Roberta Zanini

I love to define myself as a multidisciplinary girl and the reason for this can be understood from my academic background. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Environmental Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan, I attended the master's course in Science for Conservation and Restoration at the University of Parma, graduating with honors in 2018. I then won a PhD in Chemistry scholarship at the University of Ca' Foscari in Venice, offered by the Centre for Cultural Heritage Technology, a branch of the Italian Institute of Technology.

My research project aims to investigate the corrosion of archaeological glasses for the development of nano-materials useful for their protection and consolidation. My research starts from the study of the corrosion mechanism of ancient Roman glass and its process using multi-analytical techniques to study the material from a macroscopic point of view down to the nanometric scale to understand the composition of the bulk and the surface layer. In particular, I use the Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) technique for the chemical and surface characterization of ancient materials to understand the origin of raw materials, manufacturing, and the conservation status of artifacts.

Currently, I am working on the design of nanomaterials as an ideal protective coating to stop the alteration process by limiting the interaction between the surface of ancient glass and the environment.