Špela Ledinek Lozej’s primary research field is material culture, ranging from architecture and dwelling culture to livelihood strategies (trade between urban centres and their hinterlands, pastoralism, dairy farming) and food (foodways and food branding).

In recent years, her work has focused on heritage and related practices and processes from the perspective of critical heritage studies, addressing issues such as shaping, management, and use of heritage, participatory approaches, the role of heritage in regional development and economy, and the dynamics between local heritage practices and supranational policies (e.g. UNESCO).

She pays particular attention to methodological questions, including the relationship between ethnographic fieldwork and project-based work, visual ethnography, and walking as a research practice and method (e.g. walking seminars). 

Among her key achievements are the scientific monographs Od hiše do niše: razvoj kuhinje v Vipavski dolini (2015), Govorica predmetov (2021), and Hodopisi (2023), numerous scholarly articles, the leadership of several national and international projects (e.g. Episkop, AlpFoodway, ZBORZBIRK, THETRIS), and the leadership of the inter-institutional interdisciplinary research group Heritage on the Margins (see website Heriscope). 

Scientific articles

2025

• Ledinek Lozej, Š., & Rogelja Caf, N. (2025). Heritage on the margins? Central and Eastern European perspectives. Traditiones, 54(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.3986/Traditio2025540101

2024

• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2024). Isolation and connectedness in the Bohinj Alps: Experiences of a majerca. Traditiones, 53(2), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.3986/Traditio2024530202

2022

• Ledinek Lozej, Š., & Razpotnik Visković, N. (2022). Branding, labelling and certification: Geographical and anthropological insights. Acta Geographica Slovenica, 62(2), 51–61.  https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.11265

2021

• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2021). Labelling, certification and branding of cheeses in the southeastern Alps (Italy, Slovenia): Montasio, Bovec, Tolminc and Mohant cheese. Acta Geographica Slovenica, 61(1), 153–168. https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.8746
• Rogelja Caf, N., & Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2021). Hodim, pišem, raziskujem: Refleksija hoje in pisanja v etnološkem in antropološkem raziskovanju [I walk, I write, I research: A reflection on walking and writing in ethnological and anthropological research]. Etnolog, 31, 67–86. https://www.etno-muzej.si/files/etnolog/pdf/0354-0316_31_Rogelja_Ledinek_Hodim.pdf
• Ledinek Lozej, Š., & Pisk, M. (2021). Collections, walks, and cultural landscapes: Slovenian-Italian cross-border heritage initiatives. Traditiones, 50(1), 79–105. https://doi.org/10.3986/Traditio2021500106

2020

• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2020). Znamčenje tolminskega sira [Branding Tolmin Cheese]. Traditiones, 49(3), 53–80. https://doi.org/10.3986/Traditio2020490304

2018

• Godina-Golija, M., & Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2018). Pomen in cilji projektov ohranjanja dediščine prehrane: Register nesnovne kulturne dediščine, Etnofolk in AlpFoodway [The Importance and Objectives of Projects Aimed at Safeguarding Food Heritage: Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Etnofolk and AlpFoodway]. Etnolog, 28, 85–103. https://www.etno-muzej.si/sl/etnolog/etnolog-28-2018/pomen-in-cilji-projektov-ohranjanja-dediscine-prehrane-register-nesnovne-kulturne-dediscine-etnofolk
• Ledinek Lozej, Š., Rogelja Caf, N., & Kanjir, U. (2018). Walks through the multi-layered landscape of Šavrinkas’ Istria: Eggs, books, backpacks and stony paths. Landscape Research, 43(5), 600–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2017.1336207

2016

• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2016). Frankfurtska ali švedska kuhinja? Prispevek k zgodovini migracij in prilaščanj oblik(ovanja) [A Frankfurt or a Swedish kitchen? A contribution to the history of migrations and design appropriation]. Etnolog, 26, 127–146.  https://www.etno-muzej.si/sl/etnolog/etnolog-26-2016/frankfurtska-ali-svedska-kuhinja-prispevek-k-zgodovini-migracij-in-prilascanj-oblikovanja
• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2016). Dairying in the mountain pastures in the Julian Alps: Heritages, utopias and realities. Studia Ethnologica Croatica, 28, 91–111. https://doi.org/10.17234/SEC.27.1

2015

• Ledinek Lozej, Š., Peče, M., & Ivančič Kutin, B. (2015). Linking local cultural heritage collections from the Slovenian-Italian border region with ICT. Pregled Nacionalnog centra za digitalizaciju, 27, 52–64. 

2014

• Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2014). Šavrinke – preprodajalke med osrednjo Istro in obalnimi mesti ter nosilke simbolnih identifikacij: Družbenozgodovinske okoliščine delovnih migracij in šavrinizacije istrskega podeželja [Šavrinkas – Migrant Women Traders between Central Istria and Coastal Towns and Bearers of Symbolic Identifications: Sociohistorical Conditions of Labour Migrations and the “Šavrinization” of the Istrian Countryside]. Dve domovini, 40, 47–55. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/10812/9965
• Ledinek Lozej, Š., & Peče, M. (2014). Povezovanje krajevnih zbirk kulturne dediščine z informacijsko-komunikacijskimi tehnologijami: Primer “ZBORZBIRK” [Connecting Local Cultural Heritage Collections with ICT: the Case of ZBORZBIRK]. Knjižnica, 58(3), 41–57. https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-EKLLCHTW/6100c223-e5a1-4faa-adf2-f74519f0ebfe/PDF 

2013

• Šmid Hribar, M., & Ledinek Lozej, Š. (2013). The role of identifying and managing cultural values in rural development. Acta Geographica Slovenica, 53(2), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS53402

• Heritage on the margins: new perspectives on heritage and identity within and beyond national (research programme • January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2027)
• EPISCOPE OF BORDERSCAPES: Projections of the Gorizia Region's pasts and futures as part of European Capital of Culture, Nova Gorica 2025 (applied research project • January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2025)
• Migrants'emplacement at the micro-level: Restaurants as the contact zones (January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2027)
• Wildlife in Borderlands (fundamental research project • March 1, 2026 - February 28, 2029)
• Route biographies: walking and writing as methods for researching border regions (fundamental research project • October 1, 2022 - December 31, 2025)
• 100% Local (applied research project • August 1, 2019 - January 31, 2021)
• SY_CULTour (applied project • March 1, 2011 - March 1, 2014)
• ETNOFOLK Ohranjanje in pospeševanje etnološke kulturne dediščine v Srednji Evropi (international project • May 1, 2011 - April 30, 2014)
• THETRIS – THEmatic Transnational church Route development with the Involvement of local Society (international project • July 1, 2012 - December 31, 2014)
• Triglav National Park: Heritages, acteurs - strategies, questions, and solutions (fundamental research project • July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2014)
• ZBORZBIRK Cultural heritage in collections between the Alps and Karst (international project • October 1, 2012 - March 31, 2015)
• Alpfoodway: a cross-disciplinary, transnational and participative approach to Alpine food cultural heritage (INTERREG • November 1, 2016 - October 31, 2019)
• DRIM (Danube Region Information Platform for Economic Integration of Migrants) (international project • January 1, 2017 - June 30, 2019)
• AlpTextyles - Collaborative solutions for a heritage & consumer sensitive relocalization of sustainable, circular, and innovative Alpine textile value chains (applied project • November 1, 2022 - October 31, 2025)

• Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU, Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures program, modul Heritage and Heritage Processes in a Critical Perspective (Heritages, heritage processes and practices in Slovenia, course coordinator)
• University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology – co-teaching the doctoral seminar Heritage Practices, Processes and Communities: An Introduction to Critical Heritage Studies (2025/2026, together with Prof. Mateja Habinc)
• co-supervision of the doctoral dissertation by Manca Filak, Visual Ethnography of Housewives’ Everyday Life in Slovenia (2025, University of Ljubljana)
• co-supervision of the master’s thesis by Arianna Pischiutti, Territori montani di confine: la gestione agrituristica delle malghe [Border Mountain Areas: The Agritourism Management of Alpine Pastures] (2022, University of Udine)
• co-supervision of the master’s thesis by Karin Radovič, I racconti di Marija Franca: traduzione dallo sloveno e commento [The Stories of Marija Franca: Translation from Slovenian and Commentary] (2017, University of Udine)
• lecture at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain (2023)
• lecture at University of Udine, Italy (2017)
• lecture at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), Lima, Peru (2019)
• lecture at Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie), Poland (2014)

• European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2015 – Special Mention of the Jury in the category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising for the action plan Cultural Heritage and Development of the Črni Vrh Rural Community (with D. Bole, J. Kozina, P. Pipan, and M. Šmid Hribar)
• The ZBORZBIRK project (Cultural Heritage in Collections between the Alps and the Karst) received the Excellent in Science 2016 award from the Slovenian Research Agency in the field of humanities
• Naša Slovenija Award (2016) for the ZBORZBIRK project (Cultural Heritage in Collections between the Alps and the Karst) in the category Safeguarding of Heritage

• member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology (2025-)
• member of the Assosiation of Critical Heritage Studies (2020–): co-founder and co-leader of the Central and Eastern European Chapter of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (2023–)
• member of the Commission for the preparation of the multilateral nomination of Alpine food heritage for inscription in the UNESCO Register of Good Safeguarding Practices for Intangible Cultural Heritage (2023–)
• member of the Working Group of the Coordinator for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Slovenia (2022¬–)
• participation in the design and implementation of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025 (Nova Gorica and Gorizia): coordinator of ZRC SAZU activities and organisation of the year-round Episkop programme at the Maks Bookstore Café (2018–2026)
• member of the Action Group 6 of the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (2017–2025)
• vice-president of the Expert Council of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum (2012–2016)
• member of the Editorial Board of publications Goriški letnik (2008–), Monitor ISH (2001–2003), Izvestje of the ZRC SAZU Research Station in Nova Gorica (2004–), Heriskop (2019–), Episkop (2025), Footnotes (2024–)
• member of the Scientific Committee of the National and Study Library (2013–)
• member of the scientific and organising committees of numerous conferences, workshops, and round tables, among which the following are highlighted: Food Encounters (Ljubljana, 15–18 September 2026), Heritage on the Margins: Central and Eastern European Perspectives (Ljubljana, 29-30 November 2023), Small-Scale Territorial Brands in the Alps, international workshop (ZOOM, 10–11 June 2021), Radical Change Towards Local Production and Consumption, final conference and workshop (ZOOM, 25 May 2021), Dediščina – med zapuščino in ideologijo [Heritage – between legacy and ideology], roundtable (ZOOM, 28 June 2021), Benečija, tako blizu in tako daleč [Benečija, so close, so far], roundtable (Ljubljana, ZRC SAZU, 22 January 2020), Science – Between Research Ethics and Plagiarism, workshop (ZOOM, 12 November 2020), Dediščina v mobilnem svetu [Heritage in a mobile world], roundtable (Ljubljana, 3 December 2019), Food Heritage at the Crossroads of the Alps and the Adriatic (Videm/Udine (Italy), 24 October 2019), Etnološke zbirke, ustno izročilo in kulturni turizem med Alpami in Krasom = Collezioni etnologiche, tradizione orale e turismo culturale fra le Alpi e il Carso [Ethnological collections, folklore and cultural tourism between the Alps and the Karst] (Videm/Udine (Italy), 29 May 2014), Srednjeevropsko povezovanje etnologov in kulturnih antropologov kot izziv današnjemu času: 13. vzporednice med slovensko in hrvaško etnologijo: Posvet Slovenskega etnološkega društva in Hrvaškega etnološkega društvo [Linking ethnologists and cultural anthropologists in the Central Europe as a challenge to present-day: 13th parallels between Slovenian and Croatian ethnology: Conference of the Slovenian Ethnological Society and Croatia Ethnological Society] (Dolenjske Toplice (Slovenia), 9–11 November 2014).
• member of SIEF (Societé internationale d'etnologie et de folklore/International Society for Ethnology and Folklore) (2015–)
• member of the Slovenian Ethnological Society (1999–): member of the Expert Committee for the Murko Awards (2022–2025)

• CULT¬-ALPS – Economic, social and symbolic potential of Alpine husbandry and its cultural heritage in Friuli (European Social Fund (2014/2020 Regional Operative Programme, Axis 3 – Education and Training Call n. 782 of 13/04/2015). Research grant at the University of Udine.
• University of Udine, 1 April 2016 – 30 September 2017: research training under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Dapit and Prof. Donatella Cozzi (TALENTS research grant within the framework of the European Social Fund, Operational Programme 2014–2020, Axis 3 – Education and Training).
• Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, 29 September 2023 – 21 October 2023: research training under the supervision of Prof. Octasiano M. Valerio Mendoza (part of the project Population Medicine and Sustainable Development (PopMed-SusDev), co-funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under the Horizon Europe programme).