Netherlands

Michiel Purmer (born 1972, Utrecht) studied Historical Geography at Utrecht University. Since 2000, he has worked for Natuurmonumenten, a Dutch NGO managing over 110,000 hectares of nature reserves, including a wide range of cultural heritage sites, where he serves as Senior Heritage Specialist and advisor on cultural heritage.

He earned his PhD with the thesis Het landschap bewaard (The Landscape Preserved) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2018. In 2020–2021, he held a position at Groningen University alongside his work for Natuurmonumenten. He guest lectures at universities and regularly publishes on heritage and landscape.

Michiel is a member of the National Consultation Panel on Heritage of the Netherlands and serves on the board of the Dutch Network Historic Cultural Landscape (Netwerk Historisch Cultuurlandschap). He is also a member of the Landscape History Committee of the Limburgs Geschieds- en Oudheidkundig Genootschap and is currently preparing a landscape biography for Saba in the Dutch Caribbean on behalf of the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency.

In addition, he is active in numismatics and the study of clay pipes, and will this year be appointed to the Advisory Committee on Coins of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, where he will evaluate and select designs for special Dutch coins.

Marc Wingens was born in 1964 and studied Cultural History at Utrecht University, earning his PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1994. He became Director of Erfgoed Gelderland in 2006, supporting around 260 heritage organisations in the Dutch province through consultancy, advocacy and capacity building.

Marc serves as a Council Member of Europa Nostra, sits on the board of OPEN, and participates in national heritage boards. He has contributed to heritage awards and grant evaluations, including the Gelderse Roos Prize, the Brabant Heritage Award and the Mondriaan Fund. Together with his husband, Rudolf Burggraaf, he has promoted heritage awareness among UNESCO school students since 2017.