Early Career Achievement Prize
Jorge Rouco Collazo
Jorge Rouco Collazo. Courtesy of Jorge Rouco Collazo.
Dr. Jorge Rouco Collazo is awarded the 2025 Early Career Achievement Prize on the grounds of social, innovative, interdisciplinarity and international impacts of his early career work.
Dr. Rouco Collazo is a medieval archaeologist, specialized in Building- and Landscape Archaeology. He is currently in a postdoctoral position at the University of Siena. His main research is medieval Islamic societies, especially their fortifications and associated rural landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula. Dr. Collazo’s multidisciplinary technical skills include GIS, photogrammetric surveys and the use of drones’ survey. Combining field research, virtual archaeology, 3D modelling and applying 3D printing he has developed a new way of investigating the landscape.
The Criteria:
Societal impact
Dr. Rouco Collazo has participated in several research and teaching projects bringing together academic institutions and regional and local stakeholders to enhance understandings of historical heritage. These programs include prioritise community archaeology and achieve significant profile and impact in national, regional and local media. His multiple award-winning PhD thesis on the history of fortifications and landscape in the Alpujarras (Granada, Spain), was singled out for its focus on social knowledge transfer and was also recognised a best PhD to be published.
Innovative Impact
Dr. Rouco Collazo’s work has invested in the potential of new technologies for the dissemination of cultural heritage including accessibility for disabled people. Recently he received an award for the best PhD in Digital Humanities. He has received several additional awards which highlight his innovative approach to historic landscape and archaeology which has reached a very large audience.
Interdisciplinary impact
Dr. Rouco Collazo is an experienced archaeologist and academic who is conversant with photogrammetry, topography and the archaeology of architecture, teaching modules and short courses on these specialised areas that cross into other disciplines. With his significant experience in landscape and fortification documentation, he has innovated his landscape analysis by using terrestrial and aerial (drone) methods to integrate GIS, satellite imagery and remote sensing data. Dr. Rouco Collazo has published widely on topics ranging from medieval and modern fortifications to irrigation systems and ceramics. In this way he has spread the knowledge to archaeologists and a wide range of other disciplines.
International impact
Besides his extensive work in Spain, Dr. Rouco Collazo worked as an archaeologist in Italy. Between 2023 and 2025 he was part of the StateHorn ERC Project, during which he developed his research expertise in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland, collaborating with colleagues in capacity-building of local expertise. As part of the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council (INCIPIT-CSIC) new approaches to digital techniques of data acquisition have been developed and used in archaeological work. Focusing on digital technologies, his research contributed to overcoming serious logistic challenges of vast areas and difficult terrain to achieve rapid documentation. The quality of the documentation of cultural heritage has therefore seen immense improvement.
In 2025, Dr. Rouco Collazo has been working on the Pilgrimage Routes Project in Saudi Arabia, where he is developing GIS and landscape studies. He is also contributing significantly to the capacity-building programme there.
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Honorary Mentions
Dr. Simon Radchenko is awarded an honorary mention for the 2025 Early Career Achievement Prize. Dr. Radchenko is a postdoctoral researcher at the Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, Norway. He awarded his PhD in 2023 and then got employed in Stavanger under the Researcher at Risk scheme.
Dr. Radchenko’s artifact-based research utilises innovative digital imaging to capture detailed surface information about prehistoric parietal and portable art, including engravings, achieving detailed records of manufacture traces and damage. As Simon Radchenko is of Ukrainian nationality, he is also highly committed to the preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Societal Impact
Dr. Radchenko carries out voluntary cultural heritage protection work in collaboration with the Ukrainian cultural heritage community. By digitising artefacts, these objects are safeguarded and preserved for future generations. Dr. Radchenko’s work has supported the European Commission’s goals for the protection of heritage at-risk.
Dr. Radchenko has trained Ukrainian-based museum staff and researchers in digital recording skills. This dissemination of skills has a longer-term impact beyond the immediate digital conservation of artefacts. It helps museum staff to safeguard cultural heritage under threat from war. His production of 3D digital replicas has a far-reaching impact, enabling current and future research and public engagement.
Innovative impact
Dr. Radchenko’s TEMPA-3D project is groundbreaking, bridging digital humanities and experimental archaeology, transforming the study of portable rock art. Demonstrating the innovative impact of his work, the 3D-modelling of artefacts was patented in Ukraine as part of Radchenko’s PhD.
Dr. Radchenko introduces a novel approach to understand ancient engraving practices. He has pioneered the integrating photogrammetry, surface analysis, and archaeological context to produce reproducible, measurable insights into how these artefacts were created. This makes it possible to preserve and portray portable rock art not just as static objects, but as dynamic processes, capturing the act of creation. The digital preservation is ensuring long-term access to fragile collections.
Interdisciplinary impact
Having acquired degrees in Literature, Geoinformatics, Photogrammetry and a PhD in Digital Archaeology, Dr. Radchenko possesses extensive interdisciplinary skills and knowledge.
Dr. Radchenko’s postdoctoral research on Mesolithic portable art items from Ukraine and Norway integrates experimental and digital archaeology. His project stands out as a model for interdisciplinary research, pushing the boundaries of archaeological science and digital heritage, with potential to reshape how we interpret and preserve ancient art.
International impact
Dr. Radchenko held a PhD position in Italy, before moving to Norway. His MSCA Fellowship included a secondment at the University of York. He leads on the co-authorship of a publication bringing together Ukrainian, Norwegian, and UK-based specialists. Dr. Radchenko organised several scholarly meetings aimed at uniting Ukrainian and foreign scholars from diverse institutions and addressing common challenges, needs and expectations.
Dr. Radchenko’s international impact is evidenced through field collaborations with researchers at several European and American universities. Most recently he setup a cultural heritage NGO with a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the University of Turin, now being considered by the Global Partnerships at the University of York.
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Juliana Figueira da Hora is awarded an honorary mention of the 2025 Early Career Achievement Prize. She is a Collaborating Professor at the Graduate Program in Archaeology at the University of São Paulo.
Social impact
Dr. Figueira da Hora’s research focuses on the religious life of the Northern Aegean during the Archaic and Classical periods, with attention to hybrid interactions between Greeks and Thracians through the lens of religion and material culture. She has led numerous initiatives that connect academic research with public history, museology, and cultural heritage management. She coordinated exhibitions, developed digital platforms, and designed participatory workshops that broaden public access to archaeology. Through these programs she has fostered inclusive and socially engaged narratives, attentive to gender and cultural diversity. She also co-coordinates a public-facing research cluster on ancient religion. Her work underscores the relevance of archaeology in public discourses on identity, diversity, and memory.
Innovative Impact
Dr. Figueira da Hora’s results are characterized by methodological originality and conceptual innovation. Her project "ProGlocal – Norte do Egeu" offers a novel framework for investigating sanctuary networks in the Northern Aegean, combining archaeological theory, post-colonial critique, and global perspectives. The project integrates advanced digital tools, relational databases, and 3D modelling to analyse hybrid religious spaces and spatial dynamics. She has developed a digital methodology for the mapping and analysis of cultic and symbolic landscapes that have influenced both academic and heritage-related practices. Her earlier work in museology explored participatory approaches to exhibition curation.
Interdisciplinary Impact
Dr. Figueira da Hora’s academic background and professional activities span archaeology, ancient history, religious studies, museology, heritage law, and public policy. She works with philologists, anthropologists, legal scholars, museologists, and historians of religion, participating in networks that explore cultural rights and archaeological ethics. Her research is integrated into national and international collaborative structures. Among her most active international collaborations is the University of Bristol about research on connectivity and cultural hybridity in ancient religious landscapes. Her capacity to link archaeological research with education, law, and museology has enabled her to build bridges across institutional and disciplinary lines. Dr. Figueira da Hora supervises students on master and doctoral level, coordinates undergraduate teaching and research seminars that address religion, identity, memory politics, and material culture.
International Impact
Dr. Figueira da Hora is currently a visiting fellow at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster. Her international training includes research stays at the École Française d’Athènes and Sapienza Università di Roma, as well as fieldwork and scholarly visits to Greece, Austria, and Israel. She has participated in major international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes in English, and Portuguese. Figueira da Hora has also organized and led bilateral workshops, coordinated international summer schools, and participated in editorial collaborations between Brazilian and European institutions. Her role in fostering interinstitutional cooperation and her ability to connect research agendas across continents demonstrate her active and influential role in the internationalization of Brazilian archaeological research.