Rockdale archaeologist Ana Silkatcheva has won a scholarship to one of the world's most prestigious universities.
Ms Silkatcheva will step into the hallowed halls of the University of Oxford this Saturday on the back of her PhD proposal that will attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the history between Christians and Muslims through art.
She will travel to England to take up a place in an Islamic Art and Archaeology program, funded by the HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Scholarship in Islamic Art and Architecture from the university.
Ms Silkatcheva will take an innovative look at floor mosaics from the 6th to 10th centuries AD.
"This was an important transitional period in the history of the region," she said.
"At its core was an event that has had significance through the centuries until modern times: the arrival of Islam into a largely Christian region.
"During this time, floor mosaics that had been used mainly in churches began to be used also in Islamic buildings.
"Mosaics in both spaces feature a great variety of geometric patterns. The aim of my research is to find out the extent that these patterns are shared between the two artistic traditions."
Her goal is to answer the question of how Christian artistic conventions influenced early Islamic artistic production.
The research will be an expansion of her Master's by Research work completed at Sydney University in 2014 in which she focused on mosaics in a small part of the country of Jordan. The new project will cover mosaics in Jordan, Syria, Israel/Palestine and Lebanon.
Her ideas are also influenced by her second master's degree from the University of Sydney, in Museum and Heritage Studies.
"The role of the museum has changed from being an untouchable repository of knowledge to functioning as a centre for learning, social mediation, and cross-cultural dialogue," she said.
"My work will produce raw data that will allow Islamic art and Christian art to be exhibited side by side in museums to help people see for themselves, through art, the continuity and connections between Christianity and Islam.
"It is my sincere hope that my work can contribute to improved social cohesion in our politically turbulent times."
Ms Silkatcheva has lived in Sydney since 2014, and has worked on cultural heritage projects in the Illawarra region, in excavations for the Light Rail project, and other expeditions abroad in Jordan, Qatar, India and Greece.
Well-placed to bridge the gap between these two world cultures, she spent time living and working as an archaeologist in Jordan where she became fluent in Arabic - a language she taught to fellow archaeologists since 2014 at the University of Sydney's Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia.
During her undergraduate studies at the University of Adelaide she studied Ancient Greek, a major language of early Christianity, winning a medal for high achievement.
She is also fluent in Russian and French and can read German, Italian and Modern Greek.
Her potential for leadership and capacity to act as a cultural ambassador was recognised by the Australian Government in 2011 with an Australian Endeavour Award funding her original research in Jordan.
