The research approach applied for reconstructing long-term changes in marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is relatively new and must be multidisciplinary while dealing with periods that date back well before the birth of “modern science”. Up till now, the activities carried out world wide in this research field have been characterized by a certain heterogeneity in terms of approach and methodologies. One of the main reasons is, among others, the many difficulties that emerge due to the different languages and backgrounds, which characterize humanities, social sciences, environmental and ecological disciplines. As a result, building a common base for communication and knowledge between these “separated” worlds is of great necessity.

The curriculum of the Summer School is therefore multidisciplinary and aims to reach the following outcomes:
- to strengthen the basis of multidisciplinary approach in the framework of marine environmental and ecological history studies with special emphasis to the Mediterranean Sea, including the Black Sea.
- to contribute to build up bridges between humanities, social sciences, environmental and ecological approaches especially in students and young scientists, providing a common language and a better understanding of reciprocal needs and potential.

Whereas humanities (history, archaeology, zoo-archaeology) and social sciences (anthropology) may provide valuable analyses and data regarding both historical insight of humans settlement and of the use of natural resources, the environmental and ecological disciplines may provide methodologies to analyze gathered and more recent data in the context of ecological theory and build up predictive models which might shed light on the possible trends in marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.