College: Robinson College
Email: jj596@cam.ac.uk
Supervisor: Prof Robert Gordon
Research Topic: Transformation of Urban Heritage in Post-war Rome, 1944-1951: Transnational Flows and National Identity
About Me:
Jiayao is a PhD student at the Italian Section, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge. She received an MA (cum laude) in Architectural Conservation from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, as well as BA & MA in Architecture Design and Theory from Nanjing University, China. She has been awarded international grants for academic exchange programs in the U.S.A and Belgium for cultural heritage studies.
As a dedicated member of ICOMOS-China, she has participated in some restoration projects for modern heritage in China. Her research experience extends to several international institutions, including the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institute in Rome. Moreover, she has enriched her expertise through work at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) for World Heritage and Capacity Building, and at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Amman office for World Heritage management.
Her doctoral research, funded by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP, is co-supervised by Prof. Robert S.C. Gordon (Cambridge) and Prof. Abigail Brundin (British Schools at Rome). Her research is titled ‘Transformation of Urban Heritage in Post-war Rome, 1944-1951: Transnational Flows and National Identity.’ The specific focus of the research will be on the remarkable and complex transnational flows of individuals and groups, civilian and military, moving through Rome during this period.
Research interest:
Architectural Restoration, Urban Heritage, Heritage in Conflict, Digital Humanities.
Scholarships/Prizes:
Full PhD scholarship from the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP Collaborative Doctoral Award, UK Research and Innovation (2023-2026) Judy and Nigel Weiss Studentship, Robinson College (2023-2026) Cambridge-BSR Doctoral Student Awardee, British School at Rome, Italy (2024) The Italian Studies Library Research Award, The Notre Dame Center for Italian Studies and Notre Dame Global, US (2024) European Heritage Youth Residency, Europa Nostra (2024) Sponsored Trainee at UNESCO, China Scholarship Council (2022-2023) Grants for Foreign and Italian Citizens Living Abroad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italian Government (2018-2020)
Fellowships: AHRC Fellow at the Kluge Center, Library of Congress, US AHRC Fellow at the Huntington Library, US
Publications:
‘Reinterpreting Destruction: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Beijing And São Paulo’, Architectural Design and History Journal, 3 (2024) (Forthcoming)
‘The "Chinese Curved Roof" for a Christian University: Interactions Between Building Technology and Cultural Perception in the Case of the University of Nanking’, in Building Technology and Culture in the Asia-Pacific Region, ed. by Giaime Botti, Eugenio Mangi, Hiroyuki Shinohara (Singapore: Springer Nature, 2024).
‘Theory and Practice of Italian Urban Conservation After World War II’, Architectural Journal, 11 (2022), 104-111. DOI: 10.19819/j.cnki.ISSN0529-1399.202211017 (In Chinese).
‘Comparative Urban Morphological Study of Rome and Leuven’, in Annual Conference Proceedings of the XXVIII International Seminar on Urban Form (Glasgow: University of Strathclyde Publishing, 2022), 282-289. ISBN 9781914241161.
‘The Role of Oval Piazza in Urban Morphology: Piazza San Pietro and Piazza Del Popolo in Rome’, in Book of Abstracts of the VIII AACCP Symposium, Cities in Evolution, Diachronic Transformations of Urban and Rural Settlements (Istanbul: DRUM Press, 2021), 165-167. Co-authored with F. Amaral.
‘Urban Perspectives Within Baroque Architecture: Borromini in Rome’, in Conference Proceedings of the VI. International City Planning and Urban Design Conference CPUD '21 (Istanbul: DAKAM, 2021), 62-83. ISBN: 978-625-7034-09-8. Co-authored with P. Senna.
The Misunderstanding and Technical Promotion of Chinese Architecture in the Modern West (Nanjing: China Master’s Theses Full-text Database, 2019). Publication No.1019116975.
‘Ferguson and China’s Early-stage Research on Museum Spaces’, Southeast Culture (2018), 35-41. (In Chinese)
Conference Papers:
‘War’s Toll of Italian Heritage: Unveiling Italy’s Postwar Reconstruction through Transnational Exhibitions’, unpublished paper delivered at the 18th International Docomomo Conference (Santiago, December 10-14, 2024)
‘UNESCO and New Humanism in Post-War Heritage Conservation’, unpublished paper delivered at the International Workshop ‘Humanism between Ideal and Ideology. Images and Notions of the Human after 1945’ (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, November 28-29, 2024)
‘Visualising the Housing Revolution in Post-war Rome: Sponsored Films and the Construction of Modernity’, unpublished paper delivered at the JICMS Fourth International Conference ‘Re-Examining the Past and Envisioning the Future of Italian Cinema and Media’ (American University of Rome, June 13-15, 2024)
‘Rethinking The Venice Charter: Towards an Inclusive Approach to Global Heritage Conservation’, unpublished paper delivered at the conference ‘Venice Charter (Re)formed: 1964-20224, New Heritage Challenges’ (University of Lisbon, May 27-30, 2024)
‘Transformation of Urban Memory: Porta Maggiore of the Aurelian Wall in Rome’, unpublished paper delivered at the international workshop ‘Perspectives on the Materiality of City Walls in Chinese and European History’ (KU Leuven, April 26-27, 2024)
‘Reconstruction Of Urban Heritage in Post-War Rome, 1944-1951: Transnational Flows and National Identity’, unpublished paper delivered at the international workshop ‘The Lessons of Rome, 7th edition’ (MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE LYON, March 15, 2024)
‘Integrating HBIM for Preventive Conservation: A Case Study of Porta Maggiore in Rome’, unpublished paper delivered at the ICOMOS Austria CHNT 28 Conference ‘Cultural Heritage and New Technologies’ (Vienna, November 15-17, 2023)
‘Internationalism In Galileo Chini’s Work for the Tamerici Spa: Transnational Influences and National Building in Stile Liberty’, unpublished paper delivered at the workshop ‘New Leisure for a New Nation, Art and Entertainment in Italy from Nation-building to Liberation’ (Bibliotheca Hertziana-Max Planck Institute, November 22-23, 2023)
‘Vicko Andric And the Restoration Projects for Split: The Italian Approach in the Dalmatian Context’, unpublished paper delivered at the conference ‘Restoration and Promotion of Architectural Monuments in Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and First Half of the 20th Centuries’ (Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, ETH, Zurich, July 7-8, 2022)
‘How To Construct The ‘Chinese Curved Roof for a Christian University in the Early 20th Century?’ unpublished paper delivered at the international symposium ‘Building Technology and Culture in the Asia-Pacific Region: Histories and Projects, School of Architecture’ (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 24-25, 2022)
‘Exploring the Restoration Technology of Art Deco Architectural Heritage’s Facade—A Case Study of the Former “Zhejiang Qinghe Changji” Jewellery Shop’, unpublished paper delivered at the conference ‘Conservation Technology of Built Heritage’ (Tongji University, June 6-9, 2018) (In Chinese)
Other activities and roles:
PhD Student SSLC Representative, MMLL, University of Cambridge
Cambridge Student SLC Representative, Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership
Departmental Visiting Student, Humanities Division, University of Oxford
