees within CUT doctoral programmes.
- Providing research opportunities and internships for PhD and postgraduate students.
- Hosting student placements and internships within research projects.
- Supporting final year projects and thesis supervision.
In addition, the Centre provides specialised training programmes, workshops and professional courses in satellite data applications, remote sensing, geospatial analytics, and environmental monitoring.
ERATOSTHENES CoE also contributes to knowledge transfer and training beyond CUT through teaching collaborations and training activities with institutions such as:
- Cyprus Forestry College,
- Neapolis University, and
- other regional academic and research organisations.
Through these activities the Centre supports the development of high-level skills in environmental monitoring, climate science, geospatial data analytics and sustainable resource management, strengthening capacity building in Cyprus and the wider EMMENA region