Laura Cayrol-Bernardo holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Oviedo (Spain) and an M.B.A on Medieval Studies from the Centre d’Études Supérieures en Civilisation Médiévale (Poitiers, France). She is currently a Ph. D. candidate participating in a Joint Doctorate programme (co-tutelle) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and the University of Oviedo, where she holds a Severo Ochoa-FICYT research fellowship.
Her research to date has focused on the intersection of gender, status and art patronage, especially as these relate to women religious and their relationships with male supporters within the contexts of medieval religious reform movements in northern Spain. She is currently working on a Ph. D. thesis on old women in Medieval Iberia from a social-cultural perspective, entitled «La vieille femme d.ans l’Espagne Médiévale: veuve, entremetteuse, religieuse», under the supervision of Pr. Adeline Rucquoi and Pr. Raquel Alonso-Álvarez.
Her work has been granted research scholarships and awards in France, Spain and the UK.
Cayrol-Bernardo is president and co-foundress of the Société d’Études Interdisciplinaires sur les Femmes au Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance (SEIFMAR), based in Paris. She has co-organized the international conferences «Femmes Cloîtrées, Femmes dans le Monde: Un Dialogue Transatlantique» (2015, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme – Paris Nord) and «The Making of a Female Memory: Texts, Images, Rituals» (2016, Universität Basel). Since 2012 she has participated in several conferences and seminars in Europe and the USA.