Kate will analyse the burial traditions and practices of the early Caliphate in the Levant and North Africa. She will carry out her research within the VICI research project ‘Land, Space, Power: Landscapes of the early caliphate,’ funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and led by Prof Petra Sijpesteijn. This project explores the multidimensional dynamics of place-making and the ways by which Arab-Islamic society organised its understanding of the environments in which it operated. Bringing together religious and cultural topography, patterns of land use, and systems of government, the ‘Land, Space, Power’ project will trace the processes and narratives that fashioned the landscapes and geographies of the Arab-Islamic empire across political-administrative boundaries in (what are now) Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia from the Arab-Islamic conquest to the Mamluk takeover (650-1250 CE).

At UrbNet, Kate worked within the 'Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability in Antiquity' project. Her time at UrbNet enabled her to further hone her skills in digital tools like GIS and deeply engage with archaeological research on complex ancient sites such as Palmyra, Jerash and Khirbet al-Khalde. The work within the collaborative and interdisciplinary environment at UrbNet provided Kate with the expertise and skills that she can draw on during her current PhD position.