Elena Badea

Elena Badea is a chemist and heritage scientist  whose work integrates molecular insight with cultural stewardship. After completing her PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University “Dunarea de Jos” of Galați, she undertook an influential postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Turin from 2002 to 2006, contributing to European research on parchment damage assessment, thermal metrology, and the thermodynamics of model biological systems, including small peptides. Since 2006, she has maintained her long-standing collaboration with Turin as a research fellow, developing an interdisciplinary approach that combines microcalorimetry, thermal analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, NMR MOUSE, microscopy, and non-invasive diagnostics, which is now central to heritage science.

A distinctive strength of her career is the transfer of advanced research into real conservation settings. At the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, she led the non-invasive damage assessment for projects on Marco Polo’s Will and the Missal of Saint Mark Basilica, helping to translate laboratory knowledge into restoration decisions and institutional care strategies.

Throughout this work, her research excels at connecting molecular-scale changes to the performance, stability, and conservation needs of real historical objects, while also extending to sustainable materials and greener leather technologies.

Vision: to read the hidden histories of collagen-based artefacts through rigorous science, and to turn that knowledge into practical, sustainable tools for the libraries, archives, and museums entrusted with cultural memory.