Following a BA/MA in Egyptology at the University of Geneva, Violaine Chauvet developed her field of specialization in Egyptian architecture with a PG degree in Architecture-Archaeology (School of Architecture Paris-Strasburg), before joining Dieter Arnold at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the support of a Jane and Morgan Whitney and a Chester Dale Fellowship, to study the architecture of the mastaba of Perneb and other Old Kingdom monuments in the collection.

After completing a Ph.D. on the economy of Old Kingdom tombs construction at the Johns Hopkins University, under the splendid supervision of Prof. Betsy Bryan and Prof. Richard Jansnow, Violaine came to Liverpool in 2007 where she teaches on a broad range of topics in Egyptian material culture (art, archaeology, heritage), language and society.

A long-term member of the Egypt Exploration Society, Violaine served, with her colleagues at the University of Liverpool, as editor for the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (2007-2013), and joined the EES Board of Trustee (2018-2022).
Violaine has a long-standing history the American Research Center in Egypt which supported her doctoral fieldwork (2001-2002 Samuel H. Kress Fellowship in Egyptian Art and Archaeology). ARCE is a nonprofit professional organisation actively engaged with and committed to the preservation of the Egyptian cultural heritage. Violaine now sits on the ARCE Research Support Member committee and chairs the Archaeological & Research Expeditions Task Force (2024-).

Violaine has worked in Egypt for more than 20 years, and is now the PI of the Mut Temple Project, excavating elements of New Kingdom domestic architecture, as part of an international collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University (Prof. B. Bryan, CI). The project which started in 2018 is set to discover the remains of the urban settlement of Thebes in the New Kingdom.