2) Research

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.

Graduated in 1978 with a Master’s degree in Architecture from l’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL, with a thesis on the revitalisation of an industrial quarter in the city of Geneva. Over the course of her professional career, she has participated in several studies on the improvement and assessment of historical urban quarters, mainly in Geneva. After working as an architect and city planner for the Regional Service for Monuments and Historical Sites, in the Department of Public Works in the state of Geneva, she was its director from 2002-2008. This was followed by the position of Director of the General Office for Heritage and Historical Sites for the state of Geneva from 2008-2019. This agency comprises three services: the service for Archaeology, the service for Monuments and Historical Sites, and the service for the Inventory of monuments. As part of her duties, she has served on several architectural competition juries, organized lecture series, edited publications on cultural heritage and written articles, most notably on the urban and architectural development of Geneva, the legal framework of urban development and Geneva heritage.

From 1999 to 2011, she was a member of the Federal Commission for the Conservation of Nature and Landscape. From 2012 to 2023, she was a member and vice-president of the Federal Commission for the Preservation of Historic Monuments. Since May 2024, she has been President of ICOMOS Switzerland.

Professor Alex Torpiano is currently Dean of the Faculty for the Built Environment of the University of Malta, a position he has held for the last 16 years; he has served as Head of the Department of Building and Civil Engineering, 1988-1999, 2007-2011, as Head of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, 2011-2016, as Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design, 2016-2020, and Acting Head of the Department of Visual Arts, 2021-2022. Het set up and served as Director of the Institute for Masonry and Construction Research between 1994 – 2009. He is currently a member of the University Senate, (since 2008), and has served as a member of the Council of the University between 2009-2021.

He is a member of the Board of the Institute of Sustainable Energy and of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development. He has served as Chairperson of San Anton School, between 2000 and 2009; as President of the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers, 1994-1996, 2017-2019, as Chairman of the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee 1995-1996, 2000-2001, as member of the Periti Warranting Board between 1999-2001 and since 2009. He has also served on the Eurocodes National Implementation Committee since 2002. He is currently the Executive President of the National Trust of Malta, Din l-Art Helwa.

Dr. Jermina Stanojev is a policy and research expert and lecturer in cultural heritage and international cultural relations. She serves as an individual expert to the European Commission expert group on cultural heritage. Dr. Stanojev has extensive experience in policy development, evidence-based research, and the implementation of international projects. She has collaborated with institutions such as Uppsala University, KU Leuven, Una Europa, UNESCO, Europa Nostra, the European Commission, and Goethe-Institut Brussels. Her work focuses on culture-led policy development to address global challenges through various governance frameworks.

Dr. Stanojev co-chairs the EIT Culture & Creativity Strategic Topic Group on Cultural Heritage in Green and Digital Transitions for Inclusive Societies. She advises on cultural heritage in international relations within the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in the Western Balkans and supports the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations.

She is an expert advisor to the European Heritage Green Paper and a member of the CHARTER advisory board. She co-authored the report “Skills, Training and Knowledge-transfer in the Traditional and Emerging Heritage” from the Structured Dialogue with the European Commission. Additionally, she serves as an expert assessor for the European Urban Initiative – Innovative Actions – New European Bauhaus projects, vice-chair for the Creative Europe programme, and a European Heritage Awards jury member.

Since May 2022, Yonca Erkan has held a full-time position as Professor in Heritage Studies at the Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on the intersection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrial heritage, World Heritage, and urban history.
Previously, she served as a member of the UNESCO National Commission and vice-chair of the Tangible Cultural Heritage (2011–2014). Between 2015 and 2024, she held the UNESCO Chair on Management and Promotion of World Heritage Sites: New Media and Community Involvement at Kadir Has University.

In 2018, she worked at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre as a senior consultant, coordinating the World Heritage Cities Programme and the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation. She also coordinated the EU H2020 MSCA RISE CONSIDER Project on Sustainable Management of Industrial Heritage as a Resource for Urban Development (2021–2024).

Oskar Habjanič earned his degree in history and philosophy from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), in 2003. He went on to complete a master’s degree in metaphysics at the same university in 2010.
He works as curator at the Maribor Regional Museum. He co-founded and leads several museum programs, including Date with Heritage, Neighbours under the World’s Oldest Vine, and Museoeurope. He has curated multiple international exhibitions and collaborated with esteemed institutions such as the Bavarian National Museum (Munich, Germany), Universalmuseum Joanneum (Graz, Austria), the Pontifical Swiss Guard (Vatican), Alimentarium Food Museum (Vevey, Switzerland), the Peasant Museum (Bucharest, Romania), the Franz Liszt Museum and Research Centre (Budapest, Hungary), Burgenland Regional Museum (Eisenstadt, Austria), Museum of the Benedictine Monastery in St. Paul in Lavanthal (Austria) among others.

He is the co-author of the concept for the Museum of the Oldest Vine in the World. His work focuses on integrating inclusive heritage into museum programming, with a special emphasis on connecting heritage with small enterprises and gastronomy. He is the author of more than 150 scientific and professional articles in the field of cultural history, and co-organised six international symposia.
In 2016, he received a residency scholarship from the Universalmuseum in Graz (Austria), and in 2025, the Inclusive European Heritage Residency at Hardwick Hall was organised by Europa Nostra and the National Trust.

Before joining the museum, he worked with underprivileged youth and served as a freelance journalist, reporting from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Turkey and Xinjiang (China).

She is a cultural heritage researcher and practitioner with international experience across museums, archives, and heritage organisations. She is about to begin doctoral research at La Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain, as part of the Horizon Europe-MSCA CHORAL programme, where her work will focus on textile heritage in rural and mountain environments, exploring both material and intangible dimensions.

Alongside her academic work, she has built a strong professional portfolio through roles with leading cultural institutions. She serves as Programmes Officer at the European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage, curating a webinar series. As a Community Outreach Projects Intern at the International Council on Archives in Paris, she contributed to initiatives supporting heritage in Africa and Ukraine, while also helping to organise the ICA Barcelona Congress 2025.
Sophia’s earlier experiences include placements at the Jewish Museum London, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, the Imperial War Museum, and Young V&A, where she gained expertise in provenance research, collections care, exhibition development, and community engagement.
In 2024, she was selected to participate in the Executive Leadership Programme: Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage, a prestigious summer school organised by the Heritage Management Organisation in Greece. This further strengthened her leadership skills and commitment to participatory approaches in cultural heritage.

Sophia holds a BA in History from the University of East Anglia, an MA in Museum Studies (Distinction) from UCL, and an MA in Urban History and Culture from the University of London Institute in Paris.

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