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Advisory Council
Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger has been Executive President of Europa Nostra since 2018. He has also held the office of President of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) since 2008. Consisting of 27 museums, libraries, archives, and research institutions, the SPK is the second-largest cultural institution in the world. Its collections include all areas of cultural tradition: from archaeological and ethnological objects, to the visual arts, literature and music.
As President of the SPK, Hermann Parzinger is in charge of two major cultural projects: The renovation of the world-famous Museum Island and the realisation of the Humboldt Forum in the reconstructed Berlin Palace; he was one of the founding directors of the Humboldt Forum.
Prof. Parzinger has conducted 30 years of field research in many European countries as well as in the Near East and in Central Asia. Before joining SPK he was an Assistant Professor at Munich University (1986-90), Director (1990-2003) and President (2003-2008) of the German Archaeological Institute. In 1996 he was appointed Honorary Professor at Free University in Berlin.
Hermann Parzinger has received many awards, among them the Leibniz Prize, the highest scientific award in Germany. He holds several international Honorary Doctoral degrees, he is member of Academies of Sciences in Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Rumania, Russia, China and the USA and has received decorations from Germany, Russia and Italy.
Prof. em. Koen(raad) Van Balen, Dr. Eng. Arch., is an emeritus professor at the Civil Engineering department of KU Leuven. He is the former acting director of the Raymond Lemaire International Center for Conservation (RLICC) at the University of Leuven, previous holder of the PRECOMOS UNESCO chair since 2008.
His field of expertise are (traditional/historic) construction materials and historic structures. He has also contributed in various ways to embed cultural heritage in the domain of sustainable development and to emphasise the contribution of cultural heritage – as a knowledge depository – to understand complex socio-technical-environmental-cultural challenges today, and its contribution to innovation and resilience for the future.
He is one of the initiators of HERKUL: the KU Leuven Institute for Cultural heritage. He is very active in various Cultural heritage related (international) organisations and actively involved in various Word Heritage Sites. He was a Council member of Europa Nostra, he is a member of the European Heritage Awards, member of the European Heritage Label, and active member of ICOMOS.
Ștefan Bâlici is President of OAR – The Romanian Order of Architects since July 2022. Since 200, he is also an associate professor at the Chair for Architecture History and Conservation of Cultural Heritage of the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest, teaching architecture conservation, with a focus on archaeological heritage.
He has been active in several professional and civil society organisations, among which Europa Nostra and ICOMOS, he is a founding member of the Association ARA (Architecture. Restoration. Archaeology), for which he had been project coordinator from 2006 to 2016. He was also a managing partner and conservation planner with OPUS Architecture Studio, Bucharest, from 2001 to 2016. From 2016 to 2022, he headed the National Institute of Heritage, where he was responsible for the implementation of public policies and programmes for the conservation of cultural heritage in Romania.
As a conservation architect, he has overseen conservation projects for important historic monuments and sites in Romania, such as the Archaeological heritage of Ancient Callatis, The Roman Fortress at Sarmizegetusa Regia, Bran Castle, and Alma Vii Fortified Church.
Irina Bokova is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat. She served as Director General of UNESCO from 2009 to 2017, and is currently Chair of the Democracy and Culture Foundation.
She graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and has also studied at the University of Maryland and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Elected as Director General of UNESCO in 2009, she is the first woman and the first person from Eastern Europe to hold this position. During her two terms, she worked for the organisation’s major causes such as education for all, gender equality, scientific cooperation and cultural dialogue.
She has received numerous honours from different countries, as well as several honorary doctorates from major universities.
Sara C. Bronin is an architect and attorney who was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by unanimous consent by the United States Senate to serve as the 12th chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The ACHP is the American historic preservation agency, devoted to advancing sound preservation policies at the federal, state, and local levels.
While chairing the ACHP, Chair Bronin is on leave from her tenured position at Cornell University, where she serves as a professor on the planning, real estate, law, and architecture faculties. Her interdisciplinary research in the areas of property, land use, historic preservation, and energy has focused on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected places.
Chair Bronin received a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.Sc. from the University of Oxford (where she was a Rhodes Scholar), and a B.Arch. and B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Christos Carras was born in London (UK) in 1962. He studied philosophy at Cambridge University and then earned his PhD from the University of Paris I – Sorbonne (1989). Since 2000, he has been working in the cultural sector. From 2009 to 2022, he was the Executive Director of the Onassis Cultural Centre (Onassis Stegi) and continued to collaborate with the Onassis Foundation as a Senior Consultant for Sustainable Development till 2024.
He is active as a consultant for cultural strategy through Carras Consulting – Synergies for Culture which he founded in 2022. He is also a Senior Associate at AEA Consulting.
He was the coordinator and lead author of a study of the Greek Cultural and Creative Sector, commissioned by DiaNEOsis, published in 2023. The Handbook of Cultural Work, of which he was the editor, was published in 2024 by Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
His main focus areas are sustainability, innovation, impact, and networking in the cultural sector.
Lydia Carras studied Sociology and Ιnternational Relations, and holds a MA in Byzantine civilization (Sorbonne and University College London).
In 1972, she co-founded, with Costa Carras, ELLINIKI ETAIRIA – Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage – of which she has been President since 2017. Since 2004, she has been an artistic Director at the Panorama of Ecological Films.
Lydia Carras directed 16 internationally awarded documentaries (Chicago, Thessaloniki and MediMed Film Festivals, EU awards): “Sinai God Trodden Mountain” which sales financed the Refectory restoration, “Sir Steven Runciman: Bridge to the East,” “The Song of the Monk Seal,” “Beyond the Βarbed Wires” and “Voice of the Aegean.”
In 2009, she won the Academy of Athens award for her life’s work in Heritage and Environment. In 2015 she was the curator of the exhibition “Marathon: Cultural Landscape,” at the Unesco Headquarters (Paris). She received the European Heritage Award as the founder of the “Greek Paths of Culture” Programme in 2019. She edited in 2021 the bilingual publication “Fragile Earth”.
Constantinos Cartalis is a Professor of Environmental and Climate Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is an acting member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change as well as of the respective Scientific Committee in Greece, and a member of the Coordinating Unit for the UNFCCC-UNESCO-Greece initiative for the protection of Cultural Heritage from the impacts of Climate Change. He is also the coordinator of the Climate Adaptation Plan of the Ministry of Culture of Greece, and principal investigator of the European Space Agency on urban environment and climate.
Constantinos Cartalis has acted as UNDP Technical Expert on Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation, member of the UN Subsidiary Body for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement, and member of the Task Force of the EU “Strengthening cultural heritage resilience for climate change”. He has served as member of the Parliament of Greece (2007-2012), and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Environment.
David Chipperfield founded his architecture practice in 1985, establishing a design methodology that is now used across five offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai and Santiago de Compostela.
Chipperfield was appointed a member of the Order of the UK’s Companions of Honour in 2021, a Commander of Spain’s Orden de Isabel la Católica in 2022, and a member of Germany’s Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste in the same year. He further received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 2011, the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale for Architecture in 2013, and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2023, all given in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the field.
In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale under the title ‘Common Ground’. He is also the founder and president of Fundación RIA, a private, non-profit entity that works towards meaningful economic, environmental and cultural development in Galicia, Spain.
Anna Somers Cocks is a journalist and Fellow of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti, writing regularly on the protection of Venice from the effects of climate change. In 1990, she co-founded The Art Newspaper and edited it until 2002, after which she continued to serve on its board. From 1986 to 1990, she was the editor-in-chief of Apollo Magazine, and from 1973 to 1986, she served as a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Between 2000 and 2012, she chaired the British charity the Venice in Peril Fund. During her tenure, she established a research program at Cambridge University (2001-2004), which brought together 120 scientists to address the flooding issues in Venice.
She is also a member of the Illicit Trade Advisory Panel, advising the British government on criminality in the art and antiquities trade, which contributed to Britain signing the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Her contributions have been recognised with the honours of Commendatore della Stella di Solidarietà Italiana in 2004 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011.
Alessandro Costa, Ph.D. in Environmental Science, is an academic expert and consultant in sustainable urban development, energy policies & studies, relations with institutions and universities, with a proven expertise in starting up foundations.
In fact, between 2011 and 2015, as director, he activated the Enel Foundation, funded by Enel Group and devoted to research, institutional capacity building and dissemination in the areas of: energy, socioeconomics, sustainable development. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Sustainability Research and member of the World Energy Council’s (global) Programme Committee.
Since May 2022 he is director general and chair of the management board at the Venice Sustainability Foundation; he also holds the position of senior manager at Snam SpA, responsible for Sustainable Integrated Projects Advisory.
Giovanni Dell’Olivo is the General Manager of the Fondazione di Venezia. Since September 2023, he is also Vice President of Le Stanze della Fotografia. Giovanni Dell’Olivo is a member of the Board of Directors of several institutions, including Fondazione Cà Foscari, Civita Cultura Holding Srl and Art Defender Srl.
From 2012 to 2017, he was also a member of the Board of Directors of Fenice Servizi Teatrali Srl. Prior to his current role, Giovanni Dell’Olivo was Administrative and Financial Director of Fondazione di Venezia and CEO of Euterpe Venezia Srl.
Giovanni Dell’Olivo holds a degree in Economics and Commerce from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. He also holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from C.U.O.A.
Lars Ebert is the Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, the major European network of cultural networks, organisations, artists, activists and academics. Culture Action Europe maintains an ongoing dialogue and knowledge-sharing between the European cultural sector and policy makers. It advocates for strong cultural policies and appropriate public support for culture both as a sector in its own right and as a vector contributing to other sectors.
During his previous engagements as co-director of the cultural centre H401 in Amsterdam, and deputy director of The European League of Institutes of the Arts, Lars has developed a specific interest and experience in participatory practices and art-based research, that fuel his believe in the transformative role of culture towards more sustainable societies.
He holds a postgraduate degree in theology, he has taught cultural management and leadership, he is a frequent speaker and facilitator, publishes regularly, and he serves on the board of various organisations in the areas of culture, education and research.
HRH Princess Dana Firas is a global advocate for heritage protection and preservation. She was designated a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in June 2017 in recognition of her commitment to heritage protection and preservation as pillars for sustainable development, and her contribution to responsible tourism and community participation.
In September 2023 she was elected as Vice President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). She serves as President of ICOMOS-Jordan, which she established in 2019. She is the President of the Petra National Trust, Jordan’s oldest national nongovernmental organisation for heritage protection and preservation.
Internationally, Princess Dana serves as an Ambassador for the UK-based International National Trusts Organization since 2021, and in 2023, she joined the Board of Trustees of Turquoise Mountain. She served as Co-Chair of the Climate Heritage Network’s COP27 and COP28 Working Groups. She is also a Special envoy of the Climate Heritage Network.
Princess Dana received several awards in recognition of her contributions to cultural heritage in Jordan and internationally. She is the author of Unique and Outstanding: Jordan’s World Heritage Sites.
She holds a BA degree in Economics and International Relations, an MSc in Development Studies and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.
Valéry Freland has been the Executive Director of ALIPH since 1 September 2018. He is responsible for the strategic implementation and management of this new international organization based in Geneva.
A French career diplomat, Valéry Freland holds a law degree from Panthéon-Sorbonne University and is a graduate of Sciences Po (Paris) and the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA-class Léopold Sedar Senghor). He began his career as a legal advisor at the Superior Council of the Audiovisual (1994-1997) before joining the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he dealt with multilateral audiovisual negotiations.
After graduating from the ENA in 2004, he joined the Quai d’Orsay where he successively held the positions of Senior Officer at the Division of the European Union, in charge of the EU budget (2004-2007), Culture and Audiovisual Advisor at the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union in Brussels, during the French presidency of the EU (2007-2009), then as Deputy Director in charge of audiovisual and communication technologies (2009).
He was then appointed as Diplomatic Advisor to the French Minister of Culture and Communication, Frédéric Mitterrand (2009-2010), then as Cooperation and Culture Advisor at the French Embassy in Tunisia (2010-2013), and finally as Deputy Director of Culture, University and Research at the Quai d’Orsay (2013-2015). Before joining ALIPH, he served as Consul General of France in Boston, USA (2015-2018).
Valéry Freland is Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters.
Lilian Grootswagers-Theuns is the owner of Erfgoed.nu, where she advises governmental institutions, corporations and private owners on heritage-related issues. Her specialities include, monument legislation, grants, research, religious heritage issues, conversion, spatial planning and the reuse and redesign of heritage. The goal of Erfgoed.nu is to give heritage buildings a purpose in nowadays society. Therefore, an integrated approach is a necessity.
She is one of the founding members of FRH (Future for Religious Heritage), a non-faith European-wide organisation based in Brussels that focuses on places of worship. She served as council member/secretary from 2011-2019 and has been President of the Advisory Board since then. She represented FRH in the structured dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector during the EYCH 2018 and is a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Cultural Heritage. She has been a member of the European Heritage Alliance since its foundation in 2011.
She was Vice-chair of Task Force Toekomst Kerkgebouwen, a national and independent citizen’s movement in the Netherlands aiming to reestablish religious buildings as living elements of the urban and rural landscape and communities. Since 2019 she has been a member of the Advisory Panel of the 7 Most Endangered Programme, an initiative of Europa Nostra in partnership with the European Investment Bank Institute, which identifies endangered monuments and sites in Europe.
Furthermore, she is the author and publisher of several guidelines and handbooks on reuse of listed buildings and guidelines for religious heritage.
Amra Hadžimuhamedović is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Heritage, International Forum Bosnia.
She has been the leading heritage expert in the process of implementation of Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Accord for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and managing diverse projects of integrating cultural heritage into postwar recovery in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, and Iraq. She has worked as a consultant for UNESCO, ICCROM; World Bank, ICOMOS International, OSCE, ARC-WH, and Welfare, etc.
She taught History of Architecture and Architectural Conservation at the International University of Sarajevo (2010-2019), and was a guest-lectured at the universities in USA, Europe, Arab Region. She published widely, including the books: Heritage Reconstruction and People. Integrated recovery after trauma (ed.); Heritage, War and Peace; Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory (ed.); and Bosnia: Destruction of Cultural Heritage (co-author).
She is a founder of HIDR (House of International Dialogue and Research) which includes ISSYH, a school for sustainable, inclusive, resilient and holistic recovery of heritage.
Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster.
Her previous books include Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess (shortlisted for the Runciman Award), Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities (a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Runciman Award), The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and The Search For The Good Life (a New York Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Writers Guild Award), and Helen Of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore. All her books have been translated into multiple languages.
She has made many documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, National Geographic, ABC and the Discovery and History channels. Bettany has been a Professor at the New College of Humanities and Research Fellow at King’s College London.
She has been honoured with numerous awards including the Medlicott Medal for services to history, Europe’s Cultural Heritage Prize and an OBE for services to history.
António Ressano Garcia Lamas is a retired Professor of Structural Engineering and Built Heritage at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon. He is the Chairman of the General Assembly of the Academy of Engineering, and of the Association for Steel and Composite Structures (CMM).
He has been the Chairman of the Gulbenkian Heritage Prize – Tereza e Vasco Vilalva, since its creation in 2007. He is also a member of the direction of the Geographical Society. In 2022 and 2023, he was the Chairman of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards in Conservation and Reuse, as well as a member of the Jury in 2024.
From 1987 to 1990, António Lamas had been President of the Portuguese Institute for Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, and was the Representative of the Ministry of Environment on the Commissariat for the EXPO’98 from 1993 to 1995. From 1998 to 2000, he was President of the Portuguese Road Authority. Between 2006 and 2014, he was the CEO of the Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua, and then of the Foundation of the Belém Cultural Centre, between 2014 and 2016. He has also been CEO of SRU – Lisbon Municipal Company for Urban Rehabilitation between 2022 and 2023.
He received the Silver Medal of Touristic Merit in 2009, the Gold Medal of the Municipality of Sintra in 2012, and the Order of Infante Dom Henrique in 2014. He was awarded the Honorary Membership of the Portuguese Association of Historical Gardens in 2018, and in 2021, he received a Special Mention of the Jury of Europa Nostra Prizes: Dedicated Service to Heritage.
Dr. Johanna Leissner, trained as a chemist and material scientist, has been managing cultural heritage research for over 20 years. She focuses on the climate change impact on cultural heritage, environmental monitoring of cultural property, and fostering the green transition by implementing sustainability concepts for Green Museums and heritage buildings.
Dr. Leissner chairs the EU OMC expert group Strengthening Cultural Heritage Resilience for Climate Change and is a member of the EU Commission’s Cultural Heritage Forum, founded in 2019. Since March 2024, she has been a Supervisory Board member of the EIT Culture & Creativity programme (2022-2029). She coordinated the German research project KERES (2020-2023), which aimed to protect cultural heritage from extreme climate events and increase resilience, and the EU project Climate for Culture (2009-2014). She is a partner in the Austrian Academy of Science project on future climate change impacts on museum pests and fungi (2021-2024) and the German project on damage prevention for cultural assets in times of climate change (2022-2024).
Dr. Leissner is the German delegate for the Council of Europe’s Strategy “European Cultural Heritage in the 21st Century” (2018) and a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Expert Group on climate change impacts (2017). Since 2005, she has represented the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft at the European Union in Brussels. She co-founded the German Research Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in 2008 and the Fraunhofer Sustainability Network. From 2001 to 2005, she was the National Expert for “Technologies for the Protection of European Cultural Heritage” at the European Commission in Brussels.
Marie-Véronique Leroi is a project manager in the Department of digital cultural policies within the Service for Digital of the Ministry of Culture. She is in charge of the Linked Open Data strategy in the French Ministère de la Culture. She also coordinates the contribution from French institutions to Europeana and the European Common Data Space for Cultural Heritage.
She has a background in linguistics and natural language processing (NLP). She joined the Ministry of Culture in 2007, where she notably coordinated the French participation in the Athena, Linked Heritage and AthenaPlus European projects which were contributing to Europeana.
She is now responsible for updating and implementing the national strategy on semantic web for cultural data. She is also monitoring and coordinating the French participation in Europeana and governing and operating the national aggregator. She is the representative of France in the CEDCHE expert group of the European Commission and also in its SubGroup.
Born in 1953, Cristina holds degrees at the Milan University and at the Piccolo Teatro Dramatic Art School in Milan. She’s an active promoter of European cultural policies, contributing to their creation at the EP, with MEP Silvia Costa, and to treasure them in Italy, as Advisor to the Minister of Culture, with tasks including Jury Member for the Italian Capital of Culture (2017-2022).
As chair and member of different European Think Tank for culture aiming to the European CCSs, she’s actively contributing to European networks (PEARLE-Live Performing Arts, Culture Action Europe, Philea, European Pavillion). She’s invited as a lecturer by academic and professional fora. She loves theatre, art and education, with a civil spirit and managerial attitude. Based in Italy and in the USA, Cristina is a truly frequent flyer.
Currently, she is Vice President of Europa Nostra, Council Member of the Touring Club Italiano, President of the Fondazione Ravasio-Museo del Burattino, and Member of the Arts and Faith Committee of the Fondazione Fratelli Tutti.
Member of the Board of Directors of the Hippocrène Foundation since 2019, she worked for sixteen years in strategy consulting at the Boston Consulting Group and practiced in the Paris and Sydney offices. She led missions in several European countries and developed an expertise in pricing strategies within the Marketing and Sales Practice.
She is a graduate of ESSEC business school. She also has been an auditor at Ecole du Louvre since 1999. She is now involved in education through several activities including the organisation of conferences for students in CPGE (French higher school preparatory classes).
Marshall Marcus is the Executive and Artistic Director of the European Union Youth Orchestra, Founder and President of Sistema Europe, CEO of the International Youth Foundation, Europe 101 Leadership Programme ambassador, member of the Honorary Council of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and adviser to the National Orchestra For All, and Nucleo.
Marshall designed Towards 2020 and 2030, Creative Europe programmes created to help equip young EU musicians with the skills they need to face 21st century challenges. He is particularly interested in ways we can join together to become more sustainable in our work and daily lives. In 2022, he was General Editor of the European Commission’s Voices of Culture brainstorming report ‘Culture and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges & Opportunities’.
A Philosophy and Psychology graduate of Oxford and Cambridge universities, Marshall has been involved in the world of music since the 1960s, and a performing musician and speaker in more than 70 countries across 5 continents.
Born in 1970, Oliver Martin received a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, where he continued his studies with a PhD. Oliver Martin held various positions at the Federal Office of Culture until he joined its executive board in 2012 as Head of the Baukultur section.
Oliver Martin is actively involved in numerous national and international groups, organisations and initiatives. He was a member of the ICCROM Council, serving as president from 2017 to 2021.
He is one of the main authors and promoters of the concept of Baukultur and the related Davos Declaration, adopted by the European Ministers of Culture in 2018, and is currently acting as chair of the new Davos Baukultur Alliance, founded at the Baukultur ministerial conference in 2023.
Marina Martinou was born in Athens in 1953, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics from the American College of Greece.
She is the Shipping Executive in the Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Group of Shipping Companies, and President of The Athanasios and Marina Martinos (Family) Foundation. She is also Co-Director of The Aegeas Non-Profit benevolent Society, Member of the Board of Trustees of the «Society for the Promotion of Education and Learning Arsakeia – Tositseia Schools,” Member of the Board of Directors of Greek National Opera, as well as Member of the Board of ELLINIKI ETAIRIA Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage.
She is married to Thanassis Martinos, Managing Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited.
Born in 1952, Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins holds a Master’s Degree in Juridical and Economic Science from the University of Lisbon. He received honorary doctorates in 2016 from University Lusíada, University Aberta, and the Institute of Social and Political Sciences.
Currently, he is President of the Grand Council of the CNC – Centro Nacional de Cultura, Trustee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Chairman of the General Assembly of the World Monuments Fund and of the Advisory Board of Banco Português do Fomento. He also teaches at University Lusíada and the Technical University of Lisbon. He is a correspondent member of the Portuguese Academy of Sciences, a member of the Portuguese Naval Academy, a corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and a member of merit of the Portuguese Academy of History
Previously, he served as Chairman of the Fiscal Council of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, President of the Tribunal de Contas, President of the Council for the Prevention of Corruption, President of EUROSAI, and National Coordinator of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. He has been Minister of Presidency, Finance, and Education, Secretary of State for Educative Administration, and a Member of the Portuguese Parliament. He also held roles as Vice-Chairman of the Socialist Party’s Parliamentary Group, President of SEDES, and Vice-President of the Portuguese National Commission for UNESCO, among others. His career reflects significant contributions to culture, education, and governance.
Board member of the Hippocrène Foundation since 2006, Alexis has been President since 2016. After working in mergers & acquisitions for Shroders and then Citigroup for three years, he joined Lazard Frères Gestion in 2002, later becoming Head of the Bond Management Department. In 2010, he founded Rivage Investment, an asset management company whose activities are now continuing on at Rivage Gestion, of which he is President.
He is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and holds a postgraduate degree in capital markets, commodity markets and risk management from Université Paris IX Dauphine. Prior to this, his Masters thesis on the history of international relations examined the contribution of French bankers to the construction of Europe from a financial standpoint.
Ignasi is a trained musician and cultural manager with nearly 30 years of experience. Since 2007, he has been the director of the culture and science division of “la Caixa” Foundation, the leading private foundation in Spain and one of the most important internationally.
Ignasi is responsible for a number of programmes, including programming for the Barcelona Science Museum (CosmoCaixa) and a network of nine CaixaForum centers that make a vital contribution to the cultural offer of cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Zaragoza, Valencia and Seville.
His latest projects include the start-up of several virtual reality experiences focused on classical music (Symphony: A Journey to the Heart of Music Led by Gustavo Dudamel and Ravel’s Bolero) and the recent launch of CaixaForum+, a free digital platform for the dissemination of cultural and scientific content.
Alexandra Mitsotaki is the co-founder and president of the World Human Forum, a global citizen initiative which has its symbolic base in Delphi. In 2019, she launched the Convergences Greece Forum. In 1998, she founded the Greek affiliate of ActionAid, the international organisation against poverty and injustice, ActionAid Hellas.
For the last 10 years she was in charge of the Hellenic Cultural Centre in Paris, of which she is now vice-chair, with the aim of establishing a tool of cultural diplomacy for Greece in the Francophone world. Reacting to the financial crisis in Greece, in 2014, she co-founded Action Finance Initiative, the first microcredit organisation in Greece with partners ActionAid Hellas and Adie France.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Studies from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris and a Postgraduate degree on Development Issues. In the past, she has worked at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where she specialised further in poverty issues in the developing world.
She is a profound believer in civil society mobilisation and in citizen responsibility and their capacity to hold governments accountable at all levels of civic engagement.
Hélène Molinari is an engineer by training and joined the Axa Group. She participated in the creation of the asset management subsidiary Axa Asset Managers. She took over the marketing and e-business management and then joined the Management Committee as Global Brand and Communication Director. She joined Laurence Parisot at MEDEF as deputy general director, member of the Executive Council.
In 2012, she became a founding member of the Woman of Influence prize. Then in 2013, she joined several boards of directors and was also a founding member of Asia Now, a contemporary Asian art fair. She is involved in numerous associations: “Our Neighborhoods Have Talents”, “Enterprise to Learn”, “Everyone Sings Against Cancer”.
In May 2020, she founded SUMus and became its president.
Bénédicte de Montlaur is President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Monuments Fund (WMF), the world’s leading private organization dedicated to saving extraordinary places while empowering communities. She defines and implements WMF’s strategic vision across over 30 countries, leading a global team.
Her background includes culture and the arts, politics, international diplomacy, and human rights. Prior to WMF, Montlaur spent two decades as a senior diplomat at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working across three continents.
Most recently, she was the Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy in the United States, leading France’s largest international cultural advocacy network and its two partner foundations, Albertine and FACE, directing a team of 90 in ten US offices. In this role, she created and expanded numerous programmes, including the French-American Dual Language Fund, the annual Festival Albertine, and the podcast The Thing About France, featuring conversations with prominent Americans about their relationship with France. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in charge of North Africa, a United Nations Security Council Negotiator on Africa and the Middle East, and the French Embassy First Secretary in Damascus, Syria.
Montlaur studied sociology and Arabic at the École Normale Supérieure (Ulm) and public affairs at Sciences Po, Paris. She was a Marshall Memorial Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. She has served on several cultural and educational boards and is currently a Trustee of the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. Beyond professional accomplishments, Montlaur is a polyglot—speaking French, English, Arabic, and Spanish—and completed the New York City Marathon in 2011.
Julia Pagel is secretary general of NEMO, the Network of European Museum Organisations. NEMO acts as European umbrella for national museum organisations and speaks for over 30,000 museums in Europe.
Since 2019, she has been a member of the EU Commission Expert Group on Cultural Heritage and she serves as member of various advisory boards of European cultural heritage initiatives, such as Europeana and the European Heritage Hub. Julia has initiated numerous international cooperation projects in the museum field around professional capacity building, the digital and sustainable transformation.
An experienced businessman and passionate about the built cultural heritage, Alfonso Pallavicini was elected as the president of the European Historic Houses Association in 2018. Born in Italy into a Hungarian-Italian family, lived in Austria and France, and currently lives in Belgium with his family.
After a long career in Investment Banking, he left BNP Paribas as Head of Europe and then moved into private equity in Belgium and Luxembourg. He serves on several boards as a non-executive director. Mr. Pallavicini not only owns a historic house but also has helped in restructuring and reviewing different private heritage houses’ business models.
Dr. Jordi Pascual holds a PhD on cultural rights in sustainable development (University of Girona) and teaches cultural rights and globalisation (Open University of Catalonia). He is the coordinator of the Committee on culture of the world organisation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
The work of the Committee is based on Culture 21 Actions, a complete cultural rights-based toolkit on culture in sustainable cities. The Committee organises a global award as well as a biennial Summit, manages a unique database of good practices and promotes a range of learning and capacity-building programmes for cities.
As coordinator of the Committee, he is involved in the global campaign #culture2030goal that advocates for the role of cultural factors and actors in the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the need of a Culture Goal.
Prof. Dr. Teresa Patrício is an architect, holds a Doctorate in Engineering, an Advanced Master’s degree in Conservation, and is a recognised specialist in heritage conservation. She serves as the President of ICOMOS and is also a Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium.
Author of a wide range of projects, she has developed research, restoration projects, conservation and management assessments for some of the most significant archaeological sites in the Mediterranean area. She worked as a consultant with various institutions, including UNESCO and the European institutions. Author of numerous publications, she is a member of the Belgian Blue Shield and Belgium ICOMOS. She is the former representative of ICOMOS Wallonia-Brussels on the Belgium inter-federal WG for Protection of Cultural Property of the Inter-ministerial Commission on Human Rights (2014-2020).
President of ICOMOS Belgium (2014-2017), and President of ICOMOS Wallonia-Brussels (2014-2020), she is a member of the ICOMOS Board since 2017 and President of ICOMOS since 2020.
Robert Piaskowski is a sociologist, cultural manager and animator, pedagogue, and musician. He is currently the Director of the National Centre for Culture in Warsaw, a national cultural institution responsible for the development of cultural infrastructure, professionalization of the cultural sector, cultural education, and the implementation of national programmes in Poland.
From 2018 to 2024, he served as the Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Krakow for Culture, and from 2007 to 2018, he was the Program Director of the Krakow Festival Office. Over the years, he was responsible for Krakow’s cultural policy in the areas of heritage, culture, and creative sectors.
He managed the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature programme and the city’s audiovisual policy. He represented Krakow on the Board of Directors of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) and on the board of the ICORN network. He oversaw Krakow’s international relations in the fields of heritage and culture.
Additionally, he lectures at national universities, including the Jagiellonian University and the AGH University of Science and Technology.
Dr. Ihor Poshyvailo (Kyiv, Ukraine) is the general director of the National Museum of Revolution of Dignity (Maidan Museum). He is a cultural activist, ethnologist, museologist, and art curator.
Ihor is ex-chairman of the Museum Council at the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, and vice-chair of the ICOM-DRMC. He holds a Ph.D. in History and is a corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America (USA). He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Smithsonian Institution.
When the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war started in 2022, Ihor became the initiator and coordinator of the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative (HERI), and a member of the National Council for Reconstruction of Ukraine from the War.
In 2023, Ihor received the Cultural Protection Award (CPAs) of the International Arts & Antiquities Security Forum (IAASF), UK, and the Archaeological Institute of America Award for Outstanding Public Service (USA). In 2024, he won the Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity from the European Museum Forum.
Jacek Purchla is a Full Professor of Humanities and a member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds the title of Doctor honoris causa from the National University of Lviv Polytechnic.
At Jagiellonian University, he serves as President of the Board, while also leading as Head of the Department of Economic and Social History at Cracow University of Economics. He was the founder of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow and was its Director from its inception in 1991 until 2018. He is a member of numerous international organisations and associations, including the Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art (CIHA). He advised the European Commission in the European Heritage Label project. Since 2015, he has been President of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO. Between 2016 and 2017 he was the President of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Since 2018, he has been Vice-president of Europa Nostra.
He is the author of over 500 academic works, including a number of books published in many languages.
As a social designer and regenerative development practitioner, Joke Quinten’s ultimate passion lies in creating more “Wetopia” which encompasses three powerful forces: the power of “us”, the power of “place,” and the power of “doing”. Wetopia takes action in new alliances to build vibrant communities that act together. By harnessing the inherent potential of each place, it creates a shared space for collaboration and action.
Quintens work takes her to various neighbourhoods in Brussels, Marseille, Cape Town, Tunis, etc… where she collaborates closely with cultural partners and local residents to put in place initiatives such as “Girls Make the City” (gender sensitive urban planning with teenage girls), “À Nous les Toits” (the right to the sky for all and not only the happy few), “This is Us. This is Brussels” (a human archive of Brussels in the 2020’s).
Quintens is an historian and worked on oral history and migration. She also curates design challenges, field trips, and learning tours in Marseille.
Mechtild Rössler (*1959) studied geography and literature 1978-84 at Freiburg University (Germany), has a PhD (1989) in geography from the University of Hamburg (Germany), joined the French CNRS (1998/90, Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, Paris, France), and was a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley (USA, 1990/91). Since 1991, she worked for 30 years in different programmes at UNESCO (Man and the Biosphere Programme – MAB, World Heritage) and as Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (2015-2021). She is a researcher in geography, planning, institutional history and heritage, as well as a specialist of cultural landscapes, nature-culture linkages and climate change.
After her retirement at the end of 2021 from UNESCO, she returned to academia and joined the French CNRS as ‘chercheur associé’ (CNRS-UMR 8504 Géographie-Cités). She lectures at different universities and organisations (Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage, ICCROM etc.) and published and co-authored 14 books and more than 120 articles, among them “Many Voices, One Vision: The Early Years of the World Heritage Convention” (Routledge 2016, with Prof. Christina Cameron). She is a member of the German National Commission for UNESCO, professional organisations including ICOM, ICOMOS-IFLA, WCPA and of the Board of the European Foundation Kaiserdom zu Speyer.
Ruth Schagemann is an architect who studied architecture at the University of Braunschweig, and at the University of Stuttgart in Germany.
In 2006, she founded the architect’s office VICEVERSA Architektur + Medien together with her husband. She was elected member of the Executive Board of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) from 2016 until 2021, Coordinator of the European Network of Architects’ Competent Authorities (ENACA), member of the Coordination Group Europe of the Federal Chamber of German Architects, and was the Head of department of national and international professional policy at the Chamber of Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
In 2021, Ruth Schagemann was elected President of the Architects’ Council of Europe for a two-year term (2022-2023). Since January 2023, she is also serving as the Managing Director of the Brussels Office of the Federal Chamber of German Architects (BAK). She represented ACE in the 2023 Davos Baukultur Alliance Steering Committee. On 23 November 2023, Ruth Schagemann was unanimously re-elected President of the organisation for a two-year term (2024-2025).
Nils Scheffler is an urban planner and head of Urban Expert. For more than 20 years, he has supported municipalities as well as government institutions in sustainable, integrated urban development and participation processes.
One of his main topics is cultural heritage and the further development of historic and architecturally significant urban districts. He links the safeguarding of the cultural heritage with the sustainable urban development and supports cities in ensuring that their historic neighbourhoods remain liveable cities for residents, visitors, users and commercial operators. In this context, he supports World Heritage sites in the development of world heritage management plans.
Mikhael De Thyse studied the history of architecture and urban planning at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and specialised at the Raymond Lemaire International Center for Conservation (RLICC – KUL, Leuven).
After creating a heritage consultancy company in Brussels, he joined the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, France) where he spent most of his career. For 24 years, he developed and directed the technical cooperation programme aimed at implementing the main international treaties on the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage. Thanks to the numerous projects carried out in the 47 European states, Mikhael De Thyse has contributed to the emergence of an original heritage approach to the development of cities and territories.
Elected in September 2021, Mikhael De Thyse is the acting Secretary General of the Organization of World Heritage Cities.
Alison Tickell established Julie’s Bicycle in 2007 as a non-profit mobilising action and inspiring new thinking in response to the climate and nature crisis, initially in the music industry and now across arts and culture internationally. Today JB is acknowledged as a pioneer in the field of culture and climate, developing much of the foundational research, ideas and resources to drive cultural change.
Originally trained as a cellist, Alison’s approach is rooted in her work with jazz improviser and teacher John Stevens, whose understanding of music and community activism created the foundational values that inspired Julie’s Bicycle. Alison has been an advisor and contributor to many initiatives in the field including: European Creative Business Network, RCA Sustainable Design, Creative Europe, Energy Revolution, and Music Declares and has advised national governments and funding bodies on culture and climate. She is currently working with the Climate Heritage Network and Global Call for Culture-based Climate Action, co-chairs the Climate theme for the UK Creative Industries Council, is a BMW Responsible Leader, and is a life-long Ashoka Fellow.
Alison has contributed to several publications, including most recently a chapter in ‘Museums and the Climate Crisis’, edited by Nick Merriman (Routledge 2023).
A Venetian since 1351, Alberto Toso Fei is descended from an ancient family of Murano glassmakers.
A writer, essayist and journalist with a passion for history and an expert on legends, he has based his work on recovering oral traditions that were in danger of being lost. He has more than 25 titles translated into several languages to his credit, including a novel, “Byron’s Right Foot”.
Like a living time machine, with his storytelling he gives life to recitals, TEDx, and online events. For television he makes documentaries and is a consultant for various programmes and films. A protagonist of the city’s cultural life, he is the storyteller of Venice.
Symeon G. Tsomokos is the Founder and President of Delphi Economic Forum, an independent and impartial non-profit organisation committed to deliver and promote innovative ideas for sustainable and competitive growth for Southeast Europe and the East Mediterranean.
He established SGT S.A in Athens in 1997, and TGI in Belgrade in 2001 and in Brussels in 2016, which he has presided successfully all these years.
He is also the Founder of the Business Council for Greece-United States, the Greek-Hungarian Business Council, the Greek-Egyptian Business Council, while in 2006 he established the Greece-Serbia Chamber of Commerce which he presides.
In the past he has served as Commercial Specialist at the US Embassy in Athens (1973-1980) and CEO at the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (1980-1997). He has also served as Secretary General & Treasurer of the Council of the American Chambers of Commerce based in Europe (1990-1993) and as Secretary General of the Business Council Greece-Turkey (1993-1998). In 1993, he was an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow.
Androula Vassiliou studied Law and International Affairs in London. She practiced Law for 25 years.
She was elected for two consecutive terms, 1996 until 2006, Member of the Cyprus House of Representatives. In 2008 she was appointed European Commissioner for Health, and in 2010- 2014 European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.
She has always been and still is actively involved in a number of European and national organizations in the fields of education, culture, humanitarian and societal, as well as in Bi Communal activities. She was the Co-Chair of the Bi Communal Committee on Culture (2015- 2022).
She is Vice President of Europa Nostra, Member of the Board of Trustees and of the Ex Co of the Cyprus Institute, and Vice President of the University of Cyprus.
She has received honors from the Hellenic Republic, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the International Olympic Committee and many national institutions and organizations.
She is married to Dr George Vassiliou, former President of the RoC (1988-1993), and they have three children.
Maria Vlachou is a founding member and the executive director of Acesso Cultura.
She is the author of the books “What have we got to do with it? The political role of cultural organisations” (2022, in Portuguese) and “Musing on Culture: Management, Communication and our Relationship with People” (2013, in English). She is also the author of the bilingual (pt/en) blog Musing on Culture.
Maria Vlachou participated in the European project RESHAPE – Reflect, Share, Practice, Experiment, having joined the trajectory on “Arts and Citizenship”. She is also a member of the Board of the international museum professionals network Solidarity in Action.
In the past, she was Communications Director of São Luiz Municipal Theatre and Head of Communication of Pavilion of Knowledge – Ciência Viva (Lisbon). Alumna of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center in Washington (2011-2013); she has a M.A. in Museum Studies (University College London, 1994).
André Wilkens is the director of the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam which aims to grow a European sentiment through culture and education.
André is also the Board Chair of Tactical Tech, the co-founder of the Initiative Offene Gesellschaft and a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
In the past he worked as Strategy Director of Stiftung Mercator, as Director of the Open Society Institute Brussels and as Head of Strategic Communications of UNHCR in Geneva.
André is the author of two books, on Europe (Der diskrete Charme der Bürokratie, S. Fischer 2017) and on Digitalisation (Analog ist das neue Bio, Metrolit 2015), and a regular media contributor.
