Postdoctoral Research Fellow for Ethiopia
Nadia is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. She has a BA in Archaeology and History (2008) from the University of Reading, an MSc in Geographical Information Systems (2012) from the University of Leicester and a PhD in Archaeology (2016) from the Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia.
After her undergraduate degree, Nadia worked in a variety of archaeology jobs, mainly in British commercial archaeology. She also worked on university research excavations in Russia and Libya. Following her second fieldwork season on the Deserts Migrations Project and Ghadames Archaeological Survey project in Libya (2011), Nadia decided she wanted to learn more about GIS and remote sensing so did her master’s degree in the Department of Geography at Leicester. Wanting to stick with African archaeology (she sees a connection with the continent being half Libyan) she took the opportunity to do a funded PhD with Anne Haour on the Crossroads of Empires Project at the University of East Anglia. Her PhD was titled ‘A Field Survey and Geographical Information Systems based investigation of the Niger River Valley, Republic of Benin’. After completing her PhD, her first academic position was Postdoctoral Research Associate at Durham University in the Department of Archaeology working on the Persia Project. This project used remote sensing and GIS techniques to identify sites associated with the Sasanian period. Nadia preferred working in African archaeology so later took up a postdoctoral post at Exeter where she has worked since 2016, alongside Professor Insoll.
Since surveying in the Libyan Desert I have become most passionate about using non-intrusive techniques such as field walking and remote sensing technologies to understand archaeological landscapes, particularly how settlement and environment interact. I am particularly interested in how climate change and urban expansion will effect the future of African heritage sites.
Nadia is always keen to teach people skills in survey and remote sensing and has run archaeological survey and GIS training schools in Ethiopia and Tunisia, plus helping students in her own university.
Aside from archaeology, Nadia is interested in fitness, she attends her local gym regularly and has recently sold her car in favour of her bicycle (and to help the environment).
Read more about Nadia on the University of Exeter website.