The COST Action, CA17131: The Soil Science & Archaeo-Geophysics Alliance: going beyond prospection - SAGA, held its kick-off meeting on 26 October in Brussels. Dr Sebastiano D'Amico participated at this meeting.

The objective of the SAGA project is to build an international network of geophysicists, archaeologists, soil scientists and other experts who will be interpreting geophysical data and promoting research collaboration. This COST Action aims to investigate and overcome limitations of incomplete understanding in the relationship between soil properties and geophysical measurements with a spcific focus on archaeological and cultural heritage sites.

The ultimate goal of this project is to develop non-invasive geophysical methods that become more efficient in order to develop a top-priority tool which will mitigate the destructive effects on our cultural heritage, such as intensified land use, climate change and current conflicts. To bridge this gap, multi-disciplinary teams need to test novel methods, besides engaging in scholarly discussion to collate the outcomes, in this field of study.

The management committee members for Malta are Dr John Betts (Department of Classic and Archaeology) and Dr Sebastiano D’Amico (Department of Geosciences). During the meeting, held on October, Dr Sebastiano D’Amico was elected leader of Working Group 4 (WG4) within this COST Action. WG4 coordinates and organises training for young researchers and professionals and deals with the dissemination and outreach programme. At present, the network consists of leading research groups from 28 different countries with a total of approximately 60 researchers.

The first international meeting of this COST Action will be held in March 2019.