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Miss Paula Granados-Garcia

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Profile summary

  • Research Student
  • Research Student
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Arts & Humanities
  • Classical Studies

Professional biography

I am  a full-time PhD student in classics and digital humanities. 

I graduated in History of Art from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2013 where I specialised in Ancient Art in Early Roman Spain, writing my dissertation on Pre-Roman sanctuaries in the Iberian Peninsula. After completing my undergraduate degree, I received a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Spanish to Adults (GCTSA) First Class accredited by Instituto Cervantes London and Roehampton University.

I studied for an MA in Classical Art and Archaeology at Kings College London and University College London as an intercollegiate student, taking modules related to Classical Art and Digital Humanities. During the completion of this degree I gained expertise in academic research related to the Classical world. I also developed my knowledge of Digital Humanities through the research methodology-focused Digital Classics module at the Institute of Classical Studies and through collaboration with the Heritage Gazetteer of Cyprus project at the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London. My MA dissertation "HYBRID SCULPTURE, Sculptures from the Seville region, III BC - I BC: Iberian identity and Roman influence" looked at Ibero-Roman art and the manifestation of cultural contact in artistic artefacts.

Since completing my GCTSA, I developed a deep interest in linguistics and language teaching and have been working as a Spanish teacher to adults in London. 

Research interests

Thesis subject: Cultural Contacts in Early Roman Spain through Linked Open Data.

Supervisors: Phil Perkins, Ursula Rothe, Gabriel Bodard (Institute of Classical Studies). 

Outline of research project

Whereas the study of the Roman colonisation of the Western provinces has always been of interest to scholars, few studies have been published on the abundant evidence that the Iberian Peninsula has provided for understanding the dynamics of this colonial encounter. It is only in recent decades that various questions have been raised relating to the adaptation of indigenous peoples to the new ways of behaving and cultural phenomena introduced by the Romans.

While traditional approaches have mainly looked at primary sources and therefore the traditionally 'Roman' perspective of the conquest, current and more widely accepted schools of thought argue for a new reading of events based on the connections between different pieces of evidence that can now be carried out thanks to the use of Digital Humanities.

One of the main issues in making data effective is to ensure that the data has some relevant context. The way in which the data is collected and how can we interpret, reuse and contextualise this information should be the main concerns of any research. This proposal is the first step of a comprehensive study of cultural/social/ political contacts and identities in Early Roman Spain by means of connection to and creation of Linked Data resources.

The main problem that this research will address is understanding the dynamics of a colonial encounter where the data is fragmentary, heterogeneous and interdisciplinary. Using Linked Open Data resources and other digital technologies, this study will provide the possibility of making effective relations through large amounts of data. These relations will allow us to provide the data with some relevant context and therefore to interpret, reuse and contextualise the information in a much broader way, aiming to break through the current impasse in scholarship.