European Workshop on Atmospheric Dust Brings Together Scientific Experts to Cyprus Featured
The European Workshop on Atmospheric Dust, hosted by the Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre (CARE-C) of The Cyprus Institute, took place on 20–22 April 2026 at Sandy Beach hotel, in Larnaca, Cyprus, bringing together leading scientists in atmospheric dust. The conference, organised within the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network ‘Doctoral Network on Atmospheric Dust’ (Dust-DN), gathered the European dust research community for three days of scientific exchange, discussion, and collaboration.
The event was attended by 50 participants from 13 countries and featured 49 presentations by internationally recognized experts, organized across 10 thematic sessions. The scientific programme covered major research topics on dust such as dust microphysical properties and processes, source regions and transport, climate interactions, remote sensing and observational approaches, socio-economic impacts, and emerging cross-cutting topics, highlighting both the breadth and the multidisciplinary nature of atmospheric dust research in Europe.
Atmospheric mineral dust is one of the most important atmospheric constituents. Dust is lifted by the winds in the desert regions, and the winds also transport it to remote locations distant up to thousands of km from the source. The inhabitants of Cyprus often witness dust conditions, due to the proximity of the island to desert regions in the Sahara and the Middle East. Dust affects air quality, visibility, weather and climate, radiation, ecosystems, aviation, and solar energy applications. At the same time, major scientific questions remain open regarding dust emission, transport, microphysical evolution, composition, and impacts. The workshop aimed to address these questions by creating a forum where researchers, early-career scientists, and stakeholders could present recent findings, exchange ideas, and identify new directions for collaboration.
A particular strength of the workshop is the central role of the Dust-DN network. The doctoral candidates of the network were actively involved in the event, contributing as presenters, session chairs, and organisers. This reflects the wider vision of Dust-DN: not only to advance scientific understanding of atmospheric dust, but also to train a new generation of researchers through interdisciplinary, international, and intersectoral collaboration.
The workshop also featured keynote lectures by Prof. Claire Ryder from the University of Reading on the importance of super-coarse dust, Prof. Martina Klose from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on next-generation Earth system modelling, and Prof. Carlos Pérez García-Pando from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center on dust mineralogical composition and its climatic effects. Together, the invited lectures provided a broader perspective on some of the most pressing scientific challenges in dust research today.
By hosting the workshop in Cyprus, The Cyprus Institute reinforces its role as a regional hub for atmospheric and climate research in the Eastern Mediterranean, a region of particular importance for the observation and study of dust processes and impacts.
For more information about the workshop and the Dust-DN project, please visit the workshop webpage athttps://dust-dn.cyi.ac.cy/dust-dn-workshops/workshop2026/.
The Dust-DN project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101168425, as well as two national agencies: UKRI in the United Kingdom and SERI in Switzerland.
