SOPHIA-DN · A Doctoral Training Network on the Study Of Premodern Ceramic Heritage: Integrating Experimental and AI-Enhanced Interdisciplinary Research
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2027-03-01 → 2031-02-28
- EU contribution
- €4,309,766
- Participants
- 20
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.
Project objective
SOPHIA-DN is a doctoral network that uses ceramics, the most widespread and informative form of material heritage, to investigate how craft traditions emerged, evolved, and connected cultures across the ancient world. It unites leading European scholars and institutions in a unique alliance offering advanced training and innovative research through an experimental approach. Material experimentation is central to reconstructing and testing ancient techniques, showing how past societies advanced technologically, overcame production challenges, and sustained long-term traditions. SOPHIA-DN stresses that such achievements were cumulative, intergenerational knowledge rooted in enduring practices. These embodied tacit wisdom (sophia in Greek), reflecting deep familiarity with raw materials, processes, and tools refined through centuries of observation and repetition. By highlighting this human dimension, the project emphasises the intellectual depth and cultural continuity of ceramic production, treating traditions as living repositories of experiential knowledge. The network integrates material characterisation and archaeological interpretation with hands-on engagement across the chaîne opératoire, testing observations through data-driven experimental reconstruction. In parallel, it employs digital humanities and artificial intelligence to process and link large datasets of material, technological, and cultural information. AI-assisted pattern recognition and machine learning unlock new analytical potential, redefining how ceramic legacies are studied and communicated. This integrated experimental–digital framework enables doctoral fellows to test hypotheses on archaeological artefacts while developing innovative methods of data integration and interpretation. Spanning Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Arabian Gulf, SOPHIA-DN explores understudied ceramic technologies and contributes to reshaping how ancient history and archaeology are understood.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS · NicosiaCoordinatorCyprus
- Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities · ManamaCity levelBahrain
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
- EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN · TuebingenGermany
- EPHORATE OF ANTIQUITIES OF ACHAIA · PatraGreece
- HOMA KE NERO POTTERY ART & TRADING LTD · NicosiaCity levelCyprus
- Institute of Local History/ Institouto Topikis Istorias · VrachneikaCity levelGreece
- Masarykova univerzita · BrnoCzechia
- PANEPISTIMIO PATRON · RIO PATRASGreece
- PHOEBE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION LTD · NICOSIACyprus
- THE CYPRUS INSTITUTE · NicosiaCyprus
- The Institute for Aegean Prehistory Study Center for East Crete · New YorkCity levelUnited States
- UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA · Santiago De CompostelaSpain
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA · PadovaItaly
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · RomaItaly
- UNIVERSITA DI PISA · PisaItaly
- UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO-BICOCCA · MilanoItaly
- UNIVERSITE PARIS I PANTHEON-SORBONNE · ParisFrance
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinIreland
- UNIVERZITA HRADEC KRALOVE · Hradec KraloveCzechia
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union