Dr Lora Markova

Lora’s research interests and publications focus on transcultural aesthetics, creative innovation, and media arts. Previously, she worked as a visiting lecturer in Cultural Studies at Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany and a Postdoc Researcher in Media & Film at Edge Hill University, UK. Lora completed her PhD (Cum Laude 2017) at the University of Deusto – Bilbao, Spain with funded research mobilities at Goldsmiths – University of London, University of Birmingham, and University of Aveiro, Portugal.

Lora’s professional background involves positions at the former Netherlands Media Art Institute – NIMk (Amsterdam), the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage – ICN (Amsterdam), Greenpeace International (Amsterdam), and the European Commission (Brussels); plus, she has served as a selected EACEA/2007 Expert for the EU Culture and MEDIA programmes.

Lora’s PhD project entitled “Transcultural Aesthetics and Modalities of Cultural and Creative Trans-coding” (Cum Laude 2017) was completed at the University of Deusto – Bilbao, Spain with research mobilities at the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) – Goldsmiths University of London, the Department of Film & Creative Writing – University of Birmingham and the Department of Languages and Cultures at the University of Aveiro, Portugal (Erasmus+ mobility 2015).

Lora also holds MA Euroculture (2012) completed at Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany and Pune University, India with ALBA prize for the best MA thesis of the Erasmus Mundus Euroculture Consortium; MA Arts & Heritage: Policy, Management and Education (Cum Laude 2008) and MA Media Culture (2007) – both graduated at Maastricht University, the Netherlands with Huygens Grant for Excellence by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Her academic commitment to creative expressions started with BA in Animation (2005) from New Bulgarian University (NBU), Sofia and a Socrates Erasmus semester in Visual Semiotics at Turin University, Italy.

Prior to joining Loughborough University London, Lora authored research outputs for the REF 2021 Impact Case Study “Uncovering the Artistic Work of the British-born/Mexican Surrealist, Leonora Carrington". Read more here. 

As a Research Associate at CRAIC, Lora collaborates on several research projects on creative innovation and Creative Industries R&D. Currently, she explores emerging hybrid experiences, live events, and festivals in the (post-)pandemic creative economy. The project aims to map new modes of creative expression in terms of technology innovation and audience experience. It also explores the deployment of immersive storytelling and technology-driven participatory initiatives as tools for diverse and inclusive audience development. CRAIC’s project on hybrid experiences and festivals is also oriented towards building in-depth and contextualised understanding of creative business models transformations and value propositions.

Departing from her background in cross-cultural communication and media arts, Lora is specifically interested in the interconnection between immersive aesthetic experiences, virtual empathy, and inclusive interaction.

Research expertise

• Creative industries and innovation
• Immersive aesthetic experiences and media arts
• Co-creativity as a tool for cross-cultural dialogue
• Art and activism
• Gender, media, and migration

Lora is a member of:

• ENCATC – The European Network on Cultural Management and Policy
• IAA/AIAP – International Association of Art – UNESCO
• ISSS – International Society for the Study of Surrealism
• UBA – Union of Bulgarian Artists (visit Lora's portfolio and profile here)

Lora enjoys developing impact activities, curating and delivering public events and talks, such as:

• In Conversation with Tate Liverpool curators on “Keith Haring’s Art and Activism” – Festival of Ideas 2019, Institute of Creative Enterprise (ICE) (Watch here)
• “Symbolic Resistance and Art as a Refuge” (video lecture, 20 min) – Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange “EUROPEAN REFUGE/ES” – Sharing Perspectives Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Watch here)
  

As a visual artist, Lora has participated in international art exhibitions and presented cut-outs animations and moving image within the official selections of LOOP: Video Art Fair – Barcelona, Not Still Art Festival – New York, Glitch – Montreal, Miami International Short Film Festival, Rome Independent Film Festival, Cartoon Club – Rimini, among others.