Élia Roldão is a photograph conservator with a PhD in Conservation Science from FCT NOVA, awarded in 2018. Her doctoral research focused on the preservation of black-and-white film-based negatives. Currently, her research is mainly on black-and-white photographic prints and mixed-media photo artworks from Helena Almeida and Ernesto de Sousa.
She began her specialization in photographs conservation in 2000 when she started working at Luís Pavão Lda (LUPA). From 2000 to 2010, she participated in several conservation projects at LUPA, undertaking tasks such as collections inventory and preservation, and conservation and restoration treatments. She also did cataloguing, description, and digitization of collections, and was responsible for project and team management.
Throughout her career, Élia has worked with several Portuguese collections, including those of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Museu Benfica – Cosme Damião, Fundação Serralves, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea and Museu Coleção Berardo. Her responsibilities have included producing documentation for exhibitions and carrying out conservation and restoration of photographs. Additionally, she has been involved in several projects focused on the preservation of photography.
Since 2023, Élia is an Assistant Professor at DCR, FCT NOVA. In 2018, she co-founded NEON Art Conservation Lda., the first company in Lisbon dedicated to the conservation of modern materials.