Valentina Loncaric is a candidate for a joint PhD in Archaeology and Science at the University of Évora (Portugal) and KU Leuven (Belgium), where she is conducting a multi-analytical study of Iron Age glass adornments for her research project which aims toprovide a fresh geographical perspective on the topic production, trade and use of Iron Age glass jewellery. Her approach focuses on the implementation complementary technological, traceological, chemical, spectroscopic and isotope analysis of ancient vitreous artefacts to understand aspects of production organisation, ancient trade and exchange, and identity renegotiation brought on by cultural contacts between technologically, politically, and culturally different groups of people. In 2023, she was awarded the FCT PhD scholarship for her PhD proposal " Unlocking the Mysteries of Iron Age Glass: An Interdisciplinary Investigation into the Organizational Aspects of Glass Production and Trade in Europe", application number 2023.03646.BD. Her work is mainly linked to the HERCULES Laboratory (University of Évora), an R&D unit devoted to the study and safeguarding of Cultural Heritage (CH), where she previously worked on the FCT-funded project PP-nGLASS (EXPL/HAR-ARQ/0381/2021). She is also receiving expert training in Sr and Nd isotopic analysis at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven. During her first year of PhD, she published an original research article in a peer-reviewed journal Heritage, participated in several scientific conferences, and organised a session for the 30th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists. She holds a double MA in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Zagreb and an MSc in Archaeological Materials Science (ARCHMAT) from the University of Évora, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Sapienza University of Rome. During her studies, she participated in, and directed research projects whose results were presented at scientific conferences, including international conferences and congresses, like the International Scientific Conference on Methodology and Archaeometry (MetArh), the Experimental Archaeology Conference (EXARC #EAC), and the International Congress Chemistry for Cultural Heritage (ChemCH). She also authored several articles for the student peer-reviewed journal Fragmenti, published by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Zagreb. The quality of her work on digital image analysis of ceramic fabrics was recognised with the SAS best poster prize during the 10th MetArh conference in 2022. She is a member of several professional associations, including the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), the Society for Archaeological Sciences (SAS), the Association for the History of Glass (AHG), and the International Association for the History of Glass (AIHV). Outside of her research, she is actively involved in popularisation of archaeology and implementation of sustainable strategies for CH in local regional development as a member of an NGO ZipArh, which she presented at the 15th International Conference for Cultural Tourism in Europe.