Elena Pol. Una mujer con el pelo hasta los hombros y un jersey de cuello alto de color claro sonríe cálidamente a la cámara. Está en el interior, con una pared de color claro y cuadros enmarcados parcialmente visibles al fondo.
Elena Pol. Una mujer con el pelo hasta los hombros y un jersey de cuello alto de color claro sonríe cálidamente a la cámara. Está en el interior, con una pared de color claro y cuadros enmarcados parcialmente visibles al fondo.
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Dr. Elena Pol

Professor

PhD in Art History with a thesis on the aesthetics of reception supervised by Valeriano Bozal. Since 1999 she has been Director of the company Interpretart. She has taught masters courses at the University of Zaragoza, the University of Salamanca and others.

She is a member of the Technical Council of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville. Since 1985 she has worked alongside Mikel Asensio on museums, heritage and education.

Together they have taught courses at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. Both have lectured in Europe, Asia and the Americas, including two lectures in Washington at the Smithsonian Institution and a conference organised by the Chinese government in Nanjing as part of the training programme for Chinese museum directors. Both have been members of ICOM since 1993.

After research stays at U.S. universities and museums, they pioneered the introduction of visitor studies and exhibition evaluations in Spain. This perspective entails an architecture and an exhibition designed around the user (user-design perspective). It is essential to understand the differences between user segments — hence the need for evaluation — and to provide mediation for the different levels of accessibility (cognitive, physical and emotional engagement).

Building on the exhibition evaluation work, they have progressively been asked to take part in museological design and master plans for museums and heritage parks, as well as in the design and development of public, educational and inclusive programmes. They have advised on museum projects and programmes for six government ministries and many regional and local administrations. Among the museums they have helped open: the Museum of the National Library, the Museum of Wine Sciences, the Museum of Human Evolution, the Hidalgo Museum, and museum projects such as the National Transport Museum of Málaga, the National Energy Museum, the National Health Museum, the Cajal Museum and the Fine Arts Museum of Córdoba. They have carried out research and planning for La Caixa Foundation, the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Centre, the Marítim Museum of Barcelona, the Museum of the History of Barcelona, the Army Museum, the National Roman Art Museum, the National Sculpture Museum and the National Museum of Decorative Arts. In the United States they have run evaluations at institutions including the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Field Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. They are currently developing a study along the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver axis on the museums of the North-West.

Within two European projects they have studied virtual reality (V-Must) and augmented reality (ArtSense). More recently they have developed several digital mobile-learning tools, including a tablet app on Columbus’s first voyage that provides supplementary information, guides visitors through the rooms, sets challenges and awards badges. They have also designed tablets for the Atlantic Centre of Modern Art and the Cueva Pintada Museum and Archaeological Park.

Together they have taken part in more than 40 international, European, national and local research projects. They are currently collaborating on the following ongoing projects: ‘MakingHistories’, a European project on historical thinking and the learning of history in memorial classrooms and museums, with institutions from 9 countries; ‘PlayingPast’, a recovery-plan project on video games and the learning of history; and ‘Oretania’, an R&D project on the Iberian world at the Cerro de las Cabezas archaeological site, recently upgraded to an archaeological park (the project has just secured a further European NextGenerationEU grant for valorisation work).

ONGOING PROJECTS:
- Museological project for the Visitor Centre of Timanfaya National Park
- Museological project for the Site Museum of the Zonzamas Archaeological Site
- Strategic Plan for the museums and centres of the Department of Culture of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria
- Initiatives in the Canary Islands and Madrid for the development and adaptation of museums for people on the autism spectrum (ASD)
- Family-audience study for the COSMOCAIXA science museum.

More than 250 articles, chapters and books have been published on informal learning, visitor studies and museums, art psychology and education.
See publications on this same site.