Dr Roberta Bernabei is a leading researcher in the field of Craft/Design Jewellery Research as an academic and instigator of the Journal of Jewellery Research. She has gained international reputation based on her research contribution in the field with a monographic book, journal articles, chapters and exhibitions. Bernabei’s research profile in art jewellery exhibition design and its collective process counts fifty-six exhibitions until 2022. With some notable venues such as the Museum of Arts & Crafts, Itami; Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland; Museo Arti Decorative, Turin; and Kunstgeweremuseum, Berlin.

She is Vice-President of the Italian Contemporary Jewellery Association (AGC). Until 2024 she was visiting Reader at Birmingham City University in the Institute of Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles, including the role as international ambassador of the Institute and the ‘Craft Cultures’ research cluster. She holds a Ph.D. from Loughborough University with the thesis ‘Jewellery Theory and Practice: An investigation into emotionally invested and mnemonic jewellery through senstitising materials’. She has been working at Loughborough University since 2004, covering managerial roles such as Director of the BA(hons) in Jewellery, Postgraduate Director of four MA programmes, Director of Doctoral Programmes, and now she is leading the first dedicated Jewellery Research Lab for Doctoral Studies in Jewellery.
She is currently the External Examiner at the Royal College of Art, MA Jewellery & Metal, London.