-Keynote Speakers-
BIO
Laura is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln, UK. She is an architectural, urban and art historian with expertise in the early modern Iberian world and is particularly interested in theories of empire, encounter and globalisation. Laura has also developed an interest in digital heritage and has worked on several curatorial projects in this field. Her book Philip II & the World. Architecture, Empire, Circulations (2020) analyses ritual, imperial display and circulations in the architecture of the Iberian world during Philip II of Spain’s rule in the sixteenth century. Laura has also co-edited Festival Culture in the World of the Spanish Habsburgs (Routledge - Ashgate, 2015) and Visual and Spatial Hybridity in the Early Modern Iberian World (Special Issue Renaissance Studies, 2019). She is currently at work on two book projects: first, a monograph tentatively entitled Entangled Imperial Cities of the Early Modern Iberian World examines architectural and urban development in Lisbon, Seville, Old Goa, Havana and Santiago de Cuba through the lens of public rituals. Research for this project has been funded by the British Academy 2017-19 (for Lisbon and Old Goa) and by the 2018 Edilia and François-Auguste de Montêquin Senior Scholar Fellowship funded by the Society of Architectural Historians (for Havana and Santiago de Cuba). Second, Laura is at work on a book project that explores the Palace-Monastery of El Escorial (1563-84), through an analysis of the design and material transformation the building underwent in the 1600s and what it tells us about pan-European architectural exchange. Laura is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Oficina del Historiador in Havana. |