Dr Vanicka Arora

Lecturer in Heritage

History Stirling

Dr Vanicka Arora

Share a link

About me

I teach undergraduate and post-graduate courses in heritage at University of Stirling. My doctoral work at Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University examines post-disaster reconstruction of built heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. I have over a decade of professional experience in India, where I specialised in areas of planning and policy for disaster risk reduction of heritage sites, conservation and adaptive re-use of built heritage, and urban regeneration. I am currently exploring temporalities of disasters, longer trajectories of recovery and the role of climate change in producing specific kinds of heritage and memory.

heritage, disasters, South Asia, urban regeneration, globalisation, post-colonial theory, climate change, visual analysis, generative AI

Award

BNAC PhD Dissertation Prize 2023
https://www.bnac.ac.uk/…tion-prize-2023/


Event / Presentation

Co-Chair (Resilience), ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium, 2023
https://icomosga2023.org/scientific-symposium-chairs/
Co-chair for the Resilience Theme for the ICOMOS International General Assembly and Symposium on 'Heritage Changes'

Heritage and Recovery: A Decade of Learning from the Gorkha Earthquake
Victoria & Albert Museum
https://cultureincrisis.org/…orkha-earthquake
The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme in partnership with the University of Stirling and Social Science Baha, organised an international conference held from 2 to 4 April 2025, in Lalitpur, Nepal.


Other Academic Activities

Assistant Editor for Landscape Research


Professional membership

Association of Critical Heritage Studies

British Nepal Academic Council


Outputs (18)

Book Chapter

Arora V (2023) The Politics of Post-Disaster Reconstruction of Heritage [Reconstruction as recovery:The politics behind why heritage is funded internationally, nationally, and locally]. In: Jigyasu R & Chmutina K (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Cultural Heritage and Disaster Risk Management. 1 ed. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge.


Book Chapter

Arora V (2022) Reconstructing Memory and Desire in Bhaktapur, Nepal. In: "Invisible Cities" and the Urban Imagination. Literary Urban Studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13048-9_16


Website Content

Arora V (2020) (Re)constructing heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Issues [Online] 27.07.2020. https://issues-journal.org/2020/07/27/reconstructing-heritage-in-bhaktapur-nepal/


Conference Paper (published)

Arora V & Murthy M (2016) Re‐discovering Uttarkhand’s Cultural Identity: Issues for consideration during post‐disaster reconstruction. In: Johnson C & Conference Scientific Committee (eds.) Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts. Conference Proceedings. 2015 international i-Rec conference Reconstruction and Recovery in Urban Contexts, London, 06.07.2015-08.07.2015. L’Observatoire universitaire de la vulnérabilité and la reconstruction durable (Œuvre Durable), funded by Fonds de recherche du Québec, Société et culture (FQRSC), Canada. http://www.grif.umontreal.ca/i-rec/i-Rec2015/conferenceIREC2015papers.htm


Teaching

I design, coordinate, and teach across the MSc in Heritage (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/pg-taught/heritage/#panel_1_1) programme, including Heritage: critical perspectives (HERPP01), and recently introduced module: Heritage, Risk and Resilience: Managing Change in the Anthropocene (HERPP08 ). I also deliver guest sessions for Heritage, Identity and Place (HERPP04).

I am currently working on our soon to be released Heritage Placement (HERPP11) which will be on offer in 2024-25.

I also teach across the taught undergraduate programmes: History and Heritage (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/ug/history-heritage/) and Heritage and Tourism (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/ug/heritage-tourism/), including guest sessions for Interpretation and Exhibition Design (ARTUHR5), Heritage Portfolio (HISUHX7) and the recently designed module on Heritage, Colonialism, and Globalisation: Discourses, Institutions, and Practices (ARTUHE6).

I supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in heritage.