I graduated in Archaeology at Ghent University in 2015, specialising in Roman Mediterranean Archaeology. My Master thesis focussed on the location of Roman honorary statues on fora in Italy. In 2016 I obtained an FWO-scholarship (2016-2020) for my PhD on Roman economic architecture and space and its spatial organisation in towns. The thesis contributed to three pertinent topics in the study of Roman economic space. The first topic covers the use of non-invasive survey techniques, among which aerial photography and geophysical survey, for the identification of urban economics buildings and spaces. I assessed how such techniques can contribute to debates on urban zoning. Overall, I sought to widen the methodological approach on Roman economic infrastructure, by drawing away the focus from excavation data. The second topics concerns one type of economic building in close-up, the macellum or specialized food market. I integrated the macella that have been identified by non-invasive survey techniques into the research and demonstrated the potential of such techniques for the detection of this specific type of market buildings. Further, I presented a new distribution map and questioned the identifiability of these markets in the archaeological record. The third topic dealt with the use of space syntax methodology, a set of theories and analytical techniques aimed at calculating spatial relationships and accessibility in cities. By examining the location of the macellum in several towns, I have measured the accessibility of this economic building type and have reconstructed how the building was related to wider movement patterns. In doing so, I have not only explored the potential of space syntax for the study of the spatial organisation of economic buildings, but I have also provided a critical evaluation of the use of space syntax on Roman towns.
In January 2021 I have been awarded with a six month postdoctoral fellowship at the Belgian Academy in Rome. From July 2021 until April 2022, I will work as postdoctoral research assistant on a joint Ghent-VUB project that studies the effects of climate change on Roman society.
