Dr. Verónica Carla Abenza Soria is currently Juan de la Cierva-Formación Postdoctoral Researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales – Instituto de Historia, Madrid) (2021-2023). Previously, she had joined the Department of Art and Musicology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona as History of Art lecturer in January 2019, after having taught there as part-time lecturer of Byzantine Art at the UAB (2014/15-2015/16). Her degrees are from UAB [BA, History of Art; MA, Analysis and Management of Artistic Heritage; PhD, History of Art (Cum Laude-International Mention, Extraordinary Doctoral Award)]. In 2013, she was awarded a 4-year Research Fellowship (FPI) in support of her PhD thesis entitled EGO REGINA: Female Artistic Patronage in Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia (1000-1200). She has collaborated actively in several highly competitive Research Projects (HAR, PDI, RTI, and ERC). She has also been awarded several grants for international research stays, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, New York, USA (2015, 4 months), and Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy (2017, 9 months).
Her research has been devoted to the study of Romanesque and Byzantine art and architecture while focusing on female artistic patronage together with artistic exchange in the medieval Mediterranean. Her current scientific interests include historical and art historical matters concerning Medieval Art and Illumination from al-Andalus, Byzantium, and the Christian Kingdoms of Iberia. She has discussed the results of her research at multiple international forums, including Universität Heidelberg, The Byzantinist Society of Cyprus, University of Oxford, Sapienza Università di Roma, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Università degli Studi di Milano, University of Western Michigan, Lincoln University. She is member of the research group MAGISTRI CATALONIAE-Cultural Studies of the Medieval Mediterranean (11th-15th Centuries), established as Consolidated Research Group of the Generalitat de Catalunya since 2017 (SGR 2017-231). In 2021 she joined the CSIC Research Group Networks of Power in Medieval Societies (Institute of History), and the CSIC’s Interdisciplinary Research Platform Social and Cultural History of the Mediterranean (PTI MEDhis). She has an excellent record of international publications both in leading Art History journals and refereed collective volumes. She is now extending her teaching experience by organizing and participating in postgraduate courses at the CSIC and Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (2022 Summer Course Leer Objetos, Materializar Textos), and also giving seminars, invited talks, and lectures within the postgraduates programmes at UAB and UCM. She is the co-technical editor of Pintar fa mil anys (Publicacions de la UAB, 2014), and Entre la letra y el pincel (Círculo Rojo, 2017).
