Biography

Antonieta Reis Leite (Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, 1975) is an assistant researcher at the Centre for Social Sciences from the University of Coimbra, where she is an elected member of the Board of Directors, serving as vice director (2023-2027). At the moment, she holds a competitive position as a fellow CEECind FCT - Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research, and Technology (2020-2026), and she is also an invited assistant professor at the Department of Architecture from the University of Coimbra lecturing on the History of Portuguese Architecture. She was trained as an architect and obtained her degree from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2000, she was also trained in art history and obtained her DEA from the University Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain) where she studied the History of Art and Architecture in Iberoamerica. She holds a PhD from the University of Coimbra in 2012 for diachronic research in the Azores islands' settlement process and built environment history. She has held funded postdoctoral positions at CHAM FCSH University NOVA of Lisbon and the University of Azores (Portugal) (2014-2017) and the Centre for Social Sciences from the University of Coimbra (2014-2019), where she was coordinator of the research group on Culture, Architecture and Urban Studies (2019-2022). She has worked on the building process of the Portuguese Atlantic World, focusing on the islands and Atlantic shores building process and on how this interconnectivity between peripheral and central areas was and still is important to understand the Atlantic World. Her work emphasizes the importance of an interdisciplinary approach relating to architectural and urban history, memory, and heritage studies. Her work is informed by local and colonial historical sources and foresees contributing to an informed action on heritage in the postcolonial present. She is the author of one book, scientific papers, and book chapters. She participates in funded research projects in her area of expertise.