3) Education, Training & skills

Elena Dimitrova is an Associate Professor at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia with over thirty years of teaching and research in spatial policy and planning. She has a Master’s in Architecture, awarded in 1976 and defended her PhD in 1990. Dimitrova’s professional expertise and research interests are in the spatial and sociocultural aspects of sustainable development, participatory planning approaches, and interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue on heritage as a factor for urban sustainability. She is a team leader in several international research projects; and the author of numerous publications in the fields of urban development and planning, higher education and research, and cultural heritage preservation for sustainable development. Dimitorva is and has been a participant in numerous European academic networks and international conferences.

Elena Dimitrova has been a member of ICOMOS-Bulgaria since 2005 and Vice-President since 2011; a member of CIVVIH (International Scientific Committee on historic cities, towns and villages) since 2010, CIVVIH Advisory Committee member (2018-2021) and Board member (since 2021); representative of ICOMOS-Bulgaria in ICOMOS SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Working Group since 2019. She is a member of the Expert Group on European Quality Principles for EU-Funded Interventions with Potential Impact on Cultural Heritage, jointly developed by ICOMOS Europe and the European Commission (DC Culture and Education), which was adopted by the ICOMOS General Assembly in 2021. She was Invited to be a panellist (Theme II: ‘Community engagement through culture for sustainable local development’) at the UNESCO Conference on ‘Culture 2030 | Rural-Urban Development: The Future of Historic Villages and Towns’, organised in Meishan, China, in 2019.

Elena Dimitorva has extensive experience in scientific article reviews, ICOMOS missions and desk reviews and the evaluation of educational and research projects in European and national academic and research programmes. She has also been a local assessor for the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards since 2018.

Catherine Leonard is the Secretary-General of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO), where she works with heritage organisations around the world to protect and promote cultural and natural heritage. Her career began in language teaching, followed by a role at the (then) Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which sparked an enduring interest in international collaboration and cultural diplomacy.

She later joined the National Trust in the UK, where she worked with European heritage organisations and institutions, helped shape the Trust’s international strategy, and led global partnerships. Since moving to INTO, Catherine has worked with members in more than 80 countries, supporting capacity-building, communications, and policy engagement. She is passionate about the role heritage plays in sustainability, identity, and community resilience, and often speaks at international events about the ‘National Trust’ approach and model.

With a background in languages and literature, Catherine brings a strong focus on advocacy and storytelling to her work. She is particularly interested in helping organisations communicate their impact and connect with wider audiences. Believing that heritage is fundamentally about people, Catherine is committed to making it more inclusive, visible, and valued.

Riin Alatalu is the Vice-President of ICOMOS, an Associate Professor of Cultural Heritage and Conservation at the Estonian Academy of Arts, and Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Heritage Studies at the same institution. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the Estonian Heritage Conservation Council and is an active member of various ICOMOS groups, including the Rights-Based Approaches Working Group, CIVVIH, ICLAFI, ISC20C, and the European Heritage Label Panel.

Alatalu has held leadership roles in the Estonian National Heritage Board, the Tallinn Culture and Heritage Department, and the Ministry of Culture. She earned her PhD in 2012 with a dissertation on “Heritage in Transitional Society: From Nation’s Conscience in the Estonian SSR to the Harasser of the Private Owner in the Republic of Estonia.”
She has been deeply involved in initiatives like the Urban Agenda Dissonant Heritage Working Group and has been a strong advocate for preserving and contextualising dissonant heritage in Estonia. Alatalu has organised numerous courses and lectures on the topic.

Her campaigns include the Estonian National Cultural Heritage Year 2013, European Cultural Heritage Days, Visit Baltic Manors, and other awareness-raising activities. She has successfully fostered collaboration between decision-makers and the wider public to promote cultural heritage preservation.

Victor Boye Julebæk, Ph.D., is an accomplished architect and academic who combines a deep theoretical foundation with practical experience. He studied architecture at both the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, grounding his approach in the rigorous architectural traditions of Denmark and Switzerland.

He serves as an associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy and is head of the Master’s Programme for Cultural Heritage, Transformation, and Conservation. In his teaching, research and practice, there is a focus on both the theoretical and the hands-on, applied perspectives of the conservation and transformation of architectural heritage with an emphasis on material practices, cultures, and ecologies.

Marine Mizandari has co-chaired the National Trust of Georgia since 2017. With 30 years of professional experience, her career spans scientific research, senior management, and heritage project implementation across Georgia and Europe.

She served as Deputy Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia (2012–2014) and has advised the government on strategic heritage policies. Marine combines scientific expertise with policy experience to strengthen cultural heritage management and public engagement, supporting initiatives that preserve and promote Georgia’s heritage.

Francesco Trovò is an architect (IUAV) with a PhD in Conservation of Architectural Heritage from Milan Polytechnic. He served for many years as an official architect at the ABAP Superintendency for the Municipality of Venice and its Lagoon, where he took on various coordination roles, including the UNESCO site “Venice and its Lagoon” and was responsible for the restoration of important public buildings in Venice.

He is an associate professor in Architectural preservation at the University IUAV of Venice. He carries out study and research activities on historical buildings in Venice, Cultural Heritage and climate change. He has participated in international conferences and is the author of several scientific publications. He sits on numerous scientific committees of journals and is a member of associations dealing with Cultural Heritage, such as Green Building Council Italia and ICOMOS Italia.

Ira Vihreälehto is a cultural heritage professional, educator, and author with over two decades of experience advancing education, participation, and awareness in Finland and internationally. Since 2015, she has served as Executive Director and Senior Advisor at the Association of Finnish Cultural Heritage Education, where she has led more than 30 national and international projects. Her work combines creative placemaking, intergenerational learning, and digital tools for intangible cultural heritage, including the widely translated Spinner of Living Heritage (available in 14 languages).
Vihreälehto manages training programs for teachers, develops pedagogical resources such as Kulttuurin vuosikello—a digital heritage learning platform that reached over 116,000 users in 2024—and represents the association in multiple expert groups. She is also active in communication and outreach across media, from blogs to social platforms and educational video projects.

Alongside her leadership work, Vihreälehto is a non-fiction and textbook author and host of a TV series on Finland’s national broadcaster YLE1. Her contributions to cultural heritage were recognised with the Europa Nostra Grand Prix, the European Union’s most prestigious cultural heritage award, in 2018 for the project Kulttuurivoltti.
Before her current role, Vihreälehto spent nearly two decades as a teacher and teacher trainer, specialising in history, social studies, psychology, religion, and special education. She holds a Master’s degree in History from the University of Jyväskylä, with additional qualifications in special education, psychology teaching, principal training, and ADHD counselling.
She is an appointed expert in several national and European cultural heritage bodies, including the Finnish World Heritage National Coordination Group, the Living Heritage Expert Group (2018–2026), and the European Heritage Label Expert Group (2022–2026), nominated by Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture.

Karla is a graduate of Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Law, and of Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where she completed her Master’s degree in Arts, Culture, and Society.
Upon her MA, she has gained knowledge in Qualitative and Quantitative Research that she has applied in various individual and group projects within the topics of Creative and Sustainable Cities, Cultural Policy, Sociology of Culture and Critical Heritage Studies. Her research interests span across various disciplines, looking at the intersection of the human with its surroundings. From urban development and gentrification processes to heritage as a catalyst of social well-being, she aims to explore how these dynamics play a role in society and in the individual. She has been active in the cultural scene through volunteering, but also within bottom-up initiatives such as an animation film festival that she co-founded this year in Cluj-Napoca.

She had the opportunity to present her MA thesis at two international conferences, the Arts and Cultural Management Conference 2024 in Vienna and the II Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies: Central and Eastern Europe Chapter at the University of Warsaw in 2025, aiming to continue her studies in the future.

She is a member of the European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage (ESACH) and a Young Member of Europa Nostra.