This project proposes a interdisciplinary research of the relation between the cultural identity and environmental changes (be it natural, social, political or technological changes)in istro-romanian communities. Istro-romanians were researched especially from the historical and linguistic points of view. There never was a systematic research of their culture. Or, istro-romanians and their culture are almost extinct. The istro-romanian dialect appears in the unesco red book for endangered languages with the observation seriously endangered. This project comes as an answer to both the urgency of the research of this culture and respectively the creation of a basis for strategies to maintain the identity of the istro-romanians.

The project has thus two components: the first – fundamental research deals with the role played by memory in defining the cultural identity of istro-romanians in the dynamic relation to a changing environment; the second deals with the creation of a date bank which will include: an oral history archive, historical sources, memoirs, literature and images – concerning the culture and the environment of istro-romanians; this is necessary in view of the implementation of new cultural politics as well as economical projects, including here cultural tourism. The purpose of this project is the study and understanding of the dynamic of the cultural identity of istro-romanians under the pressure of environmental changes. The methodology  used includes field observation , the research of value orientation of istro-romanians using  the kluckhohn-strobeck-salzmann questionnaire, as well as the comparison of different sources and different records(written, pictures, monographic).