Meet new ICOMOS Committee Presidents!
ICOMOS is pleased to introduce you to its new National and International Scientific Committee Presidents. The latter were elected between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.
Discover their rich professional experience and academic background in the short presentations below!
National Committees:
Aliyu L Abdu - Presidents of ICOMOS Nigeria
Aliyu L Abdu is the Director Monuments, Heritage and Sites of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). He has been involved, in leading capacities, in national heritage concept design and implementation and as the focal person of the World Heritage program in Nigeria, he has participated in the preparations of Nomination dossiers, transboundary nomination initiatives and management of heritage sites. He is an active member of ICOMOS Nigeria since 2000.
Shireen Allan - President of ICOMOS Palestine
Ms. Shireen Allan now focuses 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, she trains at-risk youth in traditional handicrafts and how to develop small business projects. She has a master’s degree in Rehabilitation & Preservation.
Burçin Altinsay Özgüner - President of ICOMOS Turkey
Burçin Altınsay Özgüner is an architect with a master’s degree in architectural conservation from Middle East Technical University. She was a Scholar of SPAB in the UK in 1989. Burçin is a practicing architect for over 30 years; she has worked as a consultant and project/site architect in conservation of buildings dating from Ottoman period up to the 20th century, for urban conservation and rehabilitation projects in Turkey, Albania and Kosovo. She lectured on architectural conservation in several universities of İstanbul and in training programmes for craftspeople. Alongside ICOMOS Turkey National Committee she is also the chair of Europa Nostra Turkey.
Nouf Mohammed Al-Saud - President of ICOMOS Saudi Arabia
Nouf Mohammed Al-Saud is a Senior Interior Architect. She holds a master's degree in Architecture Sciences specialized in conservation and preservation, as well as a Ph.D. degree in Urban and Regional Planning Development. She is the owner and president of Dhaliliyah Engineering Consultants, specializing in architecture, planning, and interior design. Currently, Nouf Mohammed Al-Saud is chairman of The Women Association for Architecture Heritage, and an active member of The Saudi Heritage Preservation Society.
Kristina Biceva - President of 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 Masters degree in Medieval Studies from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. She works as an adviser 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 Macedonian national coordinator of many international projects and coordinates the cooperation with UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the European Union, also managing bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects. Kristina Biceva works on the preparation of the national cultural heritage preservation strategies and programs, management plans for heritage sites, heritage assessment reports and the monitoring of the implementation of international conventions and standards. She has also worked as a consultant on heritage rehabilitation projects in South-East Europe and the Caucasus region. Her main focus of professional interest are the economic aspects of heritage and conservation and the role of heritage in sustainable development and she is a trainer on heritage business planning and fundraising.
Magnus Borgos - President of ICOMOS Norway
Magnus Borgos is a Cultural Heritage Manager. He has a master in Cultural Heritage from NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim Norway 2009. Has been employed in Norwegian Cultural Heritage Fund as an Executive Officer in the period 2009-2011. Has in the same period also worked in Oppland County in Norway as a Consultant related to cultural heritage. Has since 2011 worked in Røros Municipality as Cultural Heritage Manager, with issues related to World Heritage, legal, administrative, and financial issues, cultural landscapes and building preservation. Board member of ICOMOS Norway since 2015.
Marcela Arguedas Chaves - President of ICOMOS Costa Rica
Marcela Arguedas Chaves, master in architecture and master in valuation and project management, and special studies in sustainability. She is the Director of Consultécnica-Costa Rica. Most of her labour participation has been dedicated in consulting areas related to architecture and ingenieurs for private and public clients in Costa Rica.
Kian Boon - President of ICOMOS Malaysia
Kian Boon currently sit on the Panel of Experts for Landscapes of the National Heritage Building, Heritage Department and ADCOM. He was part of the team that won a UNESCO Merit Award for conservation and restoration of a 17th century Chinese temple in Melaka. He was involved in the site management of Melaka for nearly twenty years, and was part of the team that drafted the Conservation Management Plan for the WHS of Melaka and George Town.
Maurizio Di Stefano - President of ICOMOS Italy
Maurizio Di Stefano is an engineer, architect, specialized in restoration of Monuments at the Federico II University of Naples. He is a UNESCO expert for the assistance in the UNESCO World Heritage issues, the General Secretary of the Italian Blue Shield, and a member of the Advisory Board of the European Projects in the field of innovation of cultural heritage.
Dainius Elertas - President of ICOMOS Lithuania
Dainius Elertas is a doctoral student since 2018 at the field of history at the Institute of Baltic Region History and Archeology of Klaipeda University. He works as a Chief Museologist - Historian of the Lithuanian Sea Museum since 2003. He was Deputy Chairman of the Collections Research Section of the Lithuanian Museums Association 2015- 2018. He worked from 1989 to 1992 as an archaeologist at the Klaipėda Monument Restoration and Design Institute and in 1992-1993 at the Museum of the History of Lithuania Minor. He is an author and editor of some books, monographs and articles in the field of Prussian history and maritime heritage.
Charlotte van Emstede - President of ICOMOS Netherlands
Charlotte van Emstede is a Heritage Consultant, specialized in assessing heritage significance. She studied Architecture at Delft University of Technology, where she also obtained her Ph.D. She has been appointed Lecturer with the UNESCO Chair on Heritage & Values at TU Delft. From 2006 till 2011 she was Secretary of DOCOMOMO The Netherlands. She has been a member of ICOMOS since 2010.
Song In-ho - President of ICOMOS Korea
Song In-ho served as an invited researcher at Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, where he worked on architectural typology of historic city. As a professor of architecture at University of Seoul and also the Director of the Institute of Seoul Studies, he has continued to research and practice on Seoul Studies. He has taken charge of director of Seoul Museum of History, Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Katrina Kukaine - President of ICOMOS Latvia
Katrina Kukaine is mag.geogr., spatial development planner and specialized in historic environment. She has worked many years for the National Heritage Board, from 2014 till 2020 as the Deputy Head. She works in the National library of Latvia as strategic development specialist and is a member of ICOMOS Latvia, Board member from 2014, and since October 2020 President of the Board.
María Claudia López - President of ICOMOS Colombia
María Claudia López is an architect and holds a master´s degree in architectural conservation from the École de Chaillot in Paris. She has been professor of recognized universities in Bogotá. María Claudia López has been National Director for Cultural Heritage, Deputy Minister of Culture of Colombia and Secretary of Culture of Bogotá. In 2019, she chaired the 14 session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.
Yasmine Makaroun - President of ICOMOS Lebanon
After a Master degree in architecture from the Institute of Fines 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 have covered both historical monuments, site museums and urban heritage. Besides, 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, she is in charge of the direction since 2015. Active member of several heritage associations, she was member of the board of ICOMOS Lebanon from 2018 to 2021 before been elected in June 2021 President.
Jean-Sébastien Misson - President of ICOMOS Belgium
Jean-Sébastien Misson holds a Master's degree in Conservation of Historic Towns and Villages (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven/Raymond Lemaire International Center for Conservation - 2003). Since 2008, he has been working for the City of Namur on the conservation and restoration of the Citadel of Namur, an undertaking entrusted to the Citadel Department, for which he is currently responsible. He has been a member of ICOMOS since 2004.
Fidelma Mullane - President of ICOMOS Ireland
Dr. Fidelma Mullane is a cultural geographer specialising in the study and conservation of vernacular architecture. Fidelma is a member of ICOMOS Ireland and Convenor of the Vernacular Heritage National Scientific Committee.
Navin Piplani - President of ICOMOS India
Navin Piplani runs an architecture conservation practice based out of New Delhi (India), and has worked as a core member of the multi-disciplinary team for the Conservation of Taj Mahal. He was the first National Scientific Counselor of ICOMOS India, and is a Vice President of ICOMOS International Training Committee. He has served as an expert from India at the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel 2017-18. Currently, he is engaged as a consultant at INTACH Heritage Academy for training, research and capacity building in the heritage sector.
Bogusław Szmygin - President of ICOMOS Poland
Bogusław Szmygin, prof dr hab.eng, Lublin University of Technology, head of the Built Heritage Department. 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). Author of over 150 scientific articles (e.g monograph “Development of conservation doctrine in Poland in XX century”); organizer of several scientific conferences, scientific and educational programmes; scientific editor of dozen proceedings; author of over 50 screenplays for educational films.
International Scientific Committees:
Maddalena Achenza - President of ICOMOS ISCEAH
Maddalena Achenza holds a PhD on Conservation of Traditional Earthen Buildings. She is Assistant Professor at the University of Cagliari (Italy), Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture. Ms. Achenza was vice president of ICOMOS’s International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) from 2018-2020 and has been member of ISCEAH Bureau in the period 2005-2015, where she served as coordinator of Chair 3_Technology.
Maria José De Freitas - President of ICOMOS ISC SBH
Maria José De Freitas is the author of a variety of Renovation projects, in Portugal, China Mainland and MacauIn 1994 she was in charge of the Coordination of Revitalization of St. Paul’s Ruins, also comprised in the Macau Heritage List, UNESCO, 2005. From 2003 to 2005, as Coordinator of the Sintra World Heritage Centre, she was responsible for the Management Plan of Sintra Cultural Landscape, included in UNESCO Heritage List since 1995.
Cristina González-Longo - President of ICOMOS CIF
Cristina González-Longo is the Founder and Director of the MSc in Architectural Design for the Conservation of Built Heritage at the Department of Architecture of the University of Strathclyde, where she also has created and is leading the Architectural Design and Conservation Research Unit (ADCRU). She is also a practising architect with over twenty years’ experience as a Chartered architect both in UK and Spain, RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA) and member of the RIBA Conservation Register Assessment Panel.
Franziska Haas - President of ICOMOS ISCES
Franziska Haas is trained as an architect at Technical University Dresden/Germany. Her professional experiences range from the work at the Saxon State Office for Monument Conservation (Germany), to research and teaching at the Chair of Heritage Science and Building Research, Technical University of Dresden, to the work as a freelance conservator. She specialized in the topic of energy-efficient renovation of historic buildings.
Hossam Mahdy - President of ICOMOS CIAV
Hossam Mahdy is a conservation architect with a PhD from Glasgow University. He is a member of ICOMOS-UK, ICORP, CIF, ICICH and the president of ICOMOS-CIAV. Hossam has more than thirty years’ experience as an architect, researcher, consultant and lecturer on the conservation of architectural and urban heritage. He acted as a consultant to ICOMOS, ICCROM, GCI, the British Council and other organizations on the conservation of cultural heritage with particular focus on vernacular built heritage.
Munish Pandit - President of ICOMOS ICICH
Munish Pandit is a practicing Conservation Architect and hold Master’s Degree in Architectural Conservation. Since the past 22 years, he has been working in the field of conservation and management of build heritage. He specializes in architectural and urban conservation. His research work is focused on the belief systems and their manifestations in traditional & historic architecture. He is founding bureau member of ICICH (2005) and had served as vice president in the past for two terms (2010-13 & 2016-19). He was also executive body member of ICOMOS India during the term 2010-2013.
Efstratios Stylianidis - President of ICOMOS CIPA
Efstratios Stylianidis holds a Bachelor & Master’s Degree in Surveying Engineering and a PhD in Photogrammetry. He is an Associate Professor at the School of Spatial Planning and Development, Faculty of Engineering in the field of Geodesy-Photogrammetry. His teaching and research interests include Photogrammetry and Geospatial Engineering. He has been a visiting Professor at Columbia University (2018). As an invited speaker, he has given lectures at several high-ranked universities and institutions abroad, such as Princeton University, UCLA, Imperial University, Tsinghua University, Getty Conservation Institute, etc.
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Meet new ICOMOS Committee Presidents!