Ir. Yaël Antonaros

Yaël Antonaros graduated in 2022 from the Bruface program of the École polytechnique de Bruxelles (Université libre de Bruxelles, ULB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB) with a MSc in chemical engineering and materials science. During her studies, she completed a two-month R&D internship at Asahi Glass Europe (AGC Glass Europe) on glass tempering. Her master’s thesis, titled Step-Growth Frontal Polymerization of Epoxy-Amine Thermosets, explored frontal polymerization in thermosetting materials.

In 2023, she pursued a complementary master in archaeological sciences at the ULB. As part of this program, she conducted a joint internship and master’s thesis at the radiocarbon dating laboratory of the Royal institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels. Her research centered on developing pretreatment protocols for the radiocarbon dating of wood and bone samples contaminated by conservation products.

Yaël’s research aims to investigate how the nanoscale composition of ceramic matrices influences lipid preservation and transformation in archaeological ceramics, and their extraction. Minimizing biases in lipid extraction is essential for accurate results in view of refining the archaeological interpretations of artifact use and cultural practices. Innovative analytical techniques bridging organic and inorganic chemistry will be used.