Caroline Bridel

Caroline Bridel obtained a Bachelor's degree in Classical Archaeology and Egyptology and Coptic as well as a Master's degree in Ancient Sciences (specialising in Classical Archaeology) at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. During her studies, she was able to benefit from an Erasmus scholarship and attend two semesters of lectures at Humboldt Universität in Berlin. She also took part in various excavation projects in Switzerland, Greece and Italy, thus complementing her theoretical formation with enriching experiences in the field and in museums storerooms.

During her PhD, Caroline has worked as a Doctoral Assistant at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, as part of the SNSF Project Eccellenza entitled “Religious Competition in Late Antiquity”, under the direction of Prof. Francesco Massa (2019-2023). Her doctoral research, also under the co-direction of Dr. Anne-Françoise Jaccottet, from the University of Geneva, focuses on the production process of early Christian iconography. Using a semiological approach to images, which has not been widely applied to early Christian images, her dissertation investigates three case studies to analyse how the use of an iconographical language common to Christians and non-Christians makes it possible to extricate the reading of this material from the affective ideologies which all too often influence this field of study. During the third year of her PhD, she was admitted as a research fellow at the Istituto Svizzero in Rome as part of the interdisciplinary Roma Calling programme. This year-long stay gave her the opportunity to experience at first-hand the catacombs of Rome, which are at the heart of her doctoral research.