SONIA
GUTIERREZ LLORET

Sonia Gutiérrez Lloret is Professor of Archaeology and director of the Archaeology and Heritage Research Group at the University of Alicante. Her academic interests are broad and multidisciplinary, being transversality one of her main strengths. Her fields of action are medieval archaeology with special interest in the transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages, studies on al-Andalus and medieval Islam, archaeology of architecture and valorisation of historical heritage, although her scientific interests extend beyond the limits of her area of specialization, covering the archaeology of the present times, material heritage, the debate on historical memory and public uses of history. She has developed most of her academic career in a university environment, where she obtained one of the first chairs of Medieval Christian and Islamic Archaeology in Spain in 2003. As a researcher, she opened new perspectives in the conceptualization of the archaeological discipline, opening it to the post-classical periods, a task in which she was a pioneer in Spanish university teaching, and making science visible to women, as she was one of the youngest professors in the academy. She is a reference in medieval and post-medieval archaeology, with special expertise in al-Andalus, where she has applied a critical reflection to the essentialist accounts of traditional Spanish historiography. She participated in the construction of a new history of al-Andalus, far from the colonial visión. From an academic perspective, she has been and is a member of international committees, and has held various positions in research evaluation and management in the main national research evaluation agencies (ANECA CNEAI, ANEP). She was responsible for the creation of the Institute of Archaeology and Historical Heritage in 2014, of which she was its first director. She was also director of the Scientific Council of the La Alcudia University Foundation for Archaeological Research and responsible for its Master Plan. She promoted the creation of the university master's degree in Professional Archaeology and Integral Heritage Management at the University of Alicante in 2007, one of the first in Spain, and coordinated it until 2010.