Meet New ICOMOS Committee Presidents!
ICOMOS is pleased to introduce you to its newly elected National and International Scientific Committees Presidents.
Discover their rich professional experience and academic background in the short presentations below!
National Committees
Toiwilou Mze Hamadi / ICOMOS Comoros
Mr Toiwilou Mze Hamadi has a doctorate in History, specialising in heritage and museology, and is a curator of heritage and a teacher-researcher at the University of Comoros. In addition to his functions, he was head of the Tourism Department at the University Institute of Technology (IUT) at the University of Comoros and a member of ICOMOS France in 2010. Since 2016, he has been the national focal point for the 1972 UNESCO Convention. Since 2019, he has been appointed by decree Director General of the National Centre for Documentation and Scientific Research (CNDRS), which includes the National Heritage Conservatory, the National Museum, the National Library, the National Archives, the Karthala Volcano Observatory, the Biodiversity, Linguistics and Research Laboratories. Currently, he is also President of the Association of Indian Ocean Museums (AMOI) and Founding President of ICOMOS Comoros, where he coordinates the project for the inscription of the historical sultanates of the Comoros on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Shireen Allan / ICOMOS Palestine
Shireen Allan is currently focusing much of her energy on culture heritage preservation and culture community programs. At the Anata Cultural Center, she developed a program to employ Palestinian women who use traditional embroidery to produce contemporary fashion. She also led a project to establish a registry of historic buildings for preservation in Anata. In addition, Shireen Allan trains at-risk youth in traditional handicrafts and how to develop small business projects. She has a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation and Preservation.
Marcela Arguedas Chaves / ICOMOS Costa Rica
Marcela Arguedas Chaves has a Master's degree in Architecture and a Master's degree in Evaluation and Project Management. She is the Director of Consultécnica-Costa Rica. Most of her professional work has been in consulting related to architecture and engineering for private and public clients in Costa Rica.
Lorenc Bejko / ICOMOS Albanie
Is currently Professor of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Tirana. Has an MA in Archaeology from Boston University (USA) and a PhD from the Academy of Sciences of Albania. He specialized in prehistoric archaeology with special interest in the Bronze and Iron Ages of Albania and the Balkans. His research interests include methods and theory in Archaeology, comparative studies in issues of early complex societies, archaeological conservation, heritage and contemporary society, landscape archaeology and archaeological education. Lorenc has conducted extensive fieldwork in Albania and has directed/co-directed a dozen of multi-disciplinary research projects. He has worked for the Institute of Archaeology of the Albanian Academy of Sciences and served as director of the Albanian Rescue Archaeology Unit of the International Centre for Albanian Archaeology, director of the Institute for Cultural Monuments of the Albanian Ministry of Culture, and chair of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies of the University of Tirana. He is member of several professional organizations, among which Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America, member of the ICOMOS Scientific Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management and member of the Scientific Council of the UNESCO Office in Venice.
Kristina Biceva / ICOMOS Macedonia
Kristina Biceva is an art historian with a Bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Art History and Theory in Bucharest, Romania and holds a Master's degree in Medieval Studies from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. She works as an advisor on international cooperation in the country’s Directorate for Protection of Cultural Heritage, the principal body overseeing the legislation and management of cultural heritage. She is the North Macedonian national coordinator of many international projects and coordinates bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects with UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the European Union. She has also worked as a consultant on heritage rehabilitation projects in South-East Europe and the Caucasus. Her main focus of professional interest is the economic aspects of heritage and conservation and the role of heritage in sustainable development. She is a trainer on heritage business planning and fundraising.
Magnus Borgos / ICOMOS Norway
Magnus Borgos is a cultural heritage manager. He has a Master in Cultural Heritage from NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. He served as an Executive Officer of the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Fund from 2009-2011. In the same period he also worked in Oppland County in Norway as a consultant related to cultural heritage. Magnus Borgos has worked in Røros Municipality as Cultural Heritage Manager since 2011, on issues related to World Heritage; legal, administrative, and financial aspects; cultural landscapes and building preservation. He has been Board Member of ICOMOS Norway since 2015.
Adriana Careaga / ICOMOS Uruguay
Adriana Careaga is the director of the cultural space and historical site “Al Pie De La Muralla” in Montevideo, Uruguay. She teaches courses at ORT University, Uruguay, on heritage, education and cultural tourism. She holds a Master of Science in Public Policies. She is the President of the NGO Friends of the Fortifications Association in Uruguay which has the aim of the preservation of different fortifications in Uruguay. Since 2008 she has been co-coordinator, along with Brazil, of the Regional Seminar of Fortified Cities for the South American region. Adriana Careaga is currently a member of ICOMOS Scientific Committee on Fortifications and Military Heritage (ICOFORT), of which she was previously vice-president (2016-2019), and she contributed to desk reviews received from UNESCO for World Heritage and special requests in support of future World Heritage nominations. She is a member of the ICOMOS International Board. She took part in drafting the ICOFORT Charter on Fortifications and Military Heritage. Guidelines for Protection, Conservation and Interpretation.
Sadagat Davudova / ICOMOS Azerbaijan
Sadagat Davudova has been involved in the management of heritage sites of Azerbaijan for several years and currently holds the Deputy Chairman position at the Reserves Management Center under the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan. She is responsible for the research, development and overall management of cultural heritage projects and the development of cultural tourism. She is also coordinating many international projects by UNESCO, European Union, Council of Europe and etc. She holds an Executive MBA degree from the Maastricht University, Netherlands.
Flávio De Lemos Carsalade / ICOMOS Brazil
Flávio De Lemos Carsalade has been a professor at the School of Architecture at University of Minas Gerais since 1982, where he also served as the Board Director and Vice-Director and where he carries out various research activities. He has also been President of Minas Gerais Department of the Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (1996/1997 and 1998/1999), President of Instituto Estadual do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico de Minas Gerais (1999-2002) and Municipal Secretary of Pampulha Regional Administration, Belo Horizonte (2003-2007). He has been visiting professor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, at the University of Washington, Seattle, and at Hochscule Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences / Detmolder Schulefür Architekturund Innerarchitektur in Germany. He served as ICOMOS Brazil Vice-President from 2015 to 2020.
Soehardi Hartono / ICOMOS Indonesia
Soehardi Hartono runs his own practice as architect, conservation architect and urban designer, based in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. His involvement within Bandung Heritage Society during his university years and Sumatra Heritage Trust after his graduation formed his belief that architects should be at the forefront of safeguarding heritage buildings and sites through conservation efforts. These convictions strengthened further thanks to an apprenticeship at Laurence Loh Architects in Penang (1997), as well as during his post-graduate course at IHS Rotterdam in 1999 in Inner City Renewal and Cultural Heritage Management. Later on, he enrolled in a Master of Science in Urban Design course at TU Delft (2000-2002). In 2006, he participated in the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) in Historic Preservation organised by the US Department of State. He has been a member of ICOMOS Indonesia since 2006.
Tracy Ireland / Australia ICOMOS
Tracy Ireland is Professor of Cultural Heritage, Director of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra (UC), and President of Australia ICOMOS. Tracy was awarded a PhD (Archaeology) from the University of Sydney in 2002, and is known internationally for her research on heritage practice, and the relationships between archaeology, conservation and heritage in the postcolonial world. Her career has included roles at the Powerhouse Museum, the NSW National Trust, the New South Wales Heritage Council, and heading up the Canberra office of Australia’s largest specialist consulting heritage firm, GML Heritage. Since 2009 she has developed UC’s undergraduate and post graduate programs in heritage, conservation and the cultural industries. Tracy has undertaken fieldwork in various countries around the world. She is currently Lead Chief Investigator for two Australian Research Council funded Linkage Projects: "Heritage of the Air", a multidisciplinary project which aims to use heritage, archives and collections to explore how aviation has transformed culture and society in Australia, and "Everyday Heritage" a project that will create tools for heritage managers and communities to give value to underrepresented communities and their stories.
Tino Mager / ICOMOS Germany
Tino Mager is Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Groningen. He studied Media Technology in Leipzig and Art History and Communication Science in Berlin, Barcelona and Tokyo. After research stays in Japan and at the University of California, Los Angeles, he was a lecturer at TU Berlin and the ITU Istanbul, scientific assistant at the Chair of History and Theory of Architecture at TU Dortmund, fellow of the Leibniz Association and the University of Queensland, and postdoc at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. Tino has published extensively on cultural heritage, has been a member of the Board of ICOMOS Germany since 2018 and Secretary General of ICOMOS International Committee on Water and Heritage (ISCWater).
Yasmine Makaroun / ICOMOS Lebanon
After a Master in Architecture from the Institute of Fine Arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut in 1988, Yasmine Makaroun followed her studies in France with a Master in Management of Archaeological Sites and a Ph.D in Archaeology from EPHE at Paris Sorbonne. Since 1992, she worked into archeological excavations and on conservation projects for major World Heritage Sites in Lebanon and Syria. Her professional practice covers historical monuments, site museums and urban heritage. Her academic career started in 1997 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Lebanese University, where she directed the Department of Architecture from 2013 to 2015. Academic member of the Center of Conservation and Restoration since its creation in 1997, Yasmine Makaroun has been its director since 2015. She was member of the Board of ICOMOS Lebanon from 2018 to 2021.
Ulrika Mebus / ICOMOS Sweden
Ulrika Mebus, born 1968, holds a degree in building conservation and heritage property management from Uppsala University. President of ICOMOS Sweden since 2021, member of the board since 2016. She is currently Head of Real Estate/Heritage Property at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters History and Antiquities. She also served as heritage property manager and project leader at the Swedish National Heritage Board with a special focus on the management of the medieval church-ruins and city-wall of the World Heritage site the Hanseatic Town of Visby. Worth mentioning is her lead of a reconstruction project of a collapsed major part of the ancient city wall, using local historic materials and methods. As a former member of the World Heritage Council of Visby, the management of the World Heritage site was part of her duties, including aspects on tourism, sustainable development, accessibility and communication.
Fidelma Mullane / ICOMOS Ireland
Fidelma Mullane is a cultural geographer specialising in the study and conservation of vernacular architecture. Fidelma is President of ICOMOS Ireland and Convenor of the Vernacular Heritage National Scientific Committee.
Eric Pallot / ICOMOS France
A former liberal architect and then architect of Bâtiments de France, Eric Pallot has been Chief Architect of Historic Monuments since 1991. In 2012, he was appointed Inspector General of Historic Monuments. A teacher at the Ecole de Chaillot, he has also taught occasionally at heritage schools in Lebanon, Syria, Cambodia and in various national training centres. More recently, Eric Pallot has been a member of the UNESCO working group for the conservation and development of the Angkor temples in Cambodia as an expert, as well as President of the Monitoring Committee of the Climates of Bourgogne from 2017 to 2021. Among his main projects as Chief Architect of Historic Monuments are the restorations of the Abbaye de Brou, the Palais de Compiègne and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon.
Ľubica Pinčíková / ICOMOS Slovakia
Ľubica Pinčíková graduated in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava in 1982. From 1982 to 1990 she taught History of Medieval Architecture and History of 19th Century Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of SUT in Bratislava. From 1990 she is employed in the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic, where she is head of the Department of National Cultural Monuments and Historical Territories. She is author or co-author of several books, many articles and scientific papers concerning preservation of authenticity, integrity, monitoring and management of monuments sites and territories, history and organisation of the monument protection system in Slovakia. She is co-author of nomination projects for inscription on the World Heritage list in Austria, Germany, and Slovakia, as well as several management plans of World Heritage sites in Slovakia.
Gyanin Rai / ICOMOS Nepal
Gyanin Rai holds an MBA in Religious Tourism and MA in History, Culture and Archaeology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He has been working for the Lumbini Development Trust, Government of Nepal, for the past 19 years and is currently the Chief Administrative Officer of the organization. The Trust is responsible for managing, preserving, promoting and restoring the Lumbini Garden and the Greater Lumbini Area. He has been involved in building international relations to engage the global community in achieving the Trust’s goals. He has contributed to various international projects in Lumbini, including the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust project, the KOICA - Lumbini World Peace City, preparation of the Integrated Management Framework for Lumbini, the ADB-South Asia Tourism Infrastructure Development Project. Gyanin Rai contributed to the UNESCO publication ‘The Sacred Garden of Lumbini: Perceptions of Buddha’s birthplace’, under Perception Eight: ‘Peace and tranquillity. What visitors expect from the Sacred Garden’. He has published several articles on Lumbini, tourism and heritage in national and international journals, as well as energetically working to preserve culture and heritage in the Lumbini Buddhist region. Before joining the Trust, he worked for the Nepal Tourism Board.
María Gabriela Santibañez / ICOMOS Argentina
María Gabriela Santibañez is an architect graduated from the University of Mendoza, Argentina. She has a Master in History of Latin American Architecture and Urbanism at the National University of Tucumán. She is a teacher and researcher in various academic centers in Argentina (University of Mendoza, University of Congress, National University of Cuyo, National University of Río Negro), promoting the approach of students and young graduates to the field of heritage. She is a member of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ICOMOS-IFLA) and for Cultural Tourism (ICTC) and has coordinated the Working Group of Emerging Professionals for Argentina and for the Americas region.
Bogusław Szmygin / ICOMOS Poland
Bogusław Szmygin is the head of the Built Heritage Department at the Lublin University of Technology. He specializes in protection and conservation of architectural monuments (theory of conservation, revitalization of historical towns, protection of historical ruins, protection and conservation of architectural monuments, World Heritage issues). He is the author of over 150 scientific articles (e.g. the monograph Development of conservation doctrine in Poland in XX century). He is also the organiser of several scientific conferences, scientific and educational programmes, the scientific editor of dozen proceedings, as well as the author of over 50 screenplays for educational films.
International Scientific Committees
Paula Cordeiro / ICOMOS International Committee on Historic Cities, Towns and Villages (CIVVIH)
Paula Cordeiro earned her Architecture Degree from the Technical University of Lisbon and her Master’s Degree in Heritage Conservation from the Raymond Lemaire Center in Leuven, Belgium. She is currently working at the Historical Heritage Unit of the City of Brussels as architect and site manager of the Grand-Place UNESCO World Heritage Site, where she is responsible for the restoration projects and the coordination of the management plan. Member of ICOMOS since 1988 and of International Committee on Historic Cities, Towns and Villages (CIVVIH) since 2015.
John Hughes / ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Stone (ISCS)
John Hughes is Reader in Historic Built Environment in the School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of the West of Scotland, in Paisley. He is a geologist, with research interests in materials used in historic structures, especially the characterisation of historic mortars, the development of new mortars for conservation and the characterisation of stone decay. To this end he has participated in RILEM (International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures) technical committees on historic mortars and now lime, since 1997. He has also researched the link between science and conservation, and climate change impacts on cultural heritage. In 2016 he chaired and hosted the 13th International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone. In late 2022, delayed from 2020, he will take up a residency as a Conservation Guest Scholar at the Getty Conservation Institute, in Los Angeles.
Mona O'Rourke / ICOMOS International Committee on Legal, Administrative and Financial Issues (ICLAFI)
Mona O’Rourke, President of ICLAFI, is a freelance heritage consultant with a background in law. She has professional experience in documentation, conservation and management of cultural heritage. She lectures on both the international and the national legislative framework for protection of cultural heritage in Ireland. She has a special interest in processes for stakeholder and community engagement in heritage management, and in conflict resolution. She has worked in an advisory capacity to government on World Heritage matters and has assisted in the development of capacity building training in relation to World Heritage in Ireland.
See also
