Building and launching the ‘Bridging The North Sea Network’

We established the Bridging the North Sea Network consisting of organizations from the five Straits Regions and added associated partners from North East England/Newcastle Region. This network area consists of two relevant UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Hadrian’s Wall in North East England and the Lower German Limes in South Holland) and the maritime landscapes of South England, Northern France, Flanders and the Netherlands. We are still receiving new associated partners that want to partake in our network (link to Project partners – page)

The core of our network exists of multiple groups: Coordinating Group and 4 Working Groups.
– The Coordinating Group will be led by the directing partners (the Province of South Holland and Museumpark Archeon/Leiden University repr. By Hazenberg)
– The Working Groups will have the task of exploring specific research themes and awareness-raising projects and produce both a Research and an Awareness Action Plan.
The members of the network will be invited to participate in one or more of the Working Groups. Each Working Group will be represented in the Coordination Group.

The Coordination Group is responsible for the production of an overall Bridging the North Sea Action Plan (incl. Research and Awareness Program) with a roadmap for:
– continuity, organization and growth of the Bridging the North Sea Network,
– planning and budgets for necessary fo funding of the proposed Research and Awareness Programs.

A startup meeting is planned in Tilques (Pas de Calais, France) on May 3^rd 2023, to celebrate the start of this transnational initiative and to plan the outlines of the overall organization, preparing the Working Groups and the Communication Platform (see Action 2). The startup meeting is coordinated by Newcastle University and supported by the Pas-de-Calais region and the City of Boulogne-Sur-Mer.