Project Founder, Apsara Iyer
Apsara Iyer is interested in empirical assessments of the threats to cultural heritage, from tourism to trafficking. In 2015, for Yale's Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, she evaluated the role of transnational strategies in the protection of cultural heritage in Turkey, Peru, and Colombia. Since 2013, her research has aimed to quantitatively analyze the factors that motivate the formation of illicit markets for antiquities. As a Bouchet Fellow at Yale University, she studied the role of "taboo trade-off" deliberations in the valuation of artifacts by local Peruvian vendors. She is a volunteer researcher at the Trafficking Culture initiative, contributor to the Cultural Property Repatriation Index, and has volunteered at the University of Pennsylvania Cultural Heritage Center's Safeguarding Syrian Heritage Initiative. She excavated in Cusco, Peru with the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology in 2010, completed a B.A. in Economics & Mathematics and Spanish at Yale University in 2016, and is pursuing an MPhil at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar.
Volunteer Researcher, Silvana Cincotti
Silvana Cincotti studied at the University of Siena-Italy, where she received her M.A. degree in History of Art. She worked for the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy and she has joined the Epigraphic Survey of CFEETK in Karnak (Egypt). She currently teaches cultural economics at the University of Turin. She is completing her PhD in Egyptology at the University of Montpellier, focusing on the excavation of the Temple of Karnak during the XIX century and the unpublished manuscripts of Jean-Jacques Rifaud in Geneva. Her first book was published in 2011, dedicated to the architecture of the ancient Egyptian garden.
Volunteer Researcher, Kirit Mankodi
Kirit Mankodi is an archaeologist based in Mumbai, India. He holds a Masters and Doctorate degree in Archaeology. He has authored The Queen's Stepwell at Patan and other publications; he hosts the Plundered Past website (http://www.plunderedpast.in/), which aims to collate police alerts and information on stolen antiquities.
Volunteer Researcher, Niko Efstathiou
Niko Efstathiou is a Yale Fox Fellow based in Istanbul, Turkey, currently researching the role of the Rum Orthodox population in shaping the last years of Ottoman diplomacy. He has previously worked in the European Parliament in Brussels as well as the environmental consulting sector in Spain. Niko currently works as the Istanbul Key Ambassador for the NO Project, a political activism NGO that raises awareness on modern day trafficking and slavery through art workshops and exhibitions. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, with a concentration on the dissolution of Empires and their impact on modern day international relations, nationalism and cultural underpinnings.
Volunteer Researcher, Kerim Bensel
Kerim is a student at Yale University, majoring in political science with a focus on the Middle East. Born and raised in the beautiful and historic city of Istanbul, he serves as president of the Yale Friends of Turkey organization and has been involved in other campus communities as well, Turkish and non-Turkish alike. He also helps run Calhoun College's recording studio, and in his free time, he enjoys making videos, and taking photos.
Data Scientist, Pranav Maddi
Pranav Maddi is interested data mining, cloud based information architectures, and stochastic algorithms for optimizing search engines. A Computer Science major at Yale, he is leads YHack, a student-run hackathon, and competes with Yale Alpine Ski Team. Last summer he worked as an intern at Mozilla developing Firefox.
We also wish to thank our contributors from institutions around the globe (pages forthcoming).
-Helder Toste, (Yale University)
-Alana Saab, (New York University)
-Sara Cabrera, (UNSAAC)
-Beatriz Tikona (UNSAAC)
Apsara Iyer is interested in empirical assessments of the threats to cultural heritage, from tourism to trafficking. In 2015, for Yale's Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, she evaluated the role of transnational strategies in the protection of cultural heritage in Turkey, Peru, and Colombia. Since 2013, her research has aimed to quantitatively analyze the factors that motivate the formation of illicit markets for antiquities. As a Bouchet Fellow at Yale University, she studied the role of "taboo trade-off" deliberations in the valuation of artifacts by local Peruvian vendors. She is a volunteer researcher at the Trafficking Culture initiative, contributor to the Cultural Property Repatriation Index, and has volunteered at the University of Pennsylvania Cultural Heritage Center's Safeguarding Syrian Heritage Initiative. She excavated in Cusco, Peru with the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology in 2010, completed a B.A. in Economics & Mathematics and Spanish at Yale University in 2016, and is pursuing an MPhil at the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar.
Volunteer Researcher, Silvana Cincotti
Silvana Cincotti studied at the University of Siena-Italy, where she received her M.A. degree in History of Art. She worked for the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy and she has joined the Epigraphic Survey of CFEETK in Karnak (Egypt). She currently teaches cultural economics at the University of Turin. She is completing her PhD in Egyptology at the University of Montpellier, focusing on the excavation of the Temple of Karnak during the XIX century and the unpublished manuscripts of Jean-Jacques Rifaud in Geneva. Her first book was published in 2011, dedicated to the architecture of the ancient Egyptian garden.
Volunteer Researcher, Kirit Mankodi
Kirit Mankodi is an archaeologist based in Mumbai, India. He holds a Masters and Doctorate degree in Archaeology. He has authored The Queen's Stepwell at Patan and other publications; he hosts the Plundered Past website (http://www.plunderedpast.in/), which aims to collate police alerts and information on stolen antiquities.
Volunteer Researcher, Niko Efstathiou
Niko Efstathiou is a Yale Fox Fellow based in Istanbul, Turkey, currently researching the role of the Rum Orthodox population in shaping the last years of Ottoman diplomacy. He has previously worked in the European Parliament in Brussels as well as the environmental consulting sector in Spain. Niko currently works as the Istanbul Key Ambassador for the NO Project, a political activism NGO that raises awareness on modern day trafficking and slavery through art workshops and exhibitions. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, with a concentration on the dissolution of Empires and their impact on modern day international relations, nationalism and cultural underpinnings.
Volunteer Researcher, Kerim Bensel
Kerim is a student at Yale University, majoring in political science with a focus on the Middle East. Born and raised in the beautiful and historic city of Istanbul, he serves as president of the Yale Friends of Turkey organization and has been involved in other campus communities as well, Turkish and non-Turkish alike. He also helps run Calhoun College's recording studio, and in his free time, he enjoys making videos, and taking photos.
Data Scientist, Pranav Maddi
Pranav Maddi is interested data mining, cloud based information architectures, and stochastic algorithms for optimizing search engines. A Computer Science major at Yale, he is leads YHack, a student-run hackathon, and competes with Yale Alpine Ski Team. Last summer he worked as an intern at Mozilla developing Firefox.
We also wish to thank our contributors from institutions around the globe (pages forthcoming).
-Helder Toste, (Yale University)
-Alana Saab, (New York University)
-Sara Cabrera, (UNSAAC)
-Beatriz Tikona (UNSAAC)
