Origin

Between 2014 and 2017, a network of 17 partners from eight European countries, together with several international institutions from Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, developed the project “Apheleia – Cultural Integrated Landscape Management.”

The initiative was based on a strategic partnership led by universities, research centres, local authorities, enterprises and NGOs. The project received endorsement from the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) and the International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU), and established collaboration with UNESCO’s MOST programme (Management of Social Transformations) from 2016.

Its core partnership was built through more than two decades of collaboration in converging projects involving research, education and dissemination, including international Masters and PhD programmes and humanities-driven landscape management initiatives.

Given the long-lasting impact of this collaboration, the academic partners established a European research association affiliated with CIPSH in early 2017 under the name APHELEIA – Humanities European Association for Cultural Integrated Landscape Management.