Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou

I am a Civil Engineer with MSc in Architecture (Conservation and Restoration) and a second MSc in Environmental City Planning. I started -as a side project- the documentation of the Historic Buildings of Hermoupolis, a unique neoclassical city in an Aegean island. National Technical University of Athens got interested in the idea of digital documentation and optimum conservation plaan. The project became a PhD and in 2012 I successfully defended my Thesis with a grade 10/10. The project was named HERMES, (HERitage Management e System). In 2013, the first presentation of HERMeS in Marseille – France won the “Best Paper Award” in a milestone international event, the DIGITAL HERITAGE Conference, with 450 participants. After that, I decided to upgrade HERMeS using open source platform. My effort leaded me in 2015 to the prestigious European Union Cultural Heritage Prize “The Europa Nostra Award,” among 269 proposals. In 2016 I was an invited speaker by European Commission to “Culture Forum”, a major event for culture with 980 participants. I was an invited speaker in “Best in Heritage” event in Dubrovnic Croatia. In 2016, I was a Marie Curie post-doc fellow in Cyprus University of Technology working in the renowned Digital Heritage Research Lab (UNESCO Chair on "Digital Heritage"). Today, my research effort focuses on creative reusing of Digital Cultural Heritage for education and the possibilities of connecting tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage with digital tools. HERMeS is now part of Best Practice in 2021 Strategy formed by the European Council, and it is expanding in many historic cities. I am a Europa Nostra Jury Member in category “Education, Training and Raising Awareness” and Chair in the non-profit NGO “Heritage Management e-Society”.