Getty Welcomes 2025–2026 Conservation Guest Scholars

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) welcomes nine new residents to its Conservation Guest Scholars program.

The program, now in its 26th year, provides opportunities for established scholars as well as professionals who have attained distinction in the cultural heritage conservation field.

Recipients are in residence at the GCI for either a three-month or six-month term, in which they pursue their own projects free from work-related obligations, make use of research collections at the Getty Center and Getty Villa, and participate with other Getty scholars, fellows, and interns in the intellectual life of Getty.

2025–2026 Conservation Guest Scholars

Maddalena Achenza is associate professor in the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura at the Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. Her research focuses on the conservation, restoration, and adaptive reuse of traditional and monumental earthen buildings, and on the contemporary use of earth-based materials.
The Ninmakh Temple in Babylon. A methodological approach for the conservation and the repair of the reconstructed monuments in Babylon.
(September–December)

Ravina Aggarwal is an independent scholar in New York. Her research focuses on issues of cultural and natural heritage, environmental movements, nonprofit management, education, gender, social inclusion, and peace-building in South Asia, especially the Himalayan region of India.
Living Museums, Ghost Cultures: Heritage Conservation and Changing Land Use in the Ladakh Himalayas
(January–March)

Eleni Aggelakopoulou is head of the Conservation Department in the Acropolis Restoration Service at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Greece. Her research focuses on archaeometry and conservation materials science with a particular focus on the study of the architectural polychromy of the Acropolis monuments.
Parthenon’s west entablature in color – new scientific data versus 19th century literature
(April–June)

Cecilia Benedetti is an independent researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her research centers on issues of heritage practices, material culture, and Indigeneity in northern Argentina.
Exploring Indigenous Conservation: Chané Masks and Materiality
(January–March)

Davison Chiwara is lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. His research focuses on toxic pesticide contaminants in museum collections and the safety protocols for their handling, use, display, and storage in museums.
Institutionalization of Safety Protocols in the Handling and Use of Contaminated Collections in Zimbabwe’s Museums: Lessons from Approaches Adopted by Museums in Los Angeles, USA
(September–December)

Delia Hagen is an independent scholar in Missoula, Montana. She specializes in the spatial history of settler colonialism and marginalized groups in the 19th- and 20th-century North American West, with a focus on historical erasure, race, place, and multi-scalar, multi-modal deep-mapping.
Mapping Indigenous Montana: Reclaiming Urban Space
(January–March)

Antonio Iaccarino Idelson is an independent scholar in Rome, Italy. His research focuses on testing canvas paintings’ lining methods to allow reproducibility and a higher degree of predictability of the final results.
Aiming at Reproducibility in Canvas Painting Lining Techniques
(April–June)

Ajay Khare is professor and dean of research at the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India. His research interests are temple architecture of India and intangible cultural heritage of sacred cities, temple towns of Tamil Nādu in south India, and urban heritage conservation as historic urban landscape.
Developing an Inventory and Cultural Heritage Mapping of Temple Towns in Tamil Nādu, India: Case Study – Kanchipuram
(April–June)

Shatha Safi is director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation, Palestinian Territory. Her research focuses on cultural landscape and community involvement.
MANATEER: Preserving the Resilient Spirit of Palestinian Agriculture
(September–December)