Ruth Varela

Ruth Varela holds a doctorate in architecture from the University of A Coruña with the thesis "The exploration and construction of cultural heritage knowledge by way of graphical formalism,” for which she qualified with International Mention, summa cum laude, and Premio Extraordinario de doctorado from the University of A Coruña, UDC. She also holds a Diploma of Advanced Studies from the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Santiago de Compostela, the degree of Master in Urban Renewal and Rehabilitation from the same university, and certification of Architect by the ETSAC of the UDC.
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Her professional career is focused on carrying out projects of interdisciplinary nature involving architecture, culture, nature, science, and art. She has extensive experience in exhibition projects and ephemeral architecture, curating and designing museum exhibitions as well as cultural and scientific outreach projects. As a researcher, she received the Pontevedra Provincial Council's Research Award, for a project concerned with poetics of space in Galicia, conveying spatial and graphic translation of parts of Gaston Bachelard's work. She participated in research projects financed by the Xunta de Galicia in the areas of tourism and cultural heritage. Since 2007 she has developed a line of research on the plant Jacobean Lily (Flor de Santiago, Sprekelia Formosissima) from the perspectives of cultural history, history of science, and history of art. In 2018, the University of Santiago de Compostela nominated this project to XI BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in the category of Humanities.

She has been an FPI predoctoral researcher at the Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, integrated into the following Programs: Interdisciplinary Scientific Strategies in Heritage and Landscape, ECIPP, of the University of the Basque Country, UPV, and Architecture and Urban Planning of the UDC, currently implemented by the research group of the Higher Technical School of Architecture, ETSAC, UDC, and by Cluster della Ricerca of the IUAV University of Venice.