Maria João Melo

mjm@fct.unl.pt

Maria João Melo is Full Professor at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of NOVA University of Lisbon. She is a researcher at LAQV-Requimte, being the head of the Cultural Heritage group. She is also a collaborative researcher at VICARTE and at Institute of Medieval Studies at NOVA. After a PhD in Physical Chemistry, she decided to apply her expertise towards the conservation of works of art. At her return to Portugal in 1998, she participated in the creation of the Department of Conservation and Restoration at FCT-NOVA. She was its president (2017-19) and acts as the coordinator of its PhD Program CORES (funded by FCT-MCTES, 1.3 M€). She is the author of over 120 publications (Web of Science). She serves in the editorial board of Heritage Science and Dyes and Pigments.

Representative works:

Her present challenge is strengthening her interdisciplinary research and approach at the frontiers of the social and natural sciences, promoting public engagement.

1) Publications: 

– “A 1000-year-old mystery solved: Unlocking the molecular structure for the medieval blue from Chrozophora tinctoria, also known as folium“, Sci. Adv. 2020; 6 : 17 April 2020; https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/16/eaaz7772/tab-pdf; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz7772

– ” Red Dyes from West to East in Medieval Europe: From Portuguese Manuscript Illuminations to Romanian Textiles “, in Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia. Anthology of COST Action “CA 19131 – EuroWeb”, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Louise Quillien, Kalliope Sarri (Eds.), Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2024, pp. 143–168. Online PDF edition http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/

2) Exhibition:

– Exhibition “A Bibliotheca iluminada. Produção e circulação da Bíblia em Portugal. Itinerários dos manuscritos iluminados românicos ” at the National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, BNP), October 28 2021-January 22 2022. Curated by Maria Adelaide Miranda and Luís Correia de Sousa. Participation dedicated to color materials, medieval colors and inks.