Written by – Sara Scaglia & Sara Krubeck
Summer didn’t mean slowing down for our UPF Doctoral Candidates. Between conferences, research visits, and new collaborations, Sara Scaglia and Sara Krubeck have plenty to share, both in their work and in the adventures that came with it. Read below to hear about their summer journeys and what made them truly inspiring.
Sara Scaglia
It is with great pleasure that I participated in the Biennial Meeting of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA 2025) held in late July in the Algarve, Portugal. As my research focuses on land use and anthropogenic land cover in North Africa and the Sahara over the Holocene, my paper was included in a session focused on the importance of critical use and development of cartography, past, present, and future, within African archaeology. I presented the data I have gathered so far and explained how I intend to continue my study.
Discussing and receiving feedback from many researchers from around the world was fantastic. Connecting to people who are in more advanced stages of their careers, who are also dealing with the same methodology, gave me food for thought. Presenting my PhD research at such a huge and stimulating conference was an honour and a challenge. I had the opportunity to engage in interesting conversations with old and new colleagues over the week.
And what better way to network with colleagues than over delicious Portuguese cuisine and breathtaking ocean views? We were based in Faro, in the South of Portugal, where the University of Algarve is based. The city is very nice and authentic, and we could smell the ocean breeze even from the campus. I also had some time to wander around the city and visit the nearby beaches with some great colleagues. All in all, the experience was deeply rewarding, both professionally and personally.
Sara Scaglia at SAfA 2025, discussing land use in North Africa.
Sara Krubeck
In mid-September, I travelled to Denmark for a brief, but very inspiring research stay at Aarhus University. I am grateful to my colleague Andreu Arinyo i Prats, a fellow researcher from Aarhus, who invited me there for inter-project collaboration based on our shared research topic: resilience. During my three days at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies on Moesgaard Campus, I held two presentations about my project, focusing on the archaeological resilience framework I developed for studying past dryland agriculture.
Furthermore, I embraced the opportunity to get in touch with the local AGRI-DRY members: my fellow doctoral candidate, Mudit, my mentor, Felix Riede and one of the lead scientists in the project, Alejandro Ordonez. The many discussions with Andreu, my AGRI-DRY colleagues and other local researchers of various academic backgrounds provided me with valuable feedback and a lot of food for thought. Now back at the UPF in Barcelona, I have refined my methodology, adjusted my focus and started writing the first paper for my doctoral thesis.
It was a great experience to build and profit from a network of researchers, get insights into the various archaeological and palaeoecological projects at Aarhus University, and most of all discuss and defend details of my own methodology. After work, I also enjoyed visiting the city centre of Aarhus with an underground Viking Museum and impressive public roof terraces, as well as Moesgaard with its huge Archaeological Museum, a Prehistory Trail through the woods and a quiet beach. I am looking forward to return to Aarhus University next year for one of my AGRI-DRY secondments.
Impressions from Moesgaard; top: at a burial mound along the Prehistory Trail (Oldtidsstien); bottom: campus of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University.
We hope our Sara(s) inspired you too – it’s hard not to when there are two of them! 💪
And keep following AGRI-DRY on LinkedIn and Instagram for all the exciting science coming up.
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