The presentation event takes place on 20 January 2020 and is designed to convey the project’s objectives for the next two years and take stock of the work done thus far. The initiative, of great importance within the local panorama, focuses on heritage studies, particularly the work of researcher Catarina Tente, the IEM deputy director, about Cava de Viriato and the period prior to the founding of the Portuguese nation.

Biographical note:
Born in Lisbon in 1974. Tente holds a degree in History, Archaeology option from the Faculty of Arts, the University of Lisbon (1997), a Master’s Degree in Medieval History and Archaeology from NOVA FCSH (2005) and a PhD from the same university in 2010 in History, specialist field of Archaeology.

She was a senior technician at the Portuguese Institute of Archaeology (General Directorate of Public Administration) between 1998 and 2003, and sub-director of the same institute between 2003 and 2006.

Between 2007 and 2010 she was a FCT PhD grant holder and taught as an invited assistant at the Nova of Lisbon and Algarve universities. Since 2012, she has been an Assistant Professor at the NOVA FCSH Department of History and coordinator of the Archaeology undergraduate degree. Presently, she is also Deputy Assistant Director for Research at that institution.

She has been an integrated researcher at the Institute of Medieval Studies since 2012, where she has developed several research projects focused on the High Middle Ages in the Beira region. She has directed several research projects, for example The Upper Mondego: boundary land between Christians and Moors, funded by the FCT and the Interdisciplinary Study of High Medieval Communities – the case of Viseu, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. She also participates in several international projects, mostly devoted to the study of high medieval communities and transhumance as well as serving as the national representative in Ruralia, the European Association for the Study of the Medieval Rural World.  

Throughout her career, she has established partnerships with various municipalities for the development of the study and protection of cultural heritage, including the neighbouring municipalities of Viseu: Sátão and Vouzela. In 2015/16, she became a member of the Viseu Heritage Working Group.

Currently supervising several master’s and doctoral theses, including two that focus on studying the city of Viseu in the Middle Ages.