About
Christa Roodt is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History of Art at the School of Culture, University of Glasgow. She specializes in Art Law and the legal protection of cultural heritage, with a focus on restitution and provenance of colonial-era cultural property. Previously, she held academic positions at the University of Aberdeen and in South Africa, including roles at the University of South Africa as Research Fellow and Professor Extraordinaria.
Education:
- BLC (1985)
- LLB (1986)
- LLM (1991)
- PhD (2001)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, 2014)
Research Interests: Her work bridges law, ethics, and history, addressing complex colonial restitution claims involving sacred cultural property. Key projects include Private International Law, Art and Cultural Heritage (2015) and Restitution of Cultural Property and the Law: Complex Colonial Histories (2024). She advocates for interdisciplinary approaches to reconcile legal frameworks with ethical imperatives in heritage disputes.
Grants & Awards:
- FHEA (2014)
- International Partnership Development Funding (IPDF) for collaborative research in Washington D.C. (2017)
- Australian grant for cross-disciplinary art authentication work (2017)
Advising & Grants: Supervised over 10 PhD/MPhil students on topics like repatriation of Ethiopian sacred objects and provenance research in museum collections. Active in grant-funded initiatives focusing on cultural heritage rescue and international arbitration.
Labs & External Roles: Serves as PGR Convenor in History of Art and Deputy Dean for Internationalisation. Engaged with global networks like the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles and the Con/servare conservation research group.
