Organisation

Director

The Education and Documentation Department

The education and documentation department has now operated successfully within ICUA for six years. The lion's share of its work is in organising education in underwater archaeology, with introductory and advanced underwater archaeology courses staged at ICUA every year following the UNESCO/ICUA programme. We also stage courses based on the NAS underwater archaeology syllabus – the Centre is an official training partner of the NAS. In the future ICUA will also stage diving courses following the NAUI training system. For in-the-field diving activities ICUA has eight sets of diving equipment, a scuba tank filling compressor and an equipped motorboat. ICUA has a comfortable dormitory for the accommodation of course participants and a large, fully equipped lecture hall. The department also organises a broad range of expert symposia, seminars, congresses and individual lectures. Students and visiting specialists have at their disposal a specialised and well-equipped library with several thousand titles and the separate Von Petrikovits Library. ICUA's documentation activity is focused on creating a new Central Underwater Heritage Digital Database – machu.hr, and on continual care for existing underwater archaeology archival records. All department staff members are engaged in the research and study of underwater heritage in the frame of international projects with a broad range of institutions and the dissemination of scientific insight via lectures, publication in books and other print materials.

The Conservation and Restoration Department

For in-house requirements and for a growing number of museums, universities and private sector companies the conservation and restoration department organises and conducts all types of conservation-restoration work on movable artefacts of underwater and terrestrial archaeological heritage from all historical periods.

At Croatia's largest archaeological finds workshop, conservation and restoration work is carried out by a trained specialist team – adhering to the highest criteria of the conservation-restoration profession. The department has at its disposal restoration workshops with modern equipment specialised in the conservation and restoration of artefacts of ceramic, glass, metal, wood and other organic materials.

In conducting conservation-restoration work, along with a range of instrumentation for mechanical, chemical and ultrasonic cleaning, we also use high quality systems for the desalination of archaeological material, potentiometric titration, the impregnation of wet and dry archaeological wood and vacuum impregnation of porous materials. Along with direct interventions on cultural property, we also conduct instrumentation monitoring of physico-chemical processes, measurements of salinity, the percentage of moisture in wood, chloride concentration and pH level, with chemical analyses of materials and radiography conducted in collaboration with outside laboratories. Documentation and preliminary research of the initial condition and causes of decay, the desalination and stabilisation of materials, structural consolidation, cleaning, reconstruction and integration, the final protection of an artefact, and the drafting of expert reports and guidelines for the storage of cultural property are all carried out during conservation-restoration treatment. The conservation-restoration work carried out and the results of conservation research are presented through a broad range of published material and at specialist symposia in the country and abroad. In collaboration with other related and university institutions, the department participates in mentorship work and organises and conducts international education programmes in the field of conservation and restoration.

Underwater heritage presentation department

The underwater heritage presentation department has been successfully organizing exhibitions at ICUA Zadar and other museums for years. It is predicted that in the near future it will take over the tasks of collecting, exhibiting and maintaining the setup of the future ICUA Zadar educational and presentation centre of underwater archaeology. The educational and presentation centre will be located in the area of the former church of St Nicholas, in front of the building which is undergoing extensive construction renovation co-financed from the European Competitiveness and Cohesion Fund and which will be adapted for presentation purposes. The Department has staff that will deal with the collection, arrangement, preservation, protection, professional processing and presentation of materials related to underwater heritage. In addition, the Department will be in charge of maintaining all the necessary documentation on the construction as well as other related tasks. In addition to the classic setup of the educational and presentation centre, the Department will also deal with the presentation of underwater heritage with multimedia content as well as other suitable innovative ways, for example experimental archaeological projects. In addition to the aforementioned activities, the Department will also deal with the organization, establishment and maintenance of underwater museums in protected locations along the Adriatic. Its experts will also be engaged in research and study of underwater heritage for the purpose of its presentation and popularization.

The International Cooperation and Funding Department

The core objective of the department is to develop international and regional cultural cooperation, cooperation with other UNESCO centres and with institutions to ensure the capacity building and knowledge alliances in the discipline of underwater archaeology and issues of common interest.

It is the responsibility of the department to promote ICUA Zadar at the national, regional and international level, and to inform the broader public of the Centre’s activities with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of underwater archaeological heritage. Together with other departments of the Centre, the International cooperation and funding department is committed to promoting the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in the European Union, Southeast Europe and other UNESCO member countries. The department is tasked with the mission of developing international cooperation related to scientific research with UNESCO member countries and their inclusion, concluding and implementing bilateral agreements, cooperation in the frame of UNESCO UNITWIN Network for Underwater Archaeology, and to stage international scientific conferences, and workshops according to the Agreement signed between the UNESCO and the Government of the Republic of Croatia which defines the framework for cooperation.

The department will carry out various activities in order to preserve and strengthen cultural heritage and support the cultural and creative sector of the EU and to highlight the strong economic role of cultural heritage. The department also prepares projects and drafts documentation necessary for applications to European Union funds and other sources of funding. ICUA develops additional value through the promotion of sustainable development in the preservation of underwater cultural heritage in its international cultural cooperation in line with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its sustainable development goals.

General, Legal and Accounting & Financial Affairs Department

The General, Legal and Accounting and Financial Affairs Department performs general legal, labour law and human resources tasks and tasks pertaining to accounting, financial and material operations, procurement and the handling of assets.

The department performs the tasks of receiving and dispatching mail, letter storage, and documentary and archival material management.

There are 5 positions in the department: Head of Department, Secretary of the institution, Accounting Clerk, Administrative Secretary and Janitor.