Jury & Selection Committee

Jacek is a Polish architectural historian and economist. After completing his studies at the Krakow University of Economics (UEK), he obtained a doctorate in art history from the Jagiellonian University in 1983.
He is now a professor in both institutions. He heads the Department of Economic and Social History and the Department of Cultural Heritage and Urban Studies of UEK, as well as the Department of European Heritage at Jagiellonian University. Member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the founder of the Krakow International Cultural Center, of which he was the director until 2018. From 2000 to 2016, he chaired the Council for the Protection of Monuments of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
Jacek Purchla is also a member of several associations and international organisations related to heritage, including Europa Nostra, the International Committee of Art History and the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on the theory and philosophy of conservation and restoration. He is the author of several Polish publications on Krakow’s architecture and heritage. Since 2015, Jacek Purchla has been President of the Polish National Commission for UNESCO. In 2017, he chaired the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee in Krakow.

Eugen Vaida is an architect at Asociatia Monumentum, which has been a member organisation of Europa Nostra since 2019. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Architecture and Urban Planning “Ion Mincu”, in Bucharest. Among his many projects, Eugen coordinated the Daia Heritage Valorization Plan, developed by the Global Heritage Fund in 2017-2018 and co-founded The Ambulance for Monuments project, which won an Award and the Public Choice Award at the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2020. In his role of director for The King’s Foundation in Romania he had a defining role in the development of the summer school movement in Romania which has its key mission in educating young architects and students. Eugen Vaida published numerous literary works on cultural heritage, including “Saving the Culture of the Other” (Alţîna, 2021) and “The Architectural Guidebook For Contextual Planning in the Saxon Area” of the Order of Romanian Architects (The Rural Working Group). He became an Ashoka Fellow in November 2021, benefitting from a lifetime bursary to continue his work in the field of heritage from the world’s leading social entrepreneurship organisation. For its dedicated efforts in the education of the public of all generations, Asociatia Monumentum, led by Eugen Vaida, was knighted by The Romanian Presidency in 2021

Alessandra Vittorini, an esteemed Italian expert in monument restoration and urban planning, has dedicated her career to preserving cultural heritage. Architect graduate in Monument Restoration with a PhD in Territorial and Urban Planning from “La Sapienza” University in Rome, she has held a prominent position within Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism since 1990. Following the devastating 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Vittorini was appointed head of the Superintendency for the region in 2012, where she led an integrated approach to cultural heritage protection and recovery.
Her leadership in restoring the Basilica of Collemaggio stands out; the project not only revived a key historical site but also earned the prestigious European Heritage Award/ Europa Nostra Award in 2020 for its excellence. Throughout her career, Vittorini has overseen numerous landmark restoration projects and contributed to international discussions on cultural preservation. She is also active in academia, frequently lecturing and publishing on architectural restoration and landscape conservation. From 2020 to 2024 she directed the “Fondazione Scuola dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali”, an international institute founded by the Ministry of Culture for training, research and advanced studies, including in the international field, for the care and management of cultural heritage.

Paul Dujardin is a prominent leader in European civil society. He currently serves as Commissioner-General for Heritage at the Brussels Capital Region, spearheading the Art Nouveau Season. Over the past two years, he has been Chief Project Director for the bicentennial commemorations of “Belgium 2030” and developed a master plan for the renovation of the Cinquantenaire-Jubelpark Site, home to Federal Museums and Conservation & Science Institutes (KIK-IRPA). This historic site aims to become a European Campus for Culture and Science, integrated into a Brussels Cultural Mile within the European District.
From 2001 to 2021, Dujardin was the CEO and Artistic Director of the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR). Under his leadership, BOZAR became a globally recognized multidisciplinary hub aligned with the ideals of the New European Bauhaus. In 2019 alone, BOZAR collaborated with over 1,000 partners worldwide, led 15 active EU projects, and operated in 100 countries. Pre-COVID, its annual budget reached €40 million. BOZAR attracted over 1.4 million visitors annually, serving as a vital cultural and diplomatic nexus in the EU.
Dujardin expanded BOZAR’s activities through an intersectoral approach integrating arts, science, and technology, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to maximize social impact. BOZAR’s numerous exhibitions, festivals, and hybrid events became a model for social cohesion and contemporary cultural discourse. Over two decades, more than 100 internationally acclaimed exhibitions were produced under his guidance.
Since 2016, Dujardin has advised the EU on cultural diplomacy strategies and co-authored initiatives like the “New Narrative for Europe” (2013–2018). His work bridges policymaking, societal issues, and the arts, collaborating with leading scientists, artists, and politicians.
Beyond BOZAR, Dujardin has held numerous leadership roles, including Founder and CEO of Ars Musica, General Manager of the Brussels Philharmonic Society, Co-Administrator of the Belgian National Orchestra, President of the International Music Council – UNESCO (2013–2023), and President of Europa Nostra Belgium (since 2018).
He holds master’s degrees in Art History, Archaeology & Musicology (VUB, 1986) and Management (VLEKHO, 1987).

Susana Gómez-Martínez is an Assistant Professor at the University of Évora’s School of Social Sciences, where she teaches mediaeval and Islamic archaeology. She holds a degree in Geography and History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed her PhD there in 2004. Her research career began with internships in archaeological sites across Spain, France, Israel, and Portugal, and she has been a researcher at the Mértola Archaeological Centre since 1992 and the Research Centre in Archaeology, Arts and Cultural Heritage (CEAACP) since 2008. She has received various research grants, including a doctoral fellowship from FCT and post-doctoral fellowships with the European project “MERCATOR” and FCT. Gómez-Martínez has held teaching positions at several universities in Portugal and Spain between 2009 and 2018. She has written over 200 papers, edited 14 monographs, and served on the editorial committees of several academic journals. She is also a mentor to PhD and Master’s students. Her research focuses on mediaeval and Islamic archaeology, with notable involvement in projects like the CEAACP’s Strategic Project and “Alcáçova de Mértola”. She has coordinated major heritage conservation projects and curated two travelling exhibitions. Gómez-Martínez holds leadership roles in several academic and professional organisations, including the Mértola Archaeological Centre (CAM), the Spanish Association of Medieval Archaeology (AEAM) and the Association Internationale pour l’Etude des Céramiques Médiévales et Modernes en Méditerranée (AIECM3)

Jonas Malmberg (b.1974) has M.Sc.Arch at Oulu University 2002 and M.A. at Helsinki University 2012. He is preparing PhD on Säynätsalo Town Hall. Since 2012 he has been employed at Aalto Foundation. He has been a member of the board of DOCOMOMO Finland since 2014 and chairman since 2023, and a voting member of ISC20C. He was the main author of Paimio Sanatorium CMP 2015 and participated in Sevan Writers’ House CMP (Armenia 2019), and has lectured at various universities. He co-edited the book DOCOMOMO Finland – Register Selection (2018). His previous places of employment include the Finnish Heritage Agency and Finnish Architectural Review.

Michiel Purmer studied Human Geography, specialising in Historical Geography at Utrecht University. In 2000, he began working for Natuurmonumenten, a Dutch NGO that manages more than 100.000 HA of nature reserves, including a broad array of cultural heritage: archaeology, country estates, historical buildings and cultural landscapes. As a senior heritage specialist, he is an advisor on cultural heritage for this society in the field of landscapes, archaeology and parks and gardens. Michiel Purmer also represents Natuurmonumenten in the broad field of cultural heritage in The Netherlands, working, for example, with other nature conservation organisations, the Dutch Heritage Agency and universities.
Michiel Purmer defended his PhD thesis at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2018. The thesis, entitled Het landschap bewaard (The landscape preserved), studied Natuurmonumenten as a heritage organisation, with a focus on historical cultural landscapes from a historical perspective.
Michiel Purmer guest lectures at universities and previously held a position at Groningen University. He regularly publishes on heritage and landscape, but also on other fields of interest like numismatic and clay pipes.
He is a member of the National Consultation Panel on Heritage of the Netherlands, a member of the Committee Landscape History of the Limburgs Geschiedkundig en Oudheidkundig Genootschap (LGOG), a board member of the Dutch Network Historic Cultural Landscape (Netwerk Historisch Cultuurlandschap), chair of the Numismatic Study Group of the Amsterdam Museum.

Elif Aydın is a dedicated urban planner and cultural heritage professional. Currently, she works at the HERKUL Institute of KU Leuven, focusing on the Una Europa and European Heritage HUB projects. She also moderates the Istanbul Citizens’ Council’s Working Group on Urban Culture and Cultural Heritage, where she actively promotes participatory urban culture and raises awareness about cultural heritage. As Communications Manager at ESACH, she oversees content creation for events and calls, coordinates the “Journey of Heritage: Cultural Narratives” blog series, manages the organisation’s digital presence, and promotes awareness of cultural heritage. Elif’s background includes a valuable internship at Europa Nostra, where she contributed to youth involvement in cultural heritage management, as well as earlier experiences at Studio Redaelli Speranza in Milan and various Turkish municipalities. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban & Cultural Studies at Istanbul Technical University while conducting her research at KU Leuven as an international scholar.

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.

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.