Eleonora PAPPALARDO
Eleonora Pappalardo has been Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology (ARCH-01/D) at the Department of Education Sciences, University of Catania, since 2021. She teaches Classical Archaeology with a Laboratory in Archaeological Heritage Communication, Archaeology of Sicily and Magna Graecia, and Sustainability of Archaeological Tourism. She earned her PhD in Archaeology and Historical-Territorial Development from the University of Turin, specializing in Classical Archaeology, and obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for Full Professor in Archaeology (Academic Field 10/A1) in 2023.
She serves as President of the Master's Degree Programme (LM-49) in Planning of Sustainable Cultural and Natural Heritage Tourism, whose establishment and academic design she led. She is also Coordinator of the Multimedia Tourism Laboratory (LaTuM) and Delegate for Communication at the Department of Education Sciences. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Doctoral Board in the Department of Education Sciences, and since 2019 she has served on the Scientific Board of the School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage at the University of Catania, where she teaches Classical Archaeology.
Her research activity is distinguished by the leadership and coordination of numerous nationally and internationally funded competitive research projects, including PRIN, PNRR, INTERREG, university-funded research programmes, and a Starting Grant. She has coordinated research collaborations with leading international institutions, including the Ashmolean Museum and the University of Oxford for the project The Cretan Collection in Oxford, as well as the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP) in Philadelphia.
She is Director of major archaeological excavations in Sicily and Deputy Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Priniàs (Crete), where she has coordinated the University of Catania research team since 2019. She also serves as Scientific Director of the archaeological missions at Acquafredda/Imbischi (Castiglione di Sicilia) and Montagna di Ramacca, both conducted in collaboration with the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage of Catania.
Professor Pappalardo is actively engaged in institutional service and Third Mission activities, promoting public engagement, cultural heritage enhancement, scientific dissemination, and knowledge transfer. She is President of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Riviera dei Ciclopi Ecomuseum, Co-Director of the CASTELLUM Interactive Digital Museum of the Samothrace Foundation, and the University of Catania's representative for numerous national and international research agreements and partnerships.
She is the author of approximately 100 scholarly publications, including four monographs and eighteen articles in top-ranked (Class A) peer-reviewed journals. She received a Best Paper Award and a Young Researcher Award, and was the only Italian scholar invited to contribute a chapter to the Companion to the Ancient World (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018).
She has organized and participated, often by invitation, in numerous national and international conferences, exhibitions, and scientific initiatives, collaborating with prestigious institutions such as the British Museum, the Capitoline Museums, the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), and the Ashgabat Museum. She serves on the editorial and scientific boards of several academic book series and journals, including top-ranked publications, and is affiliated with several research organizations, including CEARC (Centre for Cretan Archaeology), CNR-ISPC (Institute of Heritage Science, National Research Council of Italy), the Academy of Pharsala, and SISTUR (Italian Society of Tourism Sciences).