Moderators and Speakers
How Can Equitable Access to Heritage Help Solve Global Challenges? An Exploratory Dialogue
Manzama Marek Abi
Moderator
Expert Panel I: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Education to Address the Climate Crisis
Manzama Marek Abi is a UNESCO Associate Project Officer, working at the nexus of culture and sustainable development. Engaged in global frameworks such as the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT), his work contributes to shaping policy agendas that position culture as a strategic driver of resilience and growth. As a focal point for Africa and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Cultural Policies and Development Entity, Culture Sector, he supports the development of cultural strategies, working with governments and intergovernmental organizations to strengthen cultural governance systems.
Marek ABI is also an author, with three books released, a Podcast Host and a Cultural Entrepreneur.
Alwaleed Alkhaja
Speaker
Expert Panel I: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Education to Address the Climate Crisis
Alwaleed Alkhaja is Head of Open Access and Copyright at Qatar National Library, where he leads the library’s open access program and oversees copyright‑related matters. He has extensive experience in open access publishing and open science, including senior roles at Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals and Hamad bin Khalifa University Press / QScience.com, Qatar’s first open access publisher. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Creative Commons and serves on the board of the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS), as well as the advisory board of the Forum for Open Research in MENA (FORM).
Lorena Aldana
Speaker
Expert Panel II: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Ethical Artificial Intelligence
Lorena Aldana is the Head of External Relations and Advocacy at the Europeana Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation that mobilises digital cultural heritage for an open, knowledgeable and creative society and deploys the common European data space for cultural heritage. In her role, she fosters strong relationships with EU policymakers, ensures Europeana’s leadership and influence on key policy issues, and enhances awareness of its added value in both the cultural and political landscape. With a decade of experience in EU cultural heritage policy, Lorena has previously worked at the European Commission (DG EAC), the OECD and Europa Nostra.
Elliott Bledsoe
Speaker
Expert Panel III: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
Elliott Bledsoe has extensive experience in copyright, with a focus on the interplay between rights and creative practice. For over 15 years he has been actively involved in copyright law reform activities in Australia. He has long defended the public interest in copyright debates, is a staunch advocate for the power of open access to knowledge and creativity and a thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture, a devoted defender of the public domain and continues to call for the productive reuse of orphan materials.
He is an active member of Creative Commons Australia – the local chapter of the CC Global Network – Since 2020 he has been the Co-lead of the chapter. He is also the President of Wikimedia Australia (WMAU), the Australian affiliate of the international Wikimedia Foundation. He also helped develop the Australian edition of Copyright The Card Game, including designing the layout for the local card deck.
For nearly 10 years he worked at the Australian Digital Alliance (ADA) – Australia’s peak body representing copyright users and innovators in a digital world – and the Australian Libraries and Archives Copyright Coalition (ALACC) – the primary policy body for copyright issues affecting the library, archive and information sectors in Australia. Through both organisations he regularly engaged in copyright advocacy, education and reform activities.
Elliott also runs Agentry, an arts marketing micro-consultancy that supports artists and arts organisations to introduce marketing strategy and optimise their marketing communications efforts – whether IRL, URL or hybrid (in-person, online or both). He holds a Master of Marketing from RMIT University and is recognised as a Certified Practising Marketer by the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI). He is based in Meeanjin Brisbane on Turrbal and Jagera Country.
Johanne Bouchard
Speaker
Expert Panel II: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Ethical Artificial Intelligence
Johanne Bouchard (Canada /Switzerland) is a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Trained in international studies and social anthropology, she specialised on economic, social and cultural rights before joining the Office in 2015. There, she has mainly been providing support to the mandate of Special procedure in the field of cultural rights and contributing to the broader work of the Office on cultural rights.
Before joining the United Nations, she worked 10 years as a researcher and project coordinator at the Observatory of cultural diversity and cultural rights, associated with the Interdisciplinary Institute for Ethics and Human Rights of the University of Fribourg. She was involved in a variety of projects and international partnerships aiming at fostering the implementation of cultural rights in public policies and programmes and at strengthening the indivisibility and interdependency of human rights in theory and practice.
In the event, she is representing the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki.
Mohamed Ziane Bouziane
Moderator
Expert Panel III: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
Mohamed is a conservation architect and holds a Master degree in Heritage Studies, he also graduated from the Erasmus Programme MACLANDS, Master in Conservation and Management of Cultural Landscapes.
After an initial experience in rehabilitation and conservation projects, he started a UN career at UNESCO as an Associate Programme Specialist in 2013 where he contributed to the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Arab States and the Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape. At UNECSO’s World Heritage Centre, he specialised in capacity building in the field of World Heritage, Urban Conservation projects and the provision of technical support in the monitoring of cultural and natural sites’ state of conservation.
In 2017, Mohamed was appointed as a Senior Programme Specialist at the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage, a UNESCO Category 2 Centre based in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He oversaw the design and the implementation of the Culture regional Programme for Arab States. He also supervised several culture related projects implemented by ARC-WH in conflict areas for the recovery of cultural heritage and enhancing local communites’ resilience.
In April 2022, Mohamed moved back to UNESCO Headquarters to coordinate a newly established programme on Culture and Digital Technologies. He is currently in charge of developing and coordinating new innovative initiatives strengthening synergies between culture related Conventions including the Dive into Heritage project.
Carlo De Gaetano
Speaker
Expert Panel I: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Education to Address the Climate Crisis
Carlo De Gaetano (Italy) is an artist researcher and information designer working with the Visual Methodologies Collective at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He is currently pursuing a Professional Doctorate with the project Rising Tides, Shifting Imaginaries: Participatory Climate Fiction-making with Cultural Collections.
In his artistic research, De Gaetano uses fiction as a method to spark reflection and dialogue about our interconnectedness with more-than-human worlds. He works with audiovisual materials from archives and online environments, curating and recombining them to explore narratives surrounding Dutch waters and their ecosystems. Through participatory workshops, he activates these collections in collaborative fiction-making processes that invite participants to imagine alternative futures for living with water and other beings in a changing climate.
Ping Kong
Speaker
Expert Panel I: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Education to Address the Climate Crisis
Dr. Ping Kong is a learning experience designer and World Heritage specialist working at the intersection of World Heritage, climate education, and e-learning innovation. Dr. Ping Kong is the founder of Heritage & Education gGmbH and works with interdisciplinary experts turning complex scientific and heritage knowledge into accessible, interactive elearning experiences for diverse audiences. She led the UNESCO-partnered e-learning project “World Heritage & Climate Protection: Innovative Education for All,” funded by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, which is integrated into UNESCO Open Learning Platform with open access for educators and young learners at global scale. Dr. Kong has an interdisciplinary academic background across urban planning and social studies, and has worked in the field of UNESCO World Heritage since 2005. She received her Ph.D at Delft University of Technology and has worked as deputy director of UNESCO WHITRAP (Shanghai, P.R. China), and as visiting professor at Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU-Cottbus, Germany).
Michael Lampe
Speaker
High-Level Contributions on Equitable Access to Heritage in the Context of UNESCO’s Mandate
Michael Lampe is a musician, producer, and Aruba's Cultural Diplomat in the Netherlands. Trained at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and holding an executive diploma in cultural diplomacy from the United Nations, he has built a career at the intersection of Caribbean heritage, technology, and creative advocacy. His Datapanic project — fusing traditional Aruban instruments with electronic music — reflects a broader mission: positioning Aruban talent on the world stage. Most recently, he brokered a collaboration between Aruba and Atlanta through the urban music platform New Skool Rules, further cementing Aruba's role as a bridge between Caribbean creativity and the global music industry.
Erna Lilje
Speaker
Expert Panel III: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
Dr Erna Lilje is Curator Indigenous Knowledge & Material Culture at the Wereldmuseum in the Netherlands.
Erna is committed to deepening the capacity of world or ethnographic museums, as useful resources for those whose cultural material they hold. Growing up as a member of the Papua New Guinean diaspora in Australia, Erna learned firsthand the value of collections as a way to connect and learn about one’s heritage. As a curator she has created and contributed to exhibitions that cover a broad range of topics including the legacies of colonialism, the colonial complicity of museums, Indigenous knowledges, contemporary art and making practices. Her current projects will open in May at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden - Sámi Art, Land, Power and Darwin in Paradise Camp: Yuki Kihara will open in Leiden.
Alessandra Luciano
Speaker
High-Level Contributions on Equitable Access to Heritage in the Context of UNESCO’s Mandate
Alessandra Luciano works at the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg, where she coordinates the national digital cultural heritage strategy. Her work focuses on the preservation and access of cultural heritage in the digital environment, with particular attention to the long-term stewardship of collections and the conditions that enable public access and reuse.
She previously served as Digital Curator at the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA), where she developed long-term preservation and access strategies for Luxembourg’s audiovisual heritage. Her professional background combines archival practice, policy coordination, and digital strategy, with a particular interest in the impact of emerging technologies in the management of cultural heritage throughout its lifecycle.
At the Ministry, she also co-leads the internal working group on artificial intelligence and contributes to the Luxembourg Government’s wider culture and AI policy discussions. She is particularly interested in how digital policies can support preservation, access, and responsible innovation in the cultural sector.
Lutz Möller
Speaker
High-Level Contributions on Equitable Access to Heritage in the Context of UNESCO’s Mandate
Lutz Möller is Deputy Secretary-General of the German Commission for UNESCO and Head of its Policy Department.
He works at the German Commission for UNESCO since 2004, with an initial focus on UNESCO science programmes, and on sustainability policies. Since 2015, he also coordinates the intensive cooperation with other National Commissions for UNESCO worldwide. He has been a lead negotiator for some new texts of international law adopted by UNESCO on behalf of the German government.
Today, Lutz has an overall responsibility for policy advice to the federal and state governments on all issues related to German participation in UNESCO and implementation of UNESCO’s international law in Germany. This includes policies for culture and the creative industries. Since 2021, Lutz is deeply involved with the Fair Culture initiative. This initiative of many organizations from around the world draws upon experiences of UNESCO as well as the Fairtrade movement to possibly establish similar cultural certification and labelling schemes.
Lutz Möller holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from LMU University Munich, and has a study background in Physics and Philosophy (Munich, Oxford).
Jussi Nuorteva
Speaker
Expert Panel III: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
Professor Dr. Jussi Nuorteva (born Helsinki, 1954) held academic positions at the Academy of Finland and the Universities of Helsinki and Turku before serving as Secretary General of the Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Academy of Finland. He subsequently served as Secretary General of the Finnish Literature Society (est. 1831), a central cultural organization and major publishing house. He served as National Archivist of Finland from 2003 to 2022. For many years he also chaired the Foundation for the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (now in Beirut/Cairo).
Since the 1990s, Dr. Nuorteva has participated in the work of the UN and UNESCO. He served as Member and Vice-Chair of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict (Hague Convention 1954, 2nd Protocol), and for several years as Member and Vice-Chair of the Finnish National Commission for UNESCO. He also served as Vice-Chair of the UNESCO International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme from 2017 to 2024, and continues to chair the Finnish National Committee of the MoW Programme.
He currently chairs the Ehrensvärd Society (est. 1921), which operates on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Island-Fortress Suomenlinna, offering guided tours in 13 languages. Visitor numbers at Suomenlinna, located outside Helsinki, exceeded one million in 2025.
Dr. Nuorteva has held the position of Docent (Adjunct Professor) at the University of Helsinki since 1998 and has been awarded the title of Professor. He has written and/or edited 32 books covering the history of science and culture, documentary heritage, international relations and diplomacy, and legal issues and prison administration. For eight years he served as Chancellor of the National Orders of Knighthood within the Presidential Administration.
He is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, an honorary member of the Swedish Literature Society in Finland and the Genealogical Society of Finland, and a member of numerous other learned societies in Finland and abroad.
Marco Rendina
Speaker
Expert Panel III: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Diversity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
Marco Rendina is the Managing Director of the European Fashion Heritage Association and he is also senior consultant at Cinecittà.
Marco has been working for more than two decades with museums, archives and libraries across Europe, supporting them in their digital transformation, advocating for open access, gaining extensive experience in Digital Libraries design and implementation and fostering innovation in the cultural heritage sector in Europe. He is a member of the Board of Directors in various international cultural heritage organisations and networks, like the European Fashion Heritage Association, the Jewish Heritage Network and the EUscreen Foundation. He has been appointed Chair of the Europeana Aggregators Forum from 2018 to 2021, and he is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Europeana Foundation.
Anna Tumadóttir
Speaker
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Moderator
Expert Panel II: Global Perspectives on Open Heritage and Ethical Artificial Intelligence
Anna Tumadóttir joined CC in 2019 as Director of Product. She was promoted to COO in 2021 and was appointed CEO in 2024.
Before joining CC, Anna spent a decade building out all aspects of the operations of three distributed performance marketing start-ups. She is constantly considering opportunities for expansion and improvement in the environment around her. She happily straddles the worlds of leadership, operations, and product.
Anna grew up in Iceland, Scotland, and Malawi, leaving home to study in Norway, the United States, South Africa, and back to Iceland. She now calls Austin, Texas her home, and settles for traveling instead of moving (for the time being). Sharing information and resources is central to how Anna operates, as she is convinced it leads to a better existence for everyone. Sharing ice cream is optional, but encouraged.
Image attribution: CC staff photos are licensed under CC BY 4.0. Gratitude to Sara Jordan Photography.
Brigitte Vézina
Speaker
Welcome, Opening Remarks, and Closing Remarks
Brigitte Vézina is Creative Commons' Director of Policy and Open Culture, where she leads policy efforts and runs the Open Culture Program and leads the Open Heritage Coalition for more equitable access to public domain heritage in the digital environment. Before joining CC, she worked as a legal officer at WIPO and ran her own consultancy, advising Europeana, SPARC Europe and others on copyright and heritage matters. Brigitte is a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Université de Montréal and a master’s in law from Georgetown University. She has been a member of the Bar of Québec since 2003. Pronouns she/her. This is how to pronounce her name: https://namedrop.io/brigittevezina.
Jennryn Wetzler
Moderator
High-Level Contributions on Equitable Access to Heritage in the Context of UNESCO’s Mandate
Jennryn Wetzler is the Director of Learning and Training at Creative Commons. Recognized as a Catalyst in Open Education, Jennryn Wetzler oversees Creative Commons training programs, including the Creative Commons Certificate program, which has served over 65 countries. Jennryn manages CC’s Open Education Platform, a community group of open education advocates around the world. She also manages CC’s Open Journalism efforts, and consulting work. Jennryn enjoys focusing on projects that increase equitable access to information, believing that journalism and education are pillars of any democracy, and essential human rights.
Prior to Creative Commons, Jennryn worked at the U.S. Department of State, engaging in public diplomacy strategy and programming for nearly 300 U.S. Embassies and Consulates. She has a Masters in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs from American University. Jennryn was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, a Boren fellow in Thailand, and a Critical Language Scholar in Egypt.
She was most influenced by education efforts for homeless children in Thailand, as well as under-resourced farming communities in Niger. Seeing the extreme obstacles learners faced in education impelled Jennryn to work toward opening access to knowledge. Nowadays, Jennryn enjoys time with her kids and husband, and feeding her more daring friends cooking experiments.
Photo credit: Priscilla C. Scott, CC BY