Honorary Board member:

Dr. Supreo Chanda, Professor of Museology at the University of Calcutta. He earned his PhD in Science with a specialization in Anthropology, focusing on Museum Ethnography, as well as an MSc in Museology and a BSc (Honours) in Zoology.

Throughout his career, Dr. Chanda has held several significant positions. He served as the Head of the Department of Museology at the University of Calcutta during the periods 2010-2012, 2016-2018, and 2021-2023. Additionally, he is the Convener of the PhD Research Advisory Committee (RAC) in Museology (2021-2025) and has been an Internal Expert in the PhD RAC from 2015 to 2025. His contributions extend to the Postgraduate Board of Studies in Museology at the university, where he has served as a member and Chairperson during various terms. He is also an External Expert for the Board of Studies in the PG Diploma Course in Museology and Heritage Studies at Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, West Bengal. Beyond academia, he has been a Board Member of the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) from 2019 to 2025 and has maintained membership in several prestigious organizations, including ICOM since 1988, the Museums Association of the UK, the Museums Association of India, The Asiatic Society in Kolkata, and the Archaeological Society of India.

Dr. Chanda’s professional journey began in November 1988, working in various museums and even heading a unique Maritime Museum aboard a working paddle ship until June 2001. Since July 2001, he has been teaching museology at the postgraduate level while guiding Master’s and PhD students in their academic pursuits.

An accomplished academic, Dr. Chanda has authored over 50 research papers, book chapters, and edited volumes and has completed several research projects. His research interests include Exhibition Design, Museum Education, Intangible Heritage, Conservation of Cultural Properties, Intellectual Property Rights, Disability Studies, Gender Studies, Museum Anthropology, and e-Content Development. He has also served as an External Examiner for PhD theses on Museology and Cultural Studies and is a member of the editorial boards and review panels of several national and international research journals.

Dr. Chanda has actively contributed to international conferences, presenting research papers at ICOM events in Shanghai, Milan, Kyoto, and Prague, among others, with grants for participation. He has been a speaker in seminars organized by various ICOM committees, including CECA, CIMUSET, ICOFOM, ICME, ICR, ICTOP, NATHIST, and UMAC.

In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Chanda has received numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Museums Association of India (2022) and the Grace Morley Research Fellowship from the ICOM-India Trust (2010). He was also the recipient of the Centenary Exhibition Gold Medal from the University of Calcutta (1986) and a Gold Medal for securing First Class First in the MSc examination in Museology (1985), among other honors.

Lynn Maranda

Lynn Maranda’s museological field is primarily as a hands-on professional, with more than 44 years of experience in the museum sector. Her career began early, as a summer Museum Assistant at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia (UBC), at the ages of 15 and 16, where she catalogued collections and assisted with exhibit installations. During her undergraduate studies in Anthropology, she held positions as a Research Assistant and a Teaching Assistant/Reader.
In 1964, while working on her BA honour’s thesis, she was hired as a full-time Collections Technician at the Vancouver City Museum. The museum was later transformed into the Centennial Museum as part of Vancouver’s Canada Centennial project in 1968, which eventually became the Museum of Vancouver. During her tenure, Lynn held various positions, including Curator of Ethnology, Curator of Anthropology, Head of Curatorial and Conservation, Chief Curator, and Head of Future Projects. She also served multiple terms as Acting Director.
While pursuing her professional responsibilities, Lynn completed a postgraduate program in Anthropology at UBC. Her MA thesis, Coast Salish Gambling Games, which involved extensive fieldwork, was published in the National Museum of Man’s Mercury Series.
Throughout her career, Lynn curated hundreds of exhibitions, including two recognized as “world-class,” for which she secured funding, coordinated donated services, and selected objects from museums worldwide. As Project Manager for institution-wide initiatives, she oversaw the development of collections across departments, authored grant applications, and prepared key policy documents, such as a museum Collections Policy and a policy on First Nations. She also addressed administrative concerns through papers on topics like atmospheric control and curatorial responsibilities.
In 2008, after more than four decades of professional museum work, Lynn retired and was named Curator Emerita of the Museum of Vancouver.
Lynn has been a member of ICOM since 1972, serving on the ICOFOM Board for several terms. She is currently the Secretary of ICOFOM, a position she has held for three previous terms. Additionally, she has served as First Vice-President of ICOFOM and contributed as an off-Board “minute taker” for two years. Her involvement includes participation in numerous ICOFOM committees, such as the ISS Editorial Committee, English Language Secretariat, and Chair of the Rules of Procedure Committee and the Committee on Committees. Since 2008, Lynn has been responsible for ICOFOM’s Rules, including their preparation and amendments, and currently serves on ICOFOM’s Ethics and Publications Working Groups.
Lynn has authored numerous papers, articles, and reviews, with over 30 publications in ICOFOM’s Study Series. In 2021, her contributions were recognized with a dedicated ICOFOM volume, “On Museology: Reflections from the Field” (https://icofom.mini.icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2021/10/lynn_maranda.pdf).

M. Elizabeth Weiser

Elizabeth Weiser is an Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor in the English Department at The Ohio State University, where she has taught for twenty years. She is a rhetorical theorist, historiographer, and museologist, studying the rhetorical practices occurring in heritage museums around the world. She holds a PhD in rhetoric and composition, an MFA in creative writing, and an MA in international education. Her current research project examines the ways that museums run by diverse subaltern communities in the US are telling traumatic histories in a manner that promotes healing–a particularly daunting task in an era when toxic polarization in the US has led to calls to stifle all such “divisive concepts” from public education forums. She looks at a dozen such museums through the rhetorical lenses of precarity and public memory, along with broader museological considerations of community participation, decolonizing, and narrative.

Her last book, Museum Rhetoric: Building Civic Identity in National Spaces (Penn State Press, 2017), was among the first to fully integrate rhetorical and museological studies. It included research in over 60 national heritage museums in 22 countries on six continents to examine in detail the promotion of national identity through a rhetorical lens of identification and division. Other books include Burke, War, Words (University of South Carolina Press, 2008), on the rise of modern rhetorical theories during WWII, and five edited collections, including ICOFOM’s Taboos in Museology: Difficult Issues for Museology [2023]), three books in rhetoric (In the Classroom with Kenneth Burke [2023], Women & Rhetoric between the Wars [2013] and Engaging the Audience [2011]), and one highlighting America’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in her Ohio town (The Fertile Earth and the Ordered Cosmos: Reflections of the Newark Earthworks and World Heritage [2023]). She has published essays in books and journals globally on everything from competing histories in US Civil War museums to communal identity formation at the Boca Juniors football stadium and museum. Most are available at  https://osu.academia.edu/ElizabethWeiser.

In ICOFOM, Elizabeth has served on the Board since 2019, and she spent several years volunteering with its publications team to edit, translate, and proofread articles. She is now the managing editor of ICOFOM publications, including the International Study Series and monographs such as its Materials for Discussion. She also served on the organizing team for the 2022 ICOFOM symposium in Prague, CZ, Taboos in Museology.

 

 

 

 

Scarlet Galindo Monteagudo

Scarlet Galindo obtained her PHD in Social and Political Sciences with honours at the Iberoamerican University of Mexico presenting the thesis “The social production of art. Networks of cooperation and controversy” a study on the Alvar and Carmen Carrillo Gil Art Museum; using the cooperation networks theory of Howard Becker’s worlds of art and the controversy networks, which were part of the Actor Network Theory of Bruno Latour; her master’s degree in Museology at the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, with the thesis “Mexico in two international exhibitions. Paris 1952 and Osaka 1970, with this work she won the Miguel Covarrubias’ Award, for the best research in 2013, She also obtained a bachelor’s degree in design and visual communication at the then National School of Art at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

She has carried out other studies to complete her training, in 2014, she was part of the Getty Institute Program at the Museum Leadership Institute for Emerging Leaders in Museums and Cultural Management; and in 2023 she obtained her Diploma of Leadership Training in Cultural Management and Museums at the same institute.

She has worked at museums and cultural field since 1999, her first charge was as a “cuate” at the Papalote Museo del Niño; later she worked on the museography of the temporary exhibitions of the Museum of the Former Convent of Acolman, INAH (2003); then she carried out a public study for the Interactive Museum of Economy (2006), in the Visitor Service Area of ​​the Nomad Museum (2008); and at the programs and strategies: Cultural Caravans, Walking Walls, Parents and Summer Community Tutors of the National Council for Educational Development (2010 to 2013). Since 2013 she is part of the National Watercolour Museum, first as manager and nowadays as her director (2021).

In 2016 she coordinated the publication of the book “Alfredo Guati Rojo y el Museo Nacional de la Acuarela”, which won the Antonio García Cubas award from the INAH as the best art book of that year. She has belonged to the board of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in Mexico as its treasurer since 2022 and of the ICOFOM’s board since 2023. She is part of the subcommittee for Museology in Latin America and the Caribbean (ICOFOM LAC) since 2018, currently as her president (2023-2025).

 

Marion Bertin

Marion Bertin holds a doctorate in anthropology (La Rochelle University) and a degree in art history and museology (École du Louvre). Her research focuses on the history of collections of Oceanian objects and their circulation. Through the prism of circulation, Marion addresses the different meanings and values of these objects in the context of the art market, private collections, and museums worldwide from a diachronic and synchronic perspective. She is also interested in the networks and relationships created around the objects and the emotions they can evoke. Her dissertation mobilized various trans-oceanic examples, including, in particular, the projects carried out around “dispersed Kanak heritage” in New Caledonia: the Inventory of Dispersed Kanak Heritage (IPKD) and the program of temporary returns of “ambassador objects” of Kanak culture in Nouméa. Marion is pursuing research on these projects, through which she is questioning the patrimonialization and decolonization of museum practices as well as the restitution and return of objects to their territory of origin.

Marion was hosted for several months as part of her thesis research at the Museum of New Caledonia, the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, and the Department of Culture of the South Province of New Caledonia in Nouméa. Winner of an Immersion grant from the LabEx Création Arts Patrimoines in 2020, she was also a research fellow at the Musée National Picasso-Paris. She worked on the provenance of the collections of African and Oceanian objects collected by the artist and now kept at the museum. Marion is currently a temporary teaching and research assistant (ATER) in museology at the University of Avignon and a researcher at the Norbert Elias Centre (UMR 8562). She previously taught art and anthropology of Oceania at the École du Louvre.
Marion is a member of several collectives and research projects, including the international project Le travail décolonial dans les collections muséales (Europe et Afrique subsaharienne). Local Histories and Global Circulations; in this context, she is co-editor, with Martin Hullebroeck, of a glossary on the study of collections from colonial contexts that will be published in 2023. Marion also helped found the CASOAR association: aiming to promote Oceanic cultures to a broad audience, the association offers online articles (URL: https://casoar.org/) and a podcast (WAVES, URL: https://casoar.org/waves-podcast/). In 2022, CASOAR was the laureate association of the INHALab grant and was hosted in residence at the National Institute of Art History (INHA) in Paris.

Within ICOFOM, Marion initially served as a volunteer, managing communication with committee members via email and supporting the organization of the annual symposia. Elected to the Board of Directors in 2019, she became the principal secretary and continued those two missions. She was also involved in the scientific committee of the international research project Decolonising museology (2019-2022), which involved several partners worldwide and was led by Bruno Brulon Soares, and in the working group on the new definition of the museum formed within ICOFOM. Since November 2022, she has been co-vice-chair of ICOFOM and co-leads with Jamie Brown the working group on organizing conferences.

 

Luciana M. de Carvalho

PhD holder and Master in Museology and Heritage from PPG-PMUS UNIRIO/MAST Luciana Menezes de Carvalho has over 15 years of experience in Museology, both in theory and practice.

As a museologist, she currently serves at the School of Museology at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro – UNIRIO. She lends her expertise and professional training to Museology students, offering technical support across various activities. In 2023, she spearheaded a community participation project at the same university to establish a museum for the institution. She also served as the director (2011-2021) and museologist (2008-2021) of the Museum of Memory and Heritage of the Federal University of Alfenas – MMP-UNIFAL-MG, overseeing the creation and implementation of this university museum.

Together with a team of museologists and museum professionals, she co-founded the GENMA collective – Gestação e Nutrição Museal (Museum Gestation and Nutrition), a non-profit association dedicated to pioneering innovative approaches in museology. Their mission is to challenge traditional museological models and address social vulnerabilities. The collective also promotes the inception, creation, and community nurturing of museums and museological initiatives, prioritizing collaborations with institutions and projects that operate on the fringes of the country’s cultural hubs and face challenges such as limited access to resources and understaffing.

Parallel to her professional endeavors, Luciana’s academic research at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels has centered on museology, its history, and its evolution as an academic discipline. During her undergraduate studies, she emphasized the significance of ICOFOM’s contributions to museology. Her master’s research highlighted the importance of ICOFOM LAC’s work, while her PhD explored the journey of establishing Museology as a university/academic discipline, both globally and in Brazil.

Luciana currently holds significant positions both nationally and internationally. On the global stage, she sits on the board of directors of the International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) and formerly presided over the ICOFOM Regional Subcommittee for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICOFOM LAC). In Brazil, she recently took on the role of General Director for the International Council of Museums Brazil delegation (ICOM BR) and is an active member of the Kilombola Museology Network, a community of Black students and professionals in Brazilian museology.

 

Bruno Brulon Soares

Bruno Brulon Soares is a museologist and anthropologist from Brazil, and his research interests have focused on community museums, ethnographic museums and the decolonisation of museum theory and practice. His previous works focused on the history of museums and the development of the new museology movement. His edited book “A History of Museology”, published by ICOFOM in 2019, is currently adopted as a core reading in several training programs worldwide. It has recently been translated into Chinese and published by the Zhejiang University Press. He also coordinated the international research project Decolonising museology (2019-2022), involving several global partners. His current book project, entitled The Anticolonial Museum explores the rhetoric of decolonisation in museum theory and its political and material consequences in Europe and Latin America.

Since 2013, Bruno has taught museology and heritage studies at Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), in Brazil, where he founded the Laboratory of Experimental Museology in 2017, working closely with community-based museums and minority groups. He is currently a Museum and Heritage Studies Lecturer in the School of Art History, and co-Director of the Museums, Galleries and Collections Institute (MGCI) at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

From 2019 to 2022, he was Chair of the ICOM International Committee for Museology (ICOFOM) and co-Chair of the Standing Committee for the Museum Definition (ICOM Define). In these positions, he undertook a global participatory research project based on consultation and international exchange, seeking to reach a proposal for the new museum definition to be adopted worldwide. On 24 August 2022, the proposed definition was approved with 92,4% of the votes from ICOM representatives, being adopted in its statutes.

As a former ICOFOM chair, Bruno is now part of the new board as an honorary board member supporting the newly elected chair Karen Brown and board members in ICOFOM’s management. Bruno is leading the working group on ethics together with Supreo Chanda and is part of the working group on publications led by Elizabeth Weiser.

Anna Leshchenko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jamie Allan Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—

We will be gradually adding the presentation texts for our board members as we are going to present them in our news digest.