Meet new ICOMOS Committee Presidents!
ICOMOS is pleased to introduce you to its new National and International Scientific Committee Presidents.
Discover their rich professional experience and academic background in the short presentations below!
National Committees:
Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa - President of ICOMOS Bahrain
Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa holds an MA in Museum Anthropology (Columbia University) and an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development (University College London). His main interests revolve around nature-culture interlinkages and the role of international conventions in protecting heritage. He has served as Director of Antiquities and Museums at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities since 2016, and previously has worked for the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage. During his ten years working in the public and non-governmental sectors, he was engaged in a number of initiatives and projects aimed at safeguarding natural and cultural heritage, both on national and international levels. He was elected President of ICOMOS Bahrain in February 2019.
Elša Turkušić - President of ICOMOS Bosnia-Herzegovina
Elša Turkušić holds a M.Sc. and PhD in architectural and urban design. She is a Senior Teaching Assistant at the Design Department at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Sarajevo and a correspondent for the magazine A10 New European Architecture (Netherlands). She has been working in the fields of architectural design, architectural research and protection of cultural and historical heritage. Recently, she was a member of the editorial board for the publication and exhibition entitled “RESTART- Architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1995-2010”. She is a member of the Sarajevo Architects' Association and Bosnia-Herzegovina's voting member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on 20th Century Heritage.
Nato Tsintsabadze - President of ICOMOS Georgia
Nato Tsintsabadze is a conservation architect. She graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 1987 and obtained her MA degree in Post-War Recovery Studies (1997-1998) at the University of York (UK). She is one of the founders of the National Trust of Georgia and sits on its Board. She became a member of ICOMOS in 1993 and served as Secretary General and Coordinator of International Projects of ICOMOS Georgia since 1999. She is also an author and co-author of several publications including Towards the Future, National Policy of Cultural Heritage Sector of Georgia (2014) and Introducing Young People to the Protection of Heritage Sites and Historic Cities - An Introduction Course for Schoolchildren. She was elected President of ICOMOS Georgia in February 2019.
Clara Arokiasamy - President of ICOMOS-UK
Clara Arokiasamy is the founder of KALAI, which focuses on organisational development and international consultancy. She was Deputy Director Operations at UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund, a member of the Culture Committee at the UK National Commission for UNESCO, Vice President of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage and a member of the Strategic Review Committee at ICOM International. Clara has consulted on cultural heritage in Europe, Canada and America for academic, community, arts and heritage sectors. She continues to deliver papers on cultural heritage in the UK and abroad regularly and comments on equality and social justice issues in the treatment and management of culture and heritage.
Eran Mordohovich - President of ICOMOS Israel
Eran Mordohovich is an architect. He holds a M.Sc. in the Conservation of Historic Buildings and Towns (Raymond Lemaire Centre for Conservation, Belgium). His master’s thesis dealt with the documentation and conservation of the Schocken House in Jerusalem, designed by Erich Mendelsohn from 1936-1938. He has worked as an architect for 22 years on various architectural planning, urban design and conservation projects in Israel and Belgium. He currently serves as the Northern Region Architect at the Israel Antiquities Authority and teaches at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning in Tel Aviv (Israel). He is also a visiting lecturer in Italy and Belgium. He has been a member of ICOMOS Israel since 2011 and the Chairman of the Board of ICOMOS Israel since November 2018.
Yasuyoshi Okada - President of ICOMOS Japan
Yasuyoshi Okada was born in 1949 in Osaka, Japan, and is an architectural historian. He holds a doctorate in engineering from Kyoto University in 1994 with a dissertation entitled Historical Study on the Spatial Specific in Mesopotamian Architecture. During his career he has worked on urban and architectural development mainly in the context of ancient West Asian civilization as well as the conservation of cultural properties. He was an Executive Committee member of ICOMOS Japan from 2005 to 2011, served as Vice President of ICOMOS Japan from 2013 to 2018 and is a national designated expert member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH). He is currently professor of the Institute for Cultural Studies of Ancient Iraq, Kokushikan University, Tokyo.
HRH Princess Dana Firas - President of ICOMOS Jordan
HRH Princess Dana Firas holds an MPA from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government focused on sustainable development and environmental policy, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. Her Royal Highness is a global advocate for heritage protection and preservation. She currently serves as President of the Petra National Trust (PNT), Jordan's oldest national non-governmental organisation in the field of heritage protection and preservation. She was designated a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in June 2017 by the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, in recognition of her outstanding commitment to heritage protection and preservation as pillars for sustainable development, and her contribution to responsible tourism andcommunity participation.
Saúl Alcántara Onofre - President of ICOMOS Mexico
Saúl Alcántara Onofre graduated with a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Genova (Italy). He also holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a doctorate in design from the Metropolitan Autonomous University (Mexico), where he is also a tenured professor. Saúl Alcántara Onofre is an advisory member and former Vice President of ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ISCCL). He has also served as an expert for ICOMOS on ten nomination dossiers for inscription in the World Heritage List. Saúl Alcántara Onofre has published three books and written around 120 articles. In Mexico, he has worked on 30 restoration projects of monuments and cultural landscapes.
Zahraa Zawawi - President of ICOMOS Palestine
Zahraa Zawawi is an architect and urban planner. She graduated from the University of Birzeit with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1996. She also holds a master's degree in urban and regional planning from An-Najah National University in Palestine and a PhD in urban studies from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She has worked on several urban planning and conservation projects in Palestine between 1996 and 2013. She worked at Al-Quds Bard College as a visiting assistant professor from 2014-2016 and as the head of Urban Studies. She is an assistant professor and head of the Department of Urban Planning Engineering at An-Najah National University. She was recently elected president of ICOMOS Palestine.
José Carlos Hayakawa Casas - President of ICOMOS Peru
José Carlos Hayakawa Casas is an architect. He holds a master’s degree in Urban Renovation from the National University of Engineering (UNI) and a PhD in Tourism from the University of San Martín de Porres. He has several postgraduate master’s degrees and specializations: Master in Urban Planning and Territorial Development (University of Strasbourg-France), Master in Restoration of Heritage (University of Alcalá-Spain) and Specialization in Politics and Culture Management (Metropolitan Autonomous University-México). He is a university professor and researcher in Peru and abroad. He also worked for the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima on Monumental Historical Heritage and Urban Regeneration as an advisor. He is the Director of the index journal on built heritage DE VENIR and of the Research Institute of the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Arts of the National University of Engineering. He currently serves as President of ICOMOS Peru.
Aslam Sami Djellouli - President of ICOMOS Tunisia
Aslam Sami Djellouli is an ecology expert. He holds a PhD in Ecology on the biology of populations from the Faculty of Sciences of Corté, Corsica, France. He specializes in vegetation studies, vegetal formation and forest landscapes; the evaluation of the state of conservation and restoration of ecosystems; the environment and sustainable development; and eco-tourism. He served as Director and President of the Environment and Biology Commission at the Federation for Subaquatic Activities of Tunisia (FAST) from 1990 to 2006. He is currently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Science of Tunis and president of ICOMOS Tunisia.
International Scientific Committees:
Claus-Peter Echter – CIVVIH Historic Towns and Villages
Claus-Peter Echter is a scientific heritage consultant in private practice since 2008, working at the European and international level and based in Munich, Germany. He has a Ph.D in architecture (Dr.-Ing.). He has produced expert reviews on international heritage evaluations for historic cities. He is specialized in urban conservation and has given lectures and published many books and articles on Architectural History and (Urban) Monument Preservation.
See also
→ New ICOMOS Presidents elected in 2018