Advisory Panel

Elke Selter is a heritage specialist with more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of cultural heritage, crisis response, and peacebuilding. She advises institutions and leads programs that protect heritage in conflicts, disasters and climate emergencies.

Elke began her career with UNESCO, where she worked in Nepal, Vietnam, Haiti, Palestine and South Sudan. She led the response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake and developed UNESCO’s first country program in South Sudan. She later helped set up UNESCO’s crisis response unit, including its Heritage Emergency Fund. From 2023 to 2025 she was Director of Programs at ALIPH, overseeing a USD 20-30 million annual grant portfolio to assist local and international operators in protecting heritage across 59 countries.

She holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from SOAS, University of London, where her research examined the international politics of heritage in armed conflict. She co-authored ICCROM’s First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis and the PATH peacebuilding tool, as well as Beyond Restitution (Bloomsbury, 2025). She has also authored studies for the European Parliament and the EU.

Attila Sághi is a Hungarian heritage conservation expert, structural engineer and economist, with extensive experience in heritage policy, institutional leadership, adaptive reuse and the delivery of major cultural and historic preservation projects.

He previously headed the Forster Centre (Hungarian Heritage), Hungary’s national heritage institution, where he initiated major heritage development programmes, including the National Palace and Castle Programmes, aimed at the restoration, revitalisation and sustainable reuse of historic properties.

As Deputy CEO for Investments at Városliget Zrt., he subsequently led major cultural and heritage developments, including the restoration of the Hungarian State Opera House and the Romanesque Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the development of the House of Music Hungary and the Museum of Ethnography.

His particular expertise lies in connecting heritage conservation with investment strategy, financial sustainability, institutional governance and practical implementation.

He is a Council Member of Europa Nostra, an IPMA Level A Certified Project Director, a Member of RICS (MRICS) and a recipient of the 2025 IPMA Global Project Management Awards Bronze distinction.

Architect, architecture curator, critic, writer, lecturer. Board member of Architects Association of Lithuania (AAL), Chair of the Vilnius branch at AAL. Coordinator of Creative Europe project “UREHERIT. Architects for heritage in Ukraine: recreating memory and identity” (2023-2026). Chair of the Task force “Solidarity with Ukraine” at Architects Council of Europe. Expert in experts’ sub-group “Safeguarding heritage in Ukraine” for European Commission (2023-2025). Initiator and coordinator of the New European Bauhaus Labs “Public infrastructure for Ukraine” and “Housing”. Coordinator of the Lithuanian State’s project, architectural competition “Future school for Ukraine”. Independent expert at the European contemporary architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

Member of Selection Committee at Europa Nostra Awards 2026, track “Conservation and adaptive reuse”. External expert at “Davos Alliance” inside Lithuanian delegation by Ministry of Culture of Lithuania. Head of Architecture studies’ program at Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Civil engineering and Architecture.

Christopher Hurst is a Senior Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Florence and an Honorary Professor at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London.

Chris is involved in teaching and research on project management and sustainable finance. More generally, he is active in executive education across a broad range of leadership, economic policy, and management topics.

He has a particular interest in climate adaption, and the management of those investments that will be required to build resilience for businesses and communities to a warming world.

His interest in protecting cultural heritage draws from the view that projects should minimise their environmental and social impact, and that policy interventions often overlook the value that communities draw from their built and natural heritage.

Prior to the above academic roles, Chris was Director General at the European Investment Bank. Here, he was the principle architect of the transformation of that organisation to the EU “Climate Bank” with associated policies to align all EIB operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement. In earlier positions, he was Director with responsibilites for assessing EIB operations across a range of sectors from Energy to Infrastructure.

Before joining the EIB he was involved in management consulting in the USA and held research posts at Oxford University and at Imperial College, London.
He is trained in both engineering and economics. He has a Doctorate from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from Imperial College, London.

Dimitris Leventis, born in Athens, in the year 1962, is an experienced architect with a specialization in the restoration and conservation of monuments. He holds a Master’s Diploma in Monument Restoration and Protection from the Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany), and a degree in Architecture from the same institution. He has been active in both academia and professional practice since 1987.
From 1985 to 1990 he worked professionally in Greece and Germany and he has also contributed to traditional trades training programs in Greece, particularly in the restoration of historic buildings and the integration of new structures within historical environments.

Since 1990, he has worked as a freelance architect, collaborating with renowned architectural firms in Greece and Germany, until 2001, after which he established his own practice, “Leventis Architects” based in Athens, Greece. His work focuses on both the design of new buildings and the restoration of historical structures.

His expertise includes the integration of contemporary designs into heritage contexts, as well as specialized restoration projects. He holds professional certifications in various categories of building design and is an active member of the Greek Association of Architects. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Society for Environment and Culture and Vice-Chairman of the Architectural Heritage Council and member of the Institute of Greek Mills. He is also a member of the Advisory Panel of the “7 Most Endangered” Program of Europa Nostra.

Amra is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Heritage, International Forum Bosnia.
She has been the leading heritage expert in the process of implementation of Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Accord for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and managing diverse projects of integrating cultural heritage into postwar recovery in Bosnia, Kosovo, Palestine, and Iraq. She has worked as a consultant for UNESCO, ICCROM; World Bank, ICOMOS International, OSCE, ARC-WH, and Welfare, etc. She taught History of Architecture and Architectural Conservation at the International University of Sarajevo (2010-2019), guest-lectured at the universities in USA, Europe, Arab Region, and published widely, including the books: Heritage Reconstruction and People. Integrated recovery after trauma (ed.); Heritage, War and Peace; Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory (ed.); Bosnia: Destruction of Cultural Heritage (co-author).

She is a founder of HIDR (House of International Dialogue and Research) which includes ISSYH, a school for sustainable, inclusive, resilient and holistic recovery of heritage.

Licensed Architect and Urban Planner. Member of ICOMOS, Executive Director of World Monuments Fund Spain.
Master’s in Architecture and Urban Planning, (Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid 1993).
Specialist in Heritage Conservation (Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid)
Master’s degree in urban planning laws (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
As an architect and urban planner is author of several projects on Cultural Heritage Conservation/Restoration, as the Restoration of the Chapter House of the Monastery of San Clemente in Toledo, the Master Plan of the Historic Walls of Segovia for the city council or the Study of the Integrated Rehabilitation Areas of Plaza Mayor and Calle Mayor, Madrid.

As director for World Monuments Fund in Spain, has managed amongst other projects the Restoration of the Salon Rico paraments in Medina Azahara, Spain (2014/2024), the Restoration of the Partal Oratory in the Alhambra, ( awarded in 2019 with the Europa Nostra Grand Prix award), the conservation studies and Virtual Reality project of the Paleolithic cave of La Garma in Cantabria (included by Forbes magazine as one of 50 most relevant virtual reality projects worldwide); several studies towards the Management Plan of the Roman Aqueduct in Segovia, the restoration of the paintings on the Chapel of San Blas, at the Toledo Cathedral or the main Portal entrance in the Monastery of Santa Paula in Seville.

Scientific Director of the several courses and seminars related to Conservation and Urban Planning, such as the UNESCO City Lab for the 10th Anniversary of the Historic Urban Landscapes Recommendations, Cordoba 2022, in collaboration with UNESCO´s World Heritage Centre and the City of Cordoba, Capacity Building Seminar on the regeneration of Historic Cairo (2020) , Capacity Building Seminar on Restoration Criteria, Historic Cairo (2021), Capacity Building Seminar on the Historic wooden buildings in the Grand Caribbean (2022) and Secretary of the Forum Cultura y Naturaleza at Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo directed by Jose María Ballester from 2010 to 2020.

Scientific Director of the Seminar ‘Gaudí & trencadís. La creatividad del reciclaje‘ at the National Museum of Ceramics Gonzalez Marti, Valencia, Spain 2020.

As an independent professional has worked amongst other projects for the Heritage Impact Assessment in the City of Turkestan Republic of Kazakhstan (ICAAS) , Bahrain (BACA) , Tashken (Art & Culture Development Foundation)t, Republic of Uzbekistan. Expert witness for Santiago Calatrava LLC.

SABINE NEMEC-PIGUET obtained a Master’s degree in architecture from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL in 1978, with a thesis on the conversion of an industrial district in the city of Geneva.
In 1979-80, she worked for the Centre d’étude technique pour l’amélioration de l’habitat (University of Geneva) on a mandate for the evaluation of renovation costs and the survey of old buildings in a historic district of Geneva. This study was the first step in drawing up a plan for the protection of this district. After working as an architect for the Geneva Department of Monuments and Sites, she was its director from 2002 to 2008. From 2008 until her retirement in 2019, she held the position of Cantonal Curator of Monuments and Director General of the Office du Patrimoine et des Sites du Canton de Genève, which comprises three departments: Monuments et Sites, Inventaire, Archéologie. As part of her duties, she has served on several architectural competition juries, organized lecture series, edited publications on cultural heritage, and written articles. In 2017, she was a founding member of the Fondation Clarté on behalf of the Canton of Geneva, following the inscription of Le Corbusier’s work on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
From 1999 to 2011, she was a member of the Federal Commission for Nature and Landscape Protection. From 2012 to 2023, she was a member and vice-president of the Federal Commission for the Preservation of Historic Monuments.
Since 2020, she has been active in Europa Nostra as a member of the Board, a member of the jury for the Europa Nostra Awards and President of the jury for the “Research” category in 2022 and 2023.
She has been President of ICOMOS Switzerland since May 2024.

Former Director of the Environment and Regional Development, Projects Directorate, European Investment Bank

Mario Aymerich carried out his graduate studies in Civil Engineering and completed his post-graduate/doctorate studies in Transport and Urban Planning at the Polytechnic Universities of Catalunya (UPC) and Madrid (UPM). During the 1980s, he worked as a civil servant at the Municipality of Barcelona. During 1990s, Aymerich worked as an Engineering Executive in a private multi-national company which had strong participation in the European Commission’s research projects and was Manager of the UK branch of the company. He has been a part-time professor at UPC and UPM (Transport Planning and Economics) and is the author of more than 50 articles, some 150 presentations and co-author of 6 technical books.
Since he joined the European Investment Bank in January 1999, he always worked in multidisciplinary teams involved in the appraisal and monitoring of lending operations related to large-scale infrastructure projects, notably in the transport and urban/regional development sectors. Special attention was dedicated to PPP operations and Technical Risk Analysis. As Director of the Environment and Regional Department since 2011, he was presented with the opportunity to be involved with many interesting projects and technical advisory services in very diverse fields, with the common denominator of all these being their extraordinary potential in relation to environmental sustainability and resilience to climate change. He also worked as Managerial Advisor to the Director General of the Projects Directorate.
Aside from regularly giving master classes at various educational institutions, since 2013 he has been collaborating with the European Investment Bank Institute in several fields, such as the supervision of several research activities funded by the Institute and participation in the 7 Most Endangered programme.

Board Member of Europa Nostra

Graham Bell was the UK national coordinator for 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage and now is involved in a range of follow-up initiatives as part of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage to ensure cultural heritage is represented across all European agendas. He is involved in European Commission policies such as Voices of Culture on emerging skills, Strategy 21, UNESCO’s Ruritage replicators, Europeana’s forward plan for digital intangible cultural heritage, working with the ViMM project on digital cultural heritage and the BIM4Heritage group. As Director of Cultura Trust, founder of the Hungarian Renaissance Foundation and as board member of Europa Nostra and of the executive of the Foundation for European Architectural Heritage Skills, he is a participant in a range of Erasmus+, Horizon 2020 and other partnership programmes on project management, sustainability and cultural tourism. He has been an assessor of Europa Nostra awards and its representative at local award ceremonies across Europe. His experience as project manager in rescue and reuse of landmark historic sites has informed his role on the 7ME Advisory Panel and in mission visits in Serbia (Subotica synagogue), Bulgaria (Buzludzha house-monument) and the UK (Grimsby Ice Factory). He is a longstanding specialist adviser to the UK National Trust, was a founder member of Future for Religious Heritage and now advises the Jewish Heritage Foundation. He is a member of ICOMOS Hungary and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences across Europe on themes such as the future of museums, the role of cultural heritage in the circular economy and environment, and has been a course tutor in cultural heritage management at postgraduate level in the UK, Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.