Rick Bonnie

Rick Bonnie (PhD, University of Leuven) is University Researcher, a vice-team leader in the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires, and member of the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Sciences. His research focuses on the archaeology and heritage of the Greco-Roman Middle East. He holds a strong interest in questions relating to identity construction within the Roman Empire, the resilience and sensory aspects of Jewish religious practices through Antiquity and beyond, and object biographies, collection histories, and heritage ethics.

Bonnie currently leads two research projects. In "Religious Responses to Climate Change in the Southern Levant" (funded through the UH 3-year project funding scheme; 2019-21), his research group studies the impact of past climatic changes on the rise and fall of Jewish ritual purification baths in Hasmonean-Roman Judaea. In "Making Home Abroad" (funding through the Finnish Cultural Foundation; 2020-22), his group explores migrant experiences and engage different communities in Finland with the hidden objects from our/their past using 3D scanning technologies, teaching toolkits, and pop-up museums.

Bonnie is also co-PI of the NOS-HS Workshop series "Changing Hands, Changing Meanings: Researching Cultural Heritage Trafficking in the Nordic Region," in coordination with researchers at the universities of Agder, Stockholm and Turku.