VOLAIT

Educated in architecture, Middle Eastern studies and Art history, Mercedes Volait is CNRS emeritus Research professor at INHA (Institut national d’histoire de l’art) in Paris.

Her research focuses on nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century architecture in Cairo, with particular interest in materiality, expertise, patronage and cross-cultural interactions. She has published extensively on professionalisation, planning, housing, photography and the commodification of heritage.

Over the past twenty years, she launched and chaired several collaborative projects and networks bringing together scholars of architecture, heritage and planning in the Global South, from Europe and the Middle East. She was awarded CNRS Silver medal in 2022 for life-time achievement and outreach in her field of research.