Marcela Szalanska is Digital Heritage Coordinator for the Maritime Asia Heritage Survey, based at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS). Before joining the MAHS, she worked as a Geomatics Officer on a large infrastructure project in the UK covering a range of sites spanning multiple historical periods. Prior to that she volunteered with the Centre for International Heritage Activities (CIE) on mutual heritage projects between the Netherlands and several other countries including India, Sri Lanka, and Australia, as well as on a culture and development project in Afghanistan. Her previous experience also includes work in the field of cultural emergency response in developing countries.
Apart from interests in technological solutions fostering the preservation of cultural heritage, Marcela’s main research interests include cultural property protection during conflict and disaster with a particular focus on engagements between the heritage and humanitarian sectors from the perspectives of international law and heritage policy. She holds an MA in Archaeological Heritage Management from Leiden University, an MLitt in Cultural Property Protection from Newcastle University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Remote Sensing from the Military University of Technology.
She likes visiting museums and ancient monuments wherever she goes, and enjoys eating pancakes and ramen.