Staff Profiles
I obtained an architecture degree at the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia. During my BA studies, I received a US Department of State UGRAD scholarship to study Urban Planning at Kansas State University. During my study in the USA, I interned at Bruce McMillan AIA Architects P.A.
I worked as a cultural tour guide of a tour operator company "Georgica Travel" for about 4 years. I also collaborated with the Georgian National Tourism Administration and the World Bank on a seven-month regional development project, planning, implementing and monitoring activities and events, such as the openings of the rehabilitated historic towns of Telavi and Kvareli. After completing the project, I worked as an executive assistant to a Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, supporting the department of investments.
I obtained my first MA degree in Culture and Art Management at Ilia State University in Tbilisi Georgia. The focus of my research was the management of contemporary historic museums, with the case study of the Stalin House Museum in Gori, Georgia.
My professional path crossed with Germany when I became a DAAD scholar and moved to Cottbus to study Heritage Conservation and Site Management at Brandenburg Technical University. As part of my German MA programme, I completed a semester abroad in Cairo at the University of Helwan. During this period I volunteered at Coptic Museum in Cairo in the Department of Conservation and participated in the events of Megawara, a local organization that had created a platform for debate about architecture, urbanism and cultural heritage. Upon my return to Germany, I interned at the History Management Department of adidas in Herzogenaurach, where I assisted the colleagues with digitalization and communication processes of the collections, as well as storyline development. I finalized my MA studies with a thesis “Gori Historic Cellars, Documentation, Maintenance and Re-use”. In this research, I explored the historic centre of my hometown and traced and documented its cellars.
Before moving to Italy, to start my Marie Curie fellowship research at Roma Tre University, I held a position of an invited expert at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia. I supported the Cultural Routes Unit to develop heritage tourism in Georgia in collaboration with the CoE. At the same time, I taught a Cultural Tourism course to BA students at Ilia State University.
I am currently pursuing my PhD degree as a Marie Curie Fellow and Heriland Programme researcher at Newcastle University.
Research topic: Mass Tourism and Urban Heritage, Case Study: Rome
In the 1980s when consumption of cultural goods became easier, travelling was brought within the reach of many. This process facilitated successful maintenance, interpretation and safeguarding of heritage. Historic preservation changed its character by focusing on destination revitalization, job creation, cultural stewardship, housing, tourism, etc. With the accessibility of destinations cultural, historic, and human quality to heritage has become more vulnerable. For many travelling destinations, tourism growth has challenged places to meet sustainability goals and minimize negative effects on the environment. In many cases, adverse impact on host communities, on their lifestyle and longstanding traditions have been unavoidable. Cultural influence has been expressed in the overuse of heritage sites and outspend of their capacity.
Europe, where cultural tourism has predominantly occurred in historic cities, has been massively influenced by the progress of the travel industry. The gradual transformation of urban areas strongly altered the sense of place and caused the loss of human scale. Assessing the data of urban features and the economic aspects of the tourism industry provides an opportunity to conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Using economic and cultural valuation methods to identify the urban heritage value transformation and interrelation, the research aims to create a model that will be able to suggest how economic and socio-cultural values of heritage are influenced by mass tourism. Having found a parity pattern and the factor value of the two variables, the future, more sustainable scenarios of tourism management can be proposed in a historic city context.