Jury & Selection Committee

Jermina Stanojev, PhD, is an independent expert in the field of cultural heritage and international cultural relations. She is a postdoctoral researcher at Uppsala University with a focus on circular economy and cultural heritage and holds a PhD in participatory and integrated governance of cultural heritage in the Western Balkans. She is currently appointed as an individual expert by the European Commission to the “Commission’s expert group on cultural heritage”. Her work focuses on culture-led, sustainable, regional development, policy design and evaluation for trans-disciplinary challenges through different governance frameworks and geopolitical levels. Since 2009 she is an advisor on the role of cultural heritage in international cultural relations within the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and since 2016 supports the European Union in engaging in international cultural relations within the framework of the EU strategy for international cultural relations through Cultural Diplomacy/Relations Platform of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, with a global geographical mandate, under which, among others, developed recommendations “European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018: International Perspectives”. She has established competences and wide experience in fields of international cultural relations and cultural heritage working with different international organisations and institutions (UNESCO, European Commission, Goethe-Institut Brussels, European Cultural Centre Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia etc.). She has an extensive experience in research, policies and numerous projects such as the EU Horizon 2020 project, “Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse”, Erasmus + HERITAGE-PRO, the report of the Structured Dialogue with the EC on “Skills, Training and Knowledge-transfer in the Traditional and Emerging Heritage”, the OMC working group of Member States’ experts report on “Fostering cooperation in the EU on skills, training and knowledge transfer in cultural heritage professions” etc.

Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou is a Civil Engineer with a Master’s in Protection, Conservation and Restoration of Monuments, a Master’s in Environmental Planning, a PhD in Architecture (Digital Cultural Heritage), and a post-doc in Digital Heritage at the University of Aegean. In 2015 his research (HERMeS) led him to the prestigious European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage “Europa Nostra.” HERMeS is now part of the “Best Practices for Strategy 2021” established by the Council of Europe and is currently extended to many historic cities. He attended as a guest speaker, among others: the “EU Cultural Forum”, “Best in Heritage”, “EU Best Practices in public administration”, “Digital Heritage”, “Strategy 2021” and many more.

He was a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the UNESCO Chair for Digital Heritage at Cyprus University of Technology. Today teaches Digital Cultural Heritage at the University of the Aegean, he is Chairman of the jury of the European Culture Awards – Europa Nostra in the category “Citizens’ actions and raising awareness of society”, co-founder of the non-profit NGO “Heritage Management e-Society (HERMeS)” for the digital management of heritage, chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Syros Institute” and Project Officer at EU funding for South Aegean Region.

Sara Crofts originally trained as an architect and holds an MSc in Architectural Conservation, having written her thesis on Interpreting Cultural Significance. She recently left her role as CEO of ICON (the Institute of Conservation) having led the organisation through the pandemic and completed a number
of key projects including digital transformation, relaunching the members’ magazine, and publishing a new long-term strategy which includes a renewed focus on skills and accreditation.
She joined ICON from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), where she was Head of Historic Environment – providing advice and strategic direction to the Board and Executive on grant giving, and policy issues and building strategic relationships with historic environment organisations across the UK. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Director of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) where she undertook various activities including running the casework and education teams and leading the award-winning Faith in Maintenance training project.
She is currently CEO of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. She is also a trustee of the National Heritage Science Forum, the Chair of the BEFS Places of Worship Forum and the Chair of Europa Nostra UK.

Over the course of her professional career, Sabine Nemec-Piguet has participated in several studies on the improvement and assessment of historical urban quarters in, for example, Yverdon and Geneva. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Architecture from l’Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL in 1978, with a thesis on the revitalisation of an industrial quarter in the city of Geneva. In 1981, Sabine Nemec-Piguet became an architect-city planner in the Regional Service for Monuments and Historical Sites, in the Department of Public Works. From 2002-2008, she was the Director of the Regional Service for Monuments and Historical Sites in the state of Geneva. 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 sites, and the service for the inventory of monuments. As such, the General Office employed 40 staff members under her leadership.
Sabine Nemec-Piguet is member of the Federal Commission for Historic Monuments Preservation (Switzerland). She has published numerous works, most notably on the urban and architectural development of Geneva, the legal framework of urban development, and Geneva’s heritage.

Antonio Lamas is Professor Emeritus (retired) of Structural Engineering and Built Heritage at the Instituto Superior Técnico – University of Lisbon, having held that position since 1985. He is Vice-president of the General Assembly (GA) of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering and a Member of the Ordem dos Engenheiros (Institute of Engineers). Antonio Lamas is President of the Jury of the annual Gulbenkian Heritage Prize – Tereza e Vasco Vilalva and a Member of the Advisory Council of “Festival Terras Sem Sombra”. He is also President of the GA of the Cultural Association “Estudos Gerals do Alvito” (Alentejo) and Chairman of the GA of the Portuguese Association for Steel and Composite Construction (CMM).

Some notable previous positions that Antonio Lamas has held are President of the Portuguese Institute for Cultural Heritage (IPPC) of the Ministry of Culture (1987-1990); CEO of “Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua SA” (2006-2014); Member of the Architectural and Archaeological Section of the National Council for Culture (2012-2016) and; CEO of the Cultural Centre of the Belém Foundation (November 2104 – March 2016).

Antonio Lamas was an external member of the General Council (governing body) of the University of Évora (2017-2021) and was also President of the Portuguese Road Authority (Junta Autónoma de Estradas) – Ministry of Public Works (1998-2000); and non-executive member of the Board of Brisa, SA (2004-2009).
Some of the most notable decorations and awards received by Antonio Lamas over the course of his career were the Order of Infante Dom Henrique – Grand Officer (2014); Silver Medal of Tourist Merit (2009); Gold Medal of the Municipality of Sintra (2012); Honorary Member of the Portuguese Association of Historical Gardens (2018) and; Special Mention of the Jury of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, 2021: Dedicated Service to Heritage.

Koenraad Van Balen graduated as Engineer-Architect at the KU Leuven (Belgium) in 1979; post-graduate degree in architectural conservation in 1984 and a Ph.D in Engineering in 1991 at the KU Leuven.
Since October 2022 he is an emeritus professor at the KU Leuven, the Civil Engineering department and he is the former acting director of the Raymond Lemaire International Center for Conservation (RLICC) at the University of Leuven, holder of the PRECOM3OS UNESCO chair since 2008-2024. He was member of the research Council of KU Leuven from 2016-2020. He is one of the initiators of HERKUL: the KU Leuven Institute for Cultural heritage.
Through HERKUL and the collaboration within the Una Europa alliance – of which KU Leuven is part – he is strongly involved in the activities of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) Culture and Creativity and in the European Heritage Hub.
Koen Van Balen was recently be appointed as member of the panel for the European Heritage Label by the European Commission. He is also a member of the Council of Europa Nostra.
He has many publications and managed different research projects dealing with heritage preservation, ancient and new sustainable construction materials. He was member of the Scientific Committee of the European-wide research coordination initiative “Joint Program Initiative: Cultural Heritage (JPI-CH)”. Relevant projects and publications are
• the ILUCIDARE project dealing with Cultural Heritage Led innovation and international relations (2018-2022) providing a wealth of educational material on Cultural Heritage led innovation and cultural heritage led international relations: https://ilucidare.eu/resources/database/ilucidare-inspiration-kit;
• Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe project and report (2015) introducing the “upstream approach”.

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 is currently coordinating The Ambulance for Monuments project, which won an Award and the Public Choice Award at the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2020. 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. He is a Member of the Advisory Group for the European Commission on heritage policies, the Founding member and president of The Federation for Transylvanian Heritage and advisor for the Romanian Ministry for Culture and National Identity. 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 (RURAL Working Group). Eugen Vaida 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 it’s dedicated efforts in the education of the public of all generation, Asociatia Monumentum, lead by Eugen Vaida, was knighted by The Romanian Presidency in 2021.

Klimis Aslanidis studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (1998) and specialised in architectural conservation, obtaining the title of MA in Conservation Studies at the University of York (2000). His PhD thesis, submitted at the University of Patras and published by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, examines the evolution of Byzantine architecture on the island of Naxos. He has participated in the design and supervision of numerous conservation projects for ancient, medieval and modern monuments in Greece, including churches, among which are the Athens Cathedral, monasteries, castles and houses. He has also worked for several years at the conservation
works of the Greek Ministry of Culture on the southern slope of the Acropolis, where he was mainly responsible for the restoration of the auditorium of the ancient theatre of Dionysos. He is currently Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Crete. His research and teaching focuses on architectural design and the conservation of historic buildings and sites. As a member of the Laboratory for the Documentation and Conservation of Historic Buildings and Sites, he participates in conservation projects throughout Greece and he is co-editor of the periodical “Notebooks of Architectural Conservation”. Klimis Aslanidis is a member of the Council for Architectural Heritage of Elliniki Etairia, the country representation of Europa Nostra in Greece.

Yonca ERKAN is a professor of Built Heritage at University of Antwerp since 2022. She is the UNESCO Chair on the Management and Promotion of World Heritage Sites: New Media and Community Involvement (since 2015) at the Kadir Has University, Istanbul. In 2018, she worked as senior consultant at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, as the HUL/World Heritage Cities Programme Coordinator. Currently, she is coordinating the EU research project within the Horizon2020 Marie-Sklodowska Curie – RISE Program titled “Sustainable Management of Industrial Heritage as a Resource for Urban Development” (2021-2025). Yonca Erkan also coordinates a funded project titled “In the context of urban-rural continuity, Web-GIS based Integrated Site Management Model for historic cities: The Case of İznik” (2021-2024). She received her PhD Degree in Architectural Conservation from Istanbul Technical University (2007), Master of Science Degree in Architecture Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998), Master in Architectural Conservation, Yıldız Technical University (1996) where she also got her Bachelors Degree (1993).

Architect from the Polytechnic School of Madrid since 1974. Expert in vernacular architecture and construction systems. For more than 45 years she has managed 2 proprietary studios and has developed more than 1,500 projects for private clients. A very important part of his professional development has been in the field of architectural restoration and rehabilitation, especially in civil architecture. 1991/1994 Architect responsible for the EU LEADER I Program of Portodemouros (Spain) – A depressed rural and agrarian territory is recovered through the recovery and enhancement of vernacular architecture 1991/1994 Projects and works of the Rio Lor Association with European funds in the Caurel region (Lugo) A depressed rural and agrarian territory is recovered through the recovery and enhancement of vernacular architecture.
Life member of Europa Nostra since 2001. 2002 Europa Nostra Award Torre do Monte MANOR (Padron/ Spain) Prolific critical columnist on architecture and built heritage. Lectures on vernacular architecture.
From 2003/2009 she restored in Santiago de Compostela, with her own family funds, the biggest paper factory of Galicia dated from 1792. Since 2009 The industrial building has been converted into one of the best hotels in Spain and is part of the Relais & Chateaux Network. It has created more than 50 permanent jobs and A Quinta da Auga is a benchmark for its meticulous and careful rehabilitation.