Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
I lead on international research and teaching in Heritage and Digital Methods at the University of Edinburgh. At Edinburgh, I am the founder and director of the Heritage Minds Lab and of the MSc in Cultural Heritage Futures. Webpage: https://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/chiara-bonacchi
I am working to develop international research and teaching in Heritage at the University of Stirling, after five years undertaking and leading on AHRC-funded research in digital heritage, public and medieval archaeology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. I remain Honorary Research Associate at UCL and Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Florence, Italy. I co-lead research funded by a number of different bodies internationally and including the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. My main projects are currently: Ancient Identities in Modern Britain (ancientidentities.org) MicroPasts (micropasts.org)
Co-Investigator on the project 'Iron Age and Roman Heritage: exploring ancient identities in modern Britain', funded by a substantial grant from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project will explore how ideas and materials from the Iron Age, Roman and Early Medieval periods are drawn upon today by a range of stakeholders in England, Scotland and Wales. The project is sub-divided in two main parts, one focussing on offline ethnography at Durham University and one centred on the analysis of digital culture at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. To collect and analyse data on- and off-line, we will develop and apply a both qualitative and data-intensive methodology comprising the application of methods such as ethnography, topic modelling, network analysis and crowdsourcing. Project team: Prof. Richard Hingley (PI, Durham Archaeology); Dr Chiara Bonacchi (Co-I, UCL Archaeology), Dr Thomas Yarrow (Co-I, Durham Anthropology). Website: http://ancientidentities.org ---- Other active collaborations and projects I am involved in / leading on: Public Archaeology and Digital Curatorship in Italy, with Paolo del Vesco (Museo Egizio). MicroPasts http://micropasts.org http://research.micropasts.org https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHoSalhpL825RuHkQh2tbjg Coordinator of UCL Archaeology and Communication Research Network (CASPAR) http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/directory/communication_network http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/caspar Assistant Editor for Archaeology International http://www.ai-journal.com Teaching at UG and PG levels contributing to: PhD Student Induction course (heritage studies series), Public Archaeology, Introduction to Archaeology, Medieval Archaeology.
Co-founder of MicroPasts (micropasts.org), which pioneered a novel model to support collaborative research in archaeology, history and heritage that draws on crowdsourcing, co-design and crowdfunding. I have led on the public archaeology research strand of the project, examining online community development, volunteer motivations and behaviour, and the value of this participation for different members of the public, academics and institutions involved. I am now managing and undertaking the MicroPasts Knowledge Exchange research programme, to: (1) study and implement a community-led model of platform and project management that is sustainable in the longer-term; (2) inform heritage policy and practice in the UK, and guide private and public investments in participatory projects that use crowdsourcing and/or crowdfunding. Coordinator of the UCL Institute of Archaeology (UCL IoA) Archaeology, Media and Communication Research Network and assistant editor of Archaeology International. I lecture as part of the UCL IoA Public Archaeology MA Course and the MPhil/PhD Student Induction course. Adjunct lecturer in Public Archaeology at the post-graduate School of Specialisation in Archaeology of the University of Florence. Taught and supervised BA and MA students in Public Archaeology, Heritage & Museum Studies. Member of the Medieval Petra archaeological mission (Florence University).
I worked on social research projects commissioned by UK government departments to develop and evaluate their policies. As part of my job, I helped the Development Director to design strategies for communicating research findings to key stakeholders and target audiences in ways that could enhance the public impact and value of research projects.