List of Speakers
Session 1: “Heritage is the Living Present of the Past”
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Dr. Piriya Krairiksh
Dr. Piriya Krairiksh
Senior Research Scholar at Thailand Research Fund | Thailand
After having earned a doctorate in History of Art from Harvard University in 1975, Dr. Piriya Krairiksh was employed as Curator of Asian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
On his return to Thailand in 1977, Dr. Piriya taught History of Art at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University until 2002. After his retirement, he became Director of the Thai Khadi Research Institute, Thammasat University from 2003 to 2006.
Dr. Piriya served as President of the Siam Society from 1989 to 1992 and was appointed Senior Research Scholar by the Thailand Research Fund in 1999. He has published many articles and books on Thai art both in Thai and English, and most recently The Roots of Thai Art (River Books, 2012).
He is the Chairman of the Piriya Krairiksh Foundation.
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Dr. Nobuko Inaba
Dr. Nobuko Inaba
World Heritage Studies Professor at Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba | Japan
Dr. Nobuko Inaba has been professor of World Heritage Studies at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan, since April 2008. She teaches the overall system and historical background of the World Heritage Convention and its related areas. As a heritage researcher, she is particularly involved with conceptual discussions in the theory and policy study fields such as authenticity and integrity discussions in the Asian context, historical development of intangible heritage concepts, and studies on the relationship of the culture and nature heritage fields.
Dr. Inaba trained as a conservation architect and architectural historian. She received her doctoral degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1990, on the theme of the 19th century traditional architectural history of Japan, dealing with the particular social phenomena of Europeanization, modernization, and nationalism.
She gained her practical knowledge and experience in heritage policy development and management while serving in the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs and its affiliated research institute from 1991 to 2008. From 2000 to 2002, she worked for the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), seconded by Japan. She continues her advisory role to the Japanese central and local authorities on heritage matters.
Dr. Inaba’s work deals with both domestic and international affairs covering cultural heritage and cultural landscape areas including that of the World Heritage Convention. She has been involved in the Convention’s core activities since its ratification by Japan in 1992.
Dr. Inaba is a former member of the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. She is currently a member of the Committee on Cultural Landscapes of the Council for Cultural Affairs of Japan, a member of ICOMOS, and a member of the Executive Committee of ICOMOS Japan.
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Dr. Que Weimin
Dr. Que Weimin
Professor at College of Urban and Environment Sciences, World Heritage Research Centre, Peking University | China
Dr. Que is a Professor in College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, with industrial heritage and urban heritage as his main area of interest. He is also a member of Editorial Board of Journal of Historical Geography since 2012, a Jury Member for the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation since 2007, and a Core Member of Historical-Geography Special Group, Geography Society in China since 1998.
Dr. Que obtained his Ph.D on Historical Geography from History and Geography Research Center, Peking University in 1999. He was a Visiting Scholar at California State University, Fresno, USA, in the Department of Geography from 1993 – 1994 and at Cambridge University, UK, in the Department of Geography and Emmanuel College, in 1999 – 2000. He obtained a M.S. in History and Geography and a B.S. in Geography from Hangzhou University.
His participation in cultural heritage protection has won him UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation in 2003 (Cangqiao Historical Street), 2004 (Zhangzhou City Historical Streets), 2005 (Houkeng Timber-Arched Corridor Bridge), 2009 (Heritage Buildings in Cicheng Historic Town), and 2013 (Enjoying Snow Yard, Beihai Park), and in 2007 an Advanced Individual on Intangible Heritage Protection, an award issued by Cultural Ministry of P.R. China. He is also an author of several publications, translation, and papers in both English and Chinese.
Session 2: “People Taking Ownership of Heritage”
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Ms. Khoo Salma Nasution
Ms. Khoo Salma Nasution
Malaysia
Ms. Khoo is a cultural urbanist, a heritage advocate, an author, a publisher, and a cultural entrepreneur. She plays a very active role in the protection of the George Town World Heritage Site and the biocultural heritage of Penang.
Ms. Khoo is the Vice-President of Penang Heritage Trust (PHT), a non- profit non-governmental organization established in 1986, dedicated to promoting the conservation of Penang’s cultural and built heritage. She has been involved with the PHT since 1989 and was its president from 2009 to 2015.
In 1991, Ms. Khoo co-founded the Asia Heritage Network, which has organized a number of international workshops. In 1993, she became the custodian of the Sun Yat Sen Museum, a historic house located on 120 Armenian Street, Penang, which she started restoring that same year.
In 2005, Ms. Khoo co-founded the publishing company Areca Books and now has a bookshop at 72 Lebuh Acheh, Penang. She has written several books about the heritage and historic communities in Penang including Heritage Habitat: A Source Book for the Urban Conservation Movement in Asia & the Pacific, Penang: Asia & West Pacific Network for Urban Conservation (1997) and The Chulia in Penang, which has won an ICAS Book Prize in 2015. She conducted her research on the Hokkien community and tin-mining history of Phuket in 2004 and was instrumental in getting the Phuket Baba community area recognized as a part of the Baba Nyonya-Peranakan transnational diaspora.
Ms. Khoo is a Fellow under the Nippon Foundation's Public Intellectual Fellowship Program and a member of Malaysia ICOMOS and of the Society of Architectural & Urban Historians of Asia, which was founded in 2015 to advance the study of built environments in Asia through inter-Asian connections and collaborations. She obtained her A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) from Duke University, North Carolina, USA, in 1981.
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Mr. Hu Xinyu
Mr. Hu Xinyu
Trustee at Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center | China
Mr. Hu served from 2009 to 2014 as China representative of the Prince’s Charities Foundation (China) of the UK. During this period, he established the Shijia Hutong Museum in a renovated courtyard house, coordinating between the surrounding community, the Foundation and local authorities. He is now the China representative of the Foundation’s sister organization, the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, which was founded in 2005 to “continue the living traditions of the world’s sacred and traditional art forms”. In this capacity, he manages all of the School’s Chinese relationships and coordinates its activities in China.
In 2013, Mr. Hu and two friends established The Courtyard Institute. Operating out of a hutong courtyard house, the Institute conducts programs to raise consciousness of traditional culture education in the public and to explore new methods for alternative education.
Mr. Hu graduated from Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute with a BA in English Literature in 1997. After working for several years in the tourism industry, he became the managing director of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center from July 2006 to March 2009. He now remains a director of the Center and manages its grassroots volunteer activities related to the preservation of the vernacular culture of Beijing, both tangible and intangible.
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Mrs. Yin Myo Su
Mrs. Yin Myo Su
Founder of Inle Heritage Foundation | Myanmar
Yin Myo Su has built a tourism business, the Inle Princess Group, in the Shan States of Northeastern Myanmar. The tourism business has led her to an understanding of the importance of cultural heritage to healthy and sustainable community development, and to initiation of a number of Myanmar cultural heritage protection projects that have attracted international attention, most notably the project “Reintroducing the Burmese Cat”.
Yin Myo Su’s cultural heritage interests led to establishment of Inle Heritage, an NGO which has under its wing a number of projects designed to integrate preservation of the culture and natural environment of the Shan States with economic development so that the region is a “great place to live, work, and visit.” The social business and foundation undertakes, among others, educational, vocational training, architectural, ecological, and culinary projects involving local people.
Yin Myo Su is passionate about women’s empowerment, economic development, heritage and environmental preservation, art, culture and citizen engagement. She is a recipient of several local and international awards in recognition of her work.
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Mrs. Catrini Pratihari Kubontubuh
Mrs. Catrini Pratihari Kubontubuh
Chairperson of Indonesian Heritage Trust | Indonesia
Mrs. Kubontubuh is the Chairperson of the Indonesian Heritage Trust (BPPI), a civil society organization established in 2004 in Jakarta aiming at strengthening and assisting heritage conservation in Indonesia. She is also a Board member of the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO), headquartered in London.
Mrs. Kubontubuh worked at the Jakarta Office of the World Bank as a Safeguard Specialist from 2006 to 2012. Since 2013, she has been the Executive Director of the Arsari Djojohadikusumo Foundation, a non-profit organization which advocates for children and low-income families in Indonesia.
Mrs. Kubontubuh has a background in planning and architecture. She obtained a bachelor’s degree of Urban and Regional Planning from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia in 1996, and she received a master’s degree from the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven, Belgium in 1997.
Mrs. Kubontubuh is now pursuing her doctoral study at the School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development of the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). She has developed over the past 20 years a strong experience in the field of heritage through her activities in developing heritage organizations in West Sumatra, Bali, Jakarta, and several other Indonesian cities.
Session 3: “How to Put Law to Work on Behalf of Heritage Protection?”
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Dr. Sujeong Lee
Dr. Sujeong Lee
Senior Researcher at Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea | South Korea
Dr. Lee is working as a senior researcher in the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) of Korea since 2009. In this capacity, she has set out conservation principles impacting Korea’s heritage policy and has drafted the Ethical Guidelines for Conservators of Korea, as a guiding post for conservators to take a logical path for rational decision-making. Her present work includes setting out a framework for assessing heritage values and providing national guidelines of rational decision-making in heritage conservation.
After receiving her PhD in Conservation Studies in 2009 from the University of York, UK, Dr. Lee worked for the York Civic Trust and provided her professional advice regarding planning applications for listed heritage buildings in the UK. Her PhD thesis examined how different values have been assessed in conservation of religious buildings in use, looking at several case studies of English churches and Korean Buddhist temples.
Dr. Lee obtained a MA in History of Art (Wall Painting Conservation) in 2002 from Dongguk University, Korea. During her studies, she participated in the conservation of several wall paintings in Bongjung and Shinheung temples.
Her main area of interest is conservation principles and policy.
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Dr. Yongtanit Pimonsathean
Dr. Yongtanit Pimonsathean
Visiting Associate Professor at Faculty of Architecture, Thammasat University | Thailand
Dr. Yongtanit Pimonsathean is a visiting Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, a position he held full-time from 1993 to early 2018 before he retired.
Prior to earning his Doctor of Engineering in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1993, he obtained a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok in 1986 and a Master of Science in Urban Planning, Land and Housing Development from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand in 1989.
Dr. Yongtanit is currently a member of the Committee for the Conservation and Development of Krung Rattanakosin and the Old Towns and a member of the National Committee on Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. He is also an Honorary Advisor to the Council of the Siam Society and a former Senior Advisor to the Conservation Management Section of The Crown Property Bureau.
In this capacity, he has been involved in many community-based heritage conservation projects in Thailand, including a 4-year conservation project of Bangkok’s Na Phra Lan, Tha Chang, and Tha Tien neighborhoods.
In 2008, Dr. Yongtanit was the winner of a grant of the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and he was awarded the Outstanding Preservation Icon of the Association of Siamese Architects (ASA). In 2009, he was honored with Thailand’s distinguished Princess Sirindhorn Award for Outstanding Architect.
He has published many articles and books, including:
- Cultural Resources Management in Historic Community in Bangkok: The Tha Tian Case. Cultural Resources Management Urban Culture Research, V. 4, p.11-24. 2007
- Local Involvements in the Conservation of Cultural Environment in Songkla Lake Basin, Southern Thailand. International Conference on “Sustainable Local Heritage Conservation: The Trandiscilinary Approach” and ICOMOS Thailand Annual Meeting, 2006.
- Heritage Buildings on Northern Charoen Krung Road, 2009
- The Crown Property Bureau and Heritage Conservation. Journal of The Siam Society Vol.100 p.103-122,2012
- A Conservation of Shophouses: Na Phra Lan, Tha Chang, Tha Tien, 2016 Urban revitalization and conservation, 2014
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Mr. Gour Mohan Kapur
Mr. Gour Mohan Kapur
Governing Council Member and State Convener | India
Mr. Kapur is the State Convenor of the West Bengal and Calcutta Regional Chapters of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); a member of its Governing Council; and a member of its Executive and Finance Committees. INTACH is an organization that pioneers the conservation, protection, and restoration of India’s natural, cultural, and architectural heritage. Mr. Kapur has been serving on various committees since INTACH’s inception in 1984.
The INTACH Calcutta Chapter has been very proactive in protecting and preserving the city’s rich architectural heritage. Mr. Kapur was directly involved in two of its major projects: advising the Calcutta Municipal Corporation on the drafting of the legislation for conservation and protection of the city’s built heritage and commissioning the listing and documentation of its important heritage buildings. The latter project resulted in the publication of an illustrated book entitled Calcutta: Built Heritage Today: an INTACH Guide in 2006.
Mr. Kapur received his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) in Varanasi, India, in May 1971 and pursued his Post-Graduation studies in Business Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta from 1971 to 1973.
He began his career with the State Bank of India and started his own enterprise in 1984. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers, a Chartered Engineer, and an independent management consultant.
Session 4: “How Can Entrepreneurial Energies Complement Heritage Protection?”
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Mr. Joseph Sedfrey Serraon Santiago
Mr. Joseph Sedfrey Serraon Santiago
Associate Professor at John Gokongwei School of Management (JG-SOM), Ateneo de Manila University | Philippines
Mr. Santiago is an Associate Professor at the John Gokongwei School of Management, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines, where he teaches Obligations and Contracts and Corporation Law since 2004. He also teaches The Creative Professional at the Department of Fine Arts of the School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, a core subject of the Fine Arts Program since he became a shared faculty member in 2015.
Mr. Santiago is Head Researcher of Accesslaw, Inc., a legal research firm that has partnered with CD Technologies Asia to provide complete and state- of-the-art legal information. This alliance has produced the Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Series and the multi-volume Philippine Jurisprudence Encyclopedia.
He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and a Master’s degree in International and Comparative Law from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium in 1991. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of the Philippines (1987).
Mr. Santiago has written and co-edited books on art law in the Philippines and business ethics namely: Law for Art’s Sake: An Introduction to Legal Gobbledygook (2010) and Business Ethics in Asia: Issues & Cases (2014). Both books were finalists in different years for the Philippine National Book Award (Professions Category).
In 2017, he co-edited Stewards of Art and Culture: Stories of the Filipino as a Cultural Entrepreneur, a book he also researched and for which he either wrote or co-wrote cases on Filipino creative enterprises in theater, dance, visual arts, fashion, traditional textiles, heritage houses, furniture and design, food, and others. The book was published by New Day Publishers, a non-stock, non-profit publication house that is recognized for its pioneering works on Filipiniana. His forthcoming book The Art of Collecting: A Guide to the Philippine Art Market is currently in press at the Ateneo de Manila University Press and is due for publication at the end of 2018.
Outside of the academe, Mr. Santiago has engaged in entrepreneurial activities, either with family or friends. For instance, ten years ago, he co- founded Rafa’s Art Deli+Café, a bistro that doubled as an art gallery, which provided free exhibition space to young artists from leading art schools in Manila, many of whom were nominated for the prestigious Thirteen Artists Awards (granted by the Cultural Center of the Philippines) and the Ateneo Art Awards of the Ateneo Art Gallery, the Philippines’ first Modern Art Museum.
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Mr. Jean-Baptiste Phou
Mr. Jean-Baptiste Phou
Head of Creatives Programs at Cambodian Living Arts | Cambodia
Jean-Baptiste Phou was born in 1981 in France to Chinese-Cambodian parents. After obtaining a Masters' in Finance, he started his career in investment banking in Spain and then moved to work in the same field in Singapore.
In 2008, he quit his position as a Business Analyst to perform in the rock opera Where Elephants Weep, co-produced by Cambodian Living Arts (CLA). Over the next seven years, he worked as an actor, playwright and stage director in France, the US and Cambodia. His productions include Cambodia, Here I Am, performed in both French and Khmer; The Anarchist, adapted from the novel by Soth Polin; and The Spirit Within created for CLA’s performance program at their theatre at the National Museum of Cambodia. From 2015 to 2017, he taught arts management and communication skills in universities and for corporates.
In 2017, Jean-Baptiste Phou joined Cambodian Living Arts as the new Country Manager and moved to Cambodia permanently. Now Head of Creative Programs, he supervises three key areas: the cultural enterprise Experience Cambodian Living Arts; the Arts Development program; and the Heritage Hub in Siem Reap.
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Ms. Veomanee Douangdala
Ms. Veomanee Douangdala
Co-Founder of Ock Pop Tok Weaving Center | Lao PDR
Mrs. Douangdala is a social entrepreneur who co-founded and co-directs Ock PoP Tok Textile company (OPT), which has grown in the past 18 years from a small shop selling a few designs to becoming one of the most important textile and artisanal institutions in Laos. It is now composed of a team of nearly 80 employees. OPT was founded on the principles of fair trade, sustainable business practices, and ethical fashion well before these concepts were globally widespread. OPT is committed to preserving and promoting Lao textiles and their weavers’ creative energy.
At OPT, Mrs. Douangdala has several roles: she leads the Weaving and Design teams; she is in charge of finances; she manages the Living Crafts Centre; and she is responsible for the Heritage Textile Collection composed of over a thousand pieces. Besides, she co-supervises the Village Weaver Projects, which are a series of initiatives that create economic opportunities for over 500 women living in rural communities in 13 Lao provinces.
Mrs. Douangdala comes from a family rich with textile and artisan roots and she learnt how to weave from her mother when she was 8 years old. After becoming an accomplished weaver, she took the adventurous step of co- founding OPT at 24 years old.
Over the years, she has become a leading ambassador for Lao textiles, meeting both global dignitaries and teaching Lao women to empower themselves with their weaving skills. She is on the board of the Luang Prabang Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and she has chaired the Luang Prabang Handicraft Association.
In November 2017, Mrs. Veomanee was invited to speak at a TEDx Talk in Vientiane, focused on the theme Reimagine with the objective of empowering and celebrating women nationwide in Laos. (The event was part of the official worldwide TEDx Women 2017 Conference.) There, she was able to share the story of Ock Pop Tok and its growth in less than 2 decades into one of the biggest social enterprises of the Lao textile industry.
Mrs. Douangdala is a role model to young Lao women, inspiring them to follow in her footsteps.
The Moderators
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Dr. Johannes Widodo
Dr. Johannes Widodo
Director of the Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Asian Architectural and Urban Heritage in Melaka (Malaysia), and Executive Editor of JSEAA (Journal of Southeast Asian Architecture) of the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore
Dr. Johannes Widodo is an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture of the National University of Singapore (NUS) since 2001 and the Executive Editor of the Department’s Journal of Southeast Asian Architecture.
He received his first professional degree in Architecture from Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia, in 1984, and obtained a Master of Architectural Engineering degree from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in 1988. In 1996, he earned a PhD in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in the area of Architectural and Urban History.
Dr. Widodo has been playing – and still plays – a very active role in the fields of architecture and cultural heritage conservation:
- - he is the Director of the Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Asian Architectural and Urban Heritage in Melaka, Malaysia, which is tasked to advance the area of excellence in the study of historical and urban environments in Asia, using Melaka as a case site, and as such is a unique resource of NUS’s Department of Architecture;
- - he is the founder of mAAN (modern Asian Architecture Network) and iNTA (International Network of Tropical Architecture);
- he has been serving as a jury member for UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation and as a member of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee and Shared Heritage Committee;
- - he is a founding member and director of ICOMOS National Committee of Singapore and associate member of the Asian Academy for Heritage Management;
- - he is also a founding member and director of DoCoMoMo Macau;
- he serves as an advisory board member of the Preservation of Sites and Monuments of the National Heritage Board of Singapore; and
- - he is one of the executive servers of mASEANa (modern ASEAN architecture) project sponsored by the Japan Foundation, supported by DoCoMoMo International, ICOMOS 20 Century Heritage Committee, and mAAN (2016-2020).
His research interests and teaching are focused on three interrelated areas: (i) History & Theory of Architecture; (ii) Architectural Morphology & Typology; and (iii) Architectural Conservation & Heritage Management.
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Ms. Tara Gujadhur
Ms. Tara Gujadhur
Co-Director of Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre | Lao PDR
Ms. Gujadhur co-founded the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (“TAEC”) in Luang Prabang in 2006. TAEC is a museum and cultural heritage social enterprise dedicated to preserving cultural diversity in Laos. As Co-Director of TAEC, she now guides the centre’s research, exhibitions, and strategic development, among other responsibilities.
Prior to co-founding TAEC, Ms. Gujadhur had moved to Laos in 2003 with a development agency where she spent three years advising the government on sustainable tourism, primarily in ethnic communities.
Ms. Gujadhur obtained a BA in Anthropology from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, USA, and a MSc in Sustainable Tourism from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK. Prior to moving to Laos, she worked with the Khasi people, an indigenous ethnic group of northeast India, and the San (Bushmen) in Botswana. She has since spent a significant amount of time in rural villages in Laos.
Ms. Gujadhur has developed over the past 15 years a solid experience in cultural heritage management and tourism development throughout Southeast Asia and Southern Africa.