Department of Conservation and Restoration, FCT-UNL

LAQV-REQUIMTE - Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry

office 408, tel. +351212948300, ext. 10945

email: mjm@fct.unl.pt

short CV / research interests:

Maria João Melo is Associate Professor at the Department of Conservation and Restoration of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology-New University of Lisbon (DCR/FCT-UNL) and a Research scientist at REQUIMTE.

After a PhD in Physical Chemistry (1995), specifically in Photochemistry, she decided to apply her expertise towards conservation of works of art. As Italy is a leader in this area, she choose a PostDoc in Florence, working at the Italian Research Council (CNR). At her return to Portugal in 1998, she participated in the creation of the Department of Conservation and Restoration at FCT-UNL, where she is presently the coordinator of its Master and PhD Program in CR.

Her current research subjects are focused in the study of the colour of Portuguese Medieval Illuminations and the study of the molecules of colour in Art, namely the photophysics and photochemistry of historic dyes. The former research is carried out in colaboration with Adelaide Miranda, art historian and expert in Romanesque illuminations  (Institute of Medieval Studies, UNL), and the latter with photophysic João Sérgio Seixas de Melo (Coimbra University) and conservation scientist Marco Leona (MET/NY, USA). Other research interests include the conservation of Modern Art Works, in particular, the study of polymer photodegradation.

As one of the leading conservation scientists in the world (h-index of 20), her present challenge is to strengthen her interdisciplinary research and approach, at the frontiers of the social and natural sciences, promoting public engagement with the conservation of cultural heritage

5 selected publications:

http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-8594-2011

1.    Joana Lia Ferreira, María Jesús Ávila, Maria João Melo and Ana Maria Ramos, "Early aqueous dispersion paints: Portuguese artists' use of polyvinyl acetate, 1960s-1990s”, Stud. Conservat., 58 (2013) 211-225

2.    Maria J. Melo  and Ana Claro, "Bright light: microspectrofluorimetry for the characterization of lake pigments and dyes in works of art", Acc. Chem. Res., 43 (2010) 857-866. special issue dedicated to the topic of Advanced Techniques in Art Conservation

3.    Catarina Miguel, Ana Claro, António P. Gonçalves, Vânia S. F. Muralha, Maria João Melo, "A study on red lead degradation in the medieval manuscript Lorvão Apocalypse (1189)", J. Raman Spectrosc., 40 (2009) 1966-1973.

4.   Micaela M. Sousa, Maria J. Melo, A. Jorge Parola, Peter J. T. Morris, Henry S. Rzepa, and  J. Sérgio Seixas de Melo, "A study in mauve. Unveiling Perkin’s Dye in Historic Samples", Chem. Eur. J., 14 (2008) 8507-8513.

5.    Maria J. Melo, Micaela Sousa, A. Jorge Parola, J. Sérgio Seixas de Melo,  Fernando Catarino, Joaquim Marçalo, Fernando Pina "Identification of 7,4’-dihydroxy-5-methoxyflavylium in “Dragon’s blood”. To be or not to be an anthocyanin." Chem. Eur. J., 13 (2007) 1417-1422.