Save the Date: Conference on “Science Diplomacy and Heritage” – December 4, 2025

We look forward to welcoming you to the conference “Science Diplomacy and Heritage: On the Politics of Fragments, the Role of Science, and the Perception of Lacunas”, which will take place on December 4, 2025, at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi in Venice, from 09:30 to 19:00.

Culture constitutes a foundation of human identity, yet it is often at risk in a rapidly changing world. In an era defined by increased tensions, climate change, and technological advancements, the intersection of artistic practice, research, diplomacy and heritage presents a fertile area for dialogue.

This conference aims to bring together academics, curators, heritage and museum experts, artists, diplomats, and anyone interested in this transdisciplinary perspective to explore how cooperations can be developed, particularly in regions affected by conflict, environmental degradation, and socio-political instability, and in which way contemporary artistic practice can contribute. The conference tries to reflect experiences, socially and culturally constructed boundaries and aims to negotiate contemporary perceptions and forms of shared imagination.

Speaker Biographies:

: Muhammad Adeel is a Career Diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan currently serving in the Embassy of Pakistan to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg in Brussels. He deals with matters related to scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Pakistan. Prior to joining the Civil Services in 2015, he completed his B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Phil. in Biotechnology from FC College Lahore, where he authored two dissertations on microbial diversity and biotechnology applications. His doctoral work, at the Western Australia Biotechnology Centre, Perth, Australia has examined the regulatory and science diplomacy perspectives of Gene Editing. He has also spoken on forums such as TEDx on the social perspectives of Biotechnology. In 2019, he initiated Science Diplomacy trainings in Australia for Early Career Researchers, which was awarded as the Best Education Initiative by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Association (CAPA), the federal peak body representing postgraduates in Australia. Prior to joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan, he was the Manager of Pakistan Biotechnology Information Centre at FC College, Lahore which was involved in science policy and communication linkages for Biotechnology applications. Apart from working on science diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has also dealt with matters pertaining to disarmament including the Biological Weapons Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention—whereby he has also represented Pakistan in Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva. He also participates in global science diplomacy dialogues including the Foreign Ministries Science and Technology Advice Network and is the founding Associate Editor of the Ministry’s periodical ‘Science Diplomacy Perspectives’.

: Katalin Andreides leads a specialist Art Law practice based in Rome. She advises international collectors, galleries, artists and artists’ estates and foundations on Biographies matters such as transactions, disputes and provenance issues. Katalin is a participant in the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project and serves as an Officer on the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Committee of the International Bar Association. She is a member of The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA) and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. Katalin is an appointed Arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Art in The Hague. She has published widely on issues concerning the art market and cultural heritage matters. She is a member of the Budapest Bar Association and the Rome Bar Association.

: Ivor Agyeman Duah is an economic historian and development specialist, and currently Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum and former Director of the National Museum of Ghana. He led Ghana’s restitution talks with the British Museum and V&A, securing the return on loan of 19th-century royal regalia, and oversaw permanent returns from the Fowler Museum of the University of California. He also authenticated regalia held by AngloGold Asante. A Fellow in Practice at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), he advised Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor and worked across Africa on central banking and development. He curated the UNESCO-Ghana Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Art Awards, has written on museology and Wole Soyinka, contributed to BBC/PBS films, and edited four major anthologies on African literature. He held research posts at Harvard, Oxford and Johannesburg, and holds graduate degrees from the London School of Economics, the School of Oriental and African Studies, London and the University of Wales. He is also a member of the Order of Volta—Republic of Ghana and Recipient of the Distinguished Friend of the University of Oxford.

: Abdelrazek Elnaggar is a Research Fellow at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Assistant Professor of Heritage Science at the University of Primorska (Slovenia) and Professor of Heritage Science at the Faculty of Archaeology at Ain Shams University (Egypt). He is the coordinator of the Slovenian Egyptian Heritage Science Platform—SloveNile—founded in 2022. His main research interests are the development of conservation materials and procedures, environmental assessment, conservation risk assessment and management of heritage collections. He has held research fellowships at various international heritage institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (USA), the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser at the Foundation of Research and TechnologyHellas (IESL-FORTH, Greece) and the Natural History Museum (London, UK). Within ICOM, he was a member of the ICOM International Disaster Risk Management Committee (DRMC) and Secretary General of the Egyptian National Committee. He has a track record of international publications and bilateral projects and has coordinated numerous international capacity building programmes in the EU and the Arab region in collaboration with UNESCO, ICCROM, ICOM, ICESCO and IFLA.

: Volker Erhard is a German diplomat, currently holding the position of Head of Division for Cultural Preservation and the German Archaeological Institute at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. Before that he served as a Cultural Diplomacy Advisor within the Directorate for Strategic Communication and Foresight at the European External Action Service in Brussels. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and a PhD in Modern History from Universität Bonn.

: Alessandro Garbellini is Head of Space, Multilateral Science Diplomacy and Intellectual Property at the Directorate-General for Country Promotion at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Upon graduation in international relations at LUISS University in Rome, Couns. Garbellini pursued the diplomatic career in several Italian government’s departments, and he was the Commercial Secretary in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Muscat (Oman). Across these different roles, Couns. Garbellini acted at the intersection of economic policy, scientific development and cultural exchange, fostering the promotion of Italy’s priorities through its remarkable scientific achievements and rich artistic heritage, both key pillars of contemporary diplomacy.

: Cengiz Günay is the Director of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip) and a lecturer at the University of Vienna. In 2018/19 he was a visiting scholar at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington DC. Cengiz holds a PhD in Political Sciences and a Masters Diploma in History from the University of Vienna. His research focuses on autocratization, populism, neoliberal interventions and their effects on the state and statehood, foreign policy, the EU, European Neighbourhood Policy and Transatlantic Relations. He has a regional focus on Turkey and the MENA region. Cengiz also consults state agencies and frequently comments on developments in Turkey and the MENA region in national and international media. He speaks German, Turkish, English, French, Spanish, Italian and basic Arabic. He has recently published in journals such as Mediterranean Politics, Third World Quarterly, and the Journal of Common Market Studies.

: Christina Hainzl is the Director of the transdisciplinary Lab Society in Transition at the University Krems. She is also an affiliated researcher at the Art Ecologies research cluster at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Christina studied Art, History and Political Communication in Salzburg and Florence. She received fellowships from the Rockefeller Archive and the Fohn Foundation for Visual Arts for her research on the cultural cold war in the visual arts in Rome and New York. Christina has worked on the reciprocities of visual arts and society as a curator and later, at university, on subjects including power and the role of art and sociology, as well as curating ‘Democracy of the Senses’, an artistic research project that reflects on the role of our senses in society. In 2024, she founded the network on culture, diplomacy and research within the European Union Science Diplomacy Alliance (with Eric Piaget). Her current work addresses conflict and visualisation (with a focus on the MENA Region), and the Venice Archipelago and the Anthropocene.

: Dan Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at Oxford University, Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum, and a Fellow of St Cross College. He has written widely on art, heritage, museums, colonialism, and the material culture of the recent past and the near present. Dan’s books include *The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, colonial violence and cultural restitution* (Pluto 2020) and *Every Monument Will Fall: a story of remembering and forgetting* (Hutchinson Heinemann 2025).

: Roland Hinterhölzl is Full Professor of German Linguistics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He studied in Vienna and at the University of Southern California, where he earned his PhD in Linguistics. After research and teaching positions in Berlin and Vienna, he was appointed to Venice in 2010, where he became Full Professor in 2020. His research focuses on word order, information structure, language change, and the interface between syntax, prosody, and pragmatics, with numerous international publications in these fields. He has held visiting professorships in Austria, Sweden, Brazil and South Africa, and regularly reviews for leading journals. He also serves on the advisory board of the Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft and acts as referee for the German Science Foundation (DFG), the DAAD and the Leibniz Association.

: Alessandro Lombardo, Senior Officer at the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI), holds a degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the University of Trieste (2004). His professional activity has been dedicated to multilateralism, regional cooperation, and EU integration, with particular attention to Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe. Within the CEI, he serves as Head of the Project Management Office and Focal Point for Research, Innovation, and Science Diplomacy. He is also Co Chair of the European Union Science Diplomacy Alliance (EUSDA), contributing to the advancement of science diplomacy at the European and international level.

: Peggy Oti-Boateng is a seasoned leader in STI research training and policy. Until recently the Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), she provides strategic leadership to recognize excellence, shape policy, and build STI capacity for Africa’s sustainable development. Previously at UNESCO, she directed impactful initiatives like the Open Science Recommendation and the International Basic Science Programme and oversaw the UNESCO Science Reports and the L’Oreal For Women in Science program. Her career emphasizes advancing STI in Africa, empowering women in science, and leading high profile projects. Her academic background and policy experience position her as a key figure shaping Africa’s scientific future. She is an alumna of the University of Adelaide and KNUST (Ghana) and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

: Samuel Tetteh Partey is the Head of Unit and Regional Advisor for Science at the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture, based in Venice, Italy. Before his current post, he worked at the Green Climate Fund in South Korea as a Climate Impact Specialist. He had also previously worked at the UNESCO Offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Nairobi, Kenya as a Programme Specialist in Natural Science, as a Researcher at various CGIAR organizations in Mali, Kenya and Colombia, and as a Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. He is an author/co author of over 70 publications in the fields of agriculture, environment, climate change, and science policy. He holds a PhD in Environmental Biology from the University of Manchester, UK; a PhD in Agroforestry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and an MBA from the University of Texas, Permian Basin in the USA.

: Eric Piaget is the Science Diplomacy Coordinator for the EUTOPIA European university alliance. He is also a researcher at the United Nations University in Bruges, where he is affiliated with the Unit on Non-Traditional Diplomacy (UNTRAD). Prior to academia, Eric has experience working for the Swedish government, a leading EU think tank, and a human rights NGO.

: Bruno Racine has been the CEO and Director of Palazzo Grassi—Punta della Dogana | Pinault Collection in Venice since April 2020, overseeing contemporary art exhibitions and programmes. He is a French cultural and administrative professional with extensive experience in leading cultural institutions. From 2007 to 2016, Bruno Racine held the position of President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). Before that, he was President of the Centre Pompidou from 2002 to 2007 and chaired the Haut Conseil de l’éducation from 2005 to 2013. Between 1995 and 2002, he served as Director of the Académie de France à Rome—Villa Médicis. He was Director of the cultural services of the City of Paris from 1988 to 1993.

: Pierre Bruno Ruffini, University of Le Havre Normandy (France), has spent most of his academic career as an economist, with a marked orientation toward international economics. He served as president of the University of Le Havre (2000–2005) and as a counselor for science and technology at the French embassies in Russia (2007–2010) and Italy (2010–2013). Since returning to academia, he has devoted most of his research to the theme of science diplomacy. He authored the first book entirely devoted to this subject (*Science and Diplomacy—A New Dimension of International Relations*, Springer, 2017). From 2018 to 2022, he served as an expert in the European research project ‘Inventing a Shared Science Diplomacy for Europe’ (InsSciDEH2020). He was recently invited as co editor of a series of articles on “Science Diplomacy in the Global South” published by the journal *Science and Public Policy* (2023). In 2024–2025, he co chaired the European Union Science Diplomacy Alliance. He is a vice president of AVRIST (Association pour la Valorisation des Relations internationales Scientifiques et Techniques—France).

: Regina Rusz is an Austrian diplomat and currently serves as Director General for International Cultural Affairs at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. She has previously held positions at Austrian embassies and cultural institutes in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, and Slovakia. From January 2021 to March 2025, she headed the Directorate for Cultural and Scientific Events Abroad, where she was responsible for developing and coordinating priority programs within the framework of Austria’s international cultural relations. Promoting women has always been a central concern in her professional career. Regina Rusz is one of the initiators of the Foreign Ministry’s women’s support program “Calliope. Jointhedots.” Since 2021, she has also been teaching “Cultural Diplomacy in Practice” at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. She holds a Master’s degree in Communication Science, Theatre Studies, and Political Science from the University of Vienna. In addition, she is a graduate of the Austrian Academy of Journalism (Danube University Krems) and of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

: Francesca Tarocco is Full Professor of Buddhist Studies and Chinese Religions in the Department of Asian and North African Studies (DSAAM) at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Director of THE NEW INSTITUTE Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE). Her interdisciplinary research and teaching is situated at the intersection of Buddhist and Asian Studies and is informed by scholarly traditions in history, religious studies and sinology. She has published extensively on media, visual culture, technology, ecology, sacred space and the genealogy of the term religion in East Asia, and is currently working on a book project on Buddhism and Technology in Modern China.

: Magdalena Landry is the Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, in Venice, Italy. She had held the post of Chief of the Executive Office of the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector since December 2018, in conjunction with that of Chief, Coordination and Field Support Office, in the same Sector. Magdalena Landry has a Master of Science in organizational and business psychology from the University of Liverpool, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as a bachelor’s degree in international business administration from the American University of Paris, France. She joined UNESCO as Assistant Budget Officer in the Bureau of the Budget at Headquarters in 1990. In 1994, she was appointed Liaison Officer in the Division of Relations with International Organizations. From 2001, Magdalena Landry took on successive responsibilities in support of UNESCO’s field coordination, initially as a Programme Specialist in the Bureau of Field Coordination. In 2009, she was appointed Senior Field Security Coordinator in the same Bureau. In 2014, she was appointed Senior Field Coordination Officer in the Bureau of Strategic Planning, then within the Division of Field Support and Coordination when it was established in 2016.

: Nadia von Maltzahn is the principal investigator of the ERC funded project “Lebanon’s Art World at Home and Abroad: Trajectories of artists and artworks in/from Lebanon since 1943” (LAWHA), based at the Orient Institut Beirut (OIB) where she previously held the positions of Deputy Director and Research Associate. Her publications include *The Syria Iran Axis: Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations in the Middle East* (London 2013/2015), the co edited volume *The Art Salon in the Arab Region: Politics of Taste Making* (Beirut 2018), and other publications revolving around cultural practices in Lebanon and the Middle East. She holds a DPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from St Antony’s College, Oxford. Her research interests include cultural politics and diplomacy, artistic practices and the circulation of knowledge. LAWHA examines the forces that have shaped the emergence of a professional field of art in Lebanon in local, regional and global contexts.

: Jan Marco Müller is Team Leader for Global Approach, Multilateral Dialogue and Science Diplomacy, at the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation. Following his PhD in Geography at the University of Marburg (Germany), Jan Marco Müller’s early career included management positions at environmental research centres in Germany, Italy, and the UK. After being an Assistant to the Director General of the Joint Research Centre JRC (2009–2012), he managed the office of Dame Anne Glover, the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission (2012–2015) and then helped set up the Commission’s current Scientific Advice Mechanism. 2017–2020 he worked for the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) as Coordinator for Science Diplomacy and Acting Chief Operations Officer. 2020–2022 he served as Science & Technology Advisor of the European External Action Service (EEAS), before joining the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation, where he coordinates the development of a European Framework for Science Diplomacy. He is a Fellow of the International Science Council and currently chairs the global Foreign Ministries Science & Technology Advice Network (FMSTAN).

: Viktoria Weber has been Rector of the University for Continuing Education Krems since August 1, 2025. She is a university professor of medical biochemistry and was Vice Rector for Research and Sustainable Development at the University for Continuing Education Krems from 2010 to 2025.

Ali Cherri

Ali Cherri’s work is inspired by artefacts and the natural world. His sculptures, drawings and installations explore the temporal shifts between ancient worlds and contemporary societies. Using archaeological artefacts as a starting point, he investigates the boundaries of ideologies that underpin the foundations of nations and the myth of national progression. His work explores the links between archaeology, historical narrative and heritage, considering the processes of excavation and relocation of cultural objects into museums.

He received the Robert E. Fulton Fellowship from Harvard University (2016), the Rockefeller Foundation Prize (2017), and was nominated for the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2018). In 2022, he received the Silver Lion for his participation in the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, The Milk of Dreams. His works are part of many major collections, including MoMA: Museum of Modern Art (New York); Pinault Collection (Paris); British Museum (London); Art Jameel (Dubai); Centre Pompidou (Paris); MACBA (Barcelona); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Mathaf (Doha); SeMA: Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul); [mac] Musée d’art contemporain de Marseille (Marseille), Musée Bonnefanten (Maastricht).

Recent solo exhibitions include Les Veilleurs ([mac], Musee d’art contemporain de Marseille, 2025), Twenty Four Ghosts per Second (Bourse de Commerce, 2025), How I Am Monument (Baltic Art Center, 2025 and Vienna Secession, 2024), Envisagement (Giacometti Institute, 2024), Dreamless Night (Frac Bretagne, 2024 and GAMeC, 2023), Humble and quiet and soothing as mud (Swiss Institute, 2023), to name only a few. www.alicherri.com

The full program with detailed information on the speakers can be downloaded here.

Admission free! Please register at: adrian.praschl-bichler@donau-uni.ac.at

We look forward to seeing you in Venice!