Louise Cooke

Louise Cooke is a conservation expert interested in sustainability, historic buildings, archaeological sites and landscapes. She is internationally recognised for her expertise in the study and conservation of Earth Buildings.
She undertook an undergraduate degree in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham and then worked for the Museum of London Archaeology Service before joining the Archaeology Commissions team at English Heritage. In 2001 she was based in Lebanon working on the archive from the post-civil war Beirut Souks excavations. She then returned to study at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, undertaking an MA in Managing Archaeological Sites, and her PhD researching approaches to the conservation of earth structures. Her fieldwork was undertaken in Central Asia and the Middle East with particular focus on the multi-period earthen cities of Ancient Merv (Turkmenistan).

From 2006 Louise combined teaching for the Open University with a wide-ranging portfolio of heritage consultancy work including work in the UEA, Peru, Turkey and the UK including the development of a £3.5 million HLF funded Landscape Partnership Scheme. She joined the Department in York in 2016.