About

International Law and Cultural Heritage

Established in 2019, the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and International Law is held by Professor Ana Filipa Vrdoljak and brings together an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers, advocates, and educators to advance knowledge and practice in international cultural heritage law and policy.

Our work focuses on promoting ratification, implementation and awareness of the UNESCO’s normative culture framework, facilitate its coherence and effectiveness, and understanding the role of culture in peace and sustainable development. Gender equality and Indigenous peoples are priority areas during the first phase (2019-2022) of our research and training programs.

The UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and International Law is hosted by the University of Technology Sydney.

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Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak holds the UNESCO Chair in International Law and Cultural Heritage. She is Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney and Visiting Professor, Renmin Law School. She is President of the International Cultural Property Society (U.S.). She is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law (Oxford University Press, 2020) and Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions (forthcoming). Professor Vrdoljak is co-organiser of the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative, and Women and girls and cultural heritage initiative in the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Larissa Behrendt

Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman. She is the Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology. Sydney. She is a Board Member of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tranby Aboriginal College, and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Professor Behrendt is co-organiser of the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative in the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Janet Blake

Janet Blake is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University (ex-National University), Tehran, Iran. She is a member of the UNESCO Chair for Human Rights, Peace and Democracy. Professor Blake is co-organiser of the women and girls and cultural heritage international research collaboration and contributor to the Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Convention of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Alessandro Chechi

Alessandro Chechi is Senior Researcher at the University of Geneva and lecturer at the Université Catholique of Lille. He is the organiser of the annual Summer School International Cultural Heritage Law. Dr Chechi is co-editor of the Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions prepared as part of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Yvonne Donders

Yvonne Donders is the Chair of International Human Rights Law, Head of the Department of International and European Law, University of Amsterdam and Commissioner for the Netherlands National Human Rights Institute. Professor Donders is co-organiser of the women and girls and cultural heritage international research collaboration of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Francesco Francioni

Francesco Francioni is Professor at LUISS Guido Carli University Rome and Professor, Emeritus of International Law at the European University Institute, Florence. He is a member (associate) of the Institut de droit international and former Chair of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Professor Francioni is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law and contributor to the the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law published by Oxford University Press as part of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Phil Gordon

Phil Gordon is former Head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Repatriation program, Australian Museum. He is a member of the Australian Federal Government’s Committee on Return of Indigenous Cultural Property and Board Member of Museums and Galleries of NSW. Mr Gordon is an adviser on the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative in the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program

Alicja Jagielska-Burduk

Alicja Jagielska-Burduk holds the UNESCO Chair on Cultural Property Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Opole. She is a mediator for the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin or Its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation and an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Art (CafA), The Hague, and founding editor of the Santander Art&Culture Law Review. Professor Jagielska-Burduk is a contributor to the Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions prepared as part of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Dalee Sambo Dorough

Dalee Sambo Dorough is the International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and Senior Scholar, Special Adviser on Arctic Indigenous Peoples, University of Alaska, Anchorage. She is a former Expert Member and Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Chair, UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. Professor Sambo Dorough is co-organiser of the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative and contributor to the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law as part of the part of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Andrzej Jakubowski

Andrzej Jakubowski is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Legal Sciences, University of Opole (Poland) and Visiting Bekker Fellow at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) (2021-2022). He is Chair of the ILA Committee on Participation in Global Cultural Heritage Governance and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Santander Art and Culture Law Review. Professor Jakubowski is co-editor of the Oxford Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions prepared as part of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program

Claudia Liuzza

Claudia Liuzza is a Rethinking Diplomacy Fellow at the Duke Center for International & Global Studies and affiliated scholar with the UPenn Cultural Heritage Center. She holds a doctorate in Anthropology from Stanford University and Laurea cum Laude in Conservation of Cultural Heritage from the University of Pisa. Dr Liuzza is a collaborator on the World Heritage and Human Rights theme for the global Our World Heritage Initiative of the first phase (2019-2023) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Angela Martins

Angela Martins is the Head of the Division of Culture for the African Union. She coordinates the AU’s activities and policies in respect of cultural protection, cultural development, promotion of creative and cultural industries and use of culture for integration. Ms Martins is an advisor and collaborator on the standard-setting on movable heritage initiative during the first phase (2019-2023) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Lynn Meskell

Lynn Meskell is Richard D Green Professor of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, Professor in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania and curator in the Middle East and Asia sections of the Penn Museum, and AD White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She is the founding editor of the Journal of Social Archaeology. Professor Meskell is an advisor and collaborator on the women and girls, contributor to the Oxford Handbook on the International Cultural Heritage Law, and collaborator on the World Heritage and Human Rights theme for the global Our World Heritage Initiative of the first phase (2019-2023) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Robynne Quiggin

Robynne Quiggin is a member of the Wiradyuri nation of central western New South Wales. She is Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at the Business School and Law School, UTS. She is also Chair of the Human Rights Law Centre Board. Professor Quiggin is a collaborator on the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative in the first phase (2019-2023) of the UNESCO Chair Program.

Marina Schneider

Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer in the Secretariat of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). She was the secretary for the UNIDROIT committees on the international protection of cultural property including the Diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. Dr Schneider is an adviser and collaborator on the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law being prepared during the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program and the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project.

Farida Shaheed

Farida Shaheed is Executive Director, Shirkat Gah – Women's Resource Centre (Lahore) and was the inaugural UN Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights. Dr Shaheed is an adviser and collaborator for the women and girls and cultural heritage international research collaboration of the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Maria (Mayee) Warren

Maria (Mayee) Warren served for over 12 years in the Office of the Prosecutor in several international institutions including as Chief of Cabinet at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Director of Legal Operations at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Chief of Evidence at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She is currently consulting with UNODC East Africa providing advice and support on organisational transformation and change management to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kenya. She lectures in the Master of Digital Information Management at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Ms Warren is project manager and adviser on the World Heritage and Human Rights theme for the global Our World Heritage Initiative and Indigenous Capacity Building and Cultural Heritage initiative of the first phase (2019-2023) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Wang Yunxia

Wang Yunxia holds the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage Law, Director of the Institute of Cultural Heritage Law, and Professor of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing. Renmin Law School is a partner with Kent Law School, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole and the UTS in the 4 Universities Cultural Heritage network. Professor Wang is a collaborator on the Oxford Handbook on International Cultural Heritage Law being prepared during the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.

Raquel Zonia Yrigoyen Fajardo

Raquel Zonia Yrigoyen Fajardo is a Professor of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and founding member of the Instituto Internacional de derecho y Sociedad-IIDS. Professor Yrigoyen Farajdo is a collaborator on the Indigenous peoples and cultural heritage international research and capacity-building initiative in the first phase (2019-2022) of the UNESCO Chair program.
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‘Culture is the essence of being human.’

(UNESCO, 1970)

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.