Gordon Lobay

Gordon Lobay is interested in the strategies governments use to protect cultural property, his research focuses on archaeological looting, the antiquities trade and the impacts of legal instruments on both the market and the protection of archaeological sites. He is also interested in exploring markets of scientific specimens in geology, meteorites and palaeontology. He holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge, Homerton College, (2007) which examined trends in the antiquities market using auction sales.

His key work includes analyses of the US-Italy Bilateral Agreement (2001), results from that work were originally published in Criminology and Archaeology: Studies in Looted Antiquities, 2009, eds. S. Mackenzie & P. Green. He was invited to submit results to the US State Department’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) during the renewal phases of the Agreement in 2006, 2011 and 2016. He also collaborated with colleagues at Cambridge and Italian authorities to locate artefacts on the market using photographic evidence of looted antiquities from a litigation case in Italy.

Gordon worked on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project ‘Criminalizing the Market in Looted Antiquities’ that evaluated the UK’s Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003. At the University of Alberta he was Collections Management and Museum Planning Advisor, working with 30+ museum collections across Faculties. He held roles at the University of Texas, Institute of Classical Archaeology, and excavated at several sites in Europe and North Africa. He also has government experience in Canada and the UK. Gordon is a Partner at Perrett Laver where he specializes in helping universities find academic leaders and research chairs.