The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme, in partnership with the REVIVE Campaign, will host a hybrid in-person and online seminar exploring the past, present and future of damage and destruction to cultural heritage as a result of conflict and war in the Middle East. Bringing together experts from different fields, the session will be an opportunity to hear current research and concerns around the impact of conflict on heritage and what can be done to mitigate the risks and to restore cultural heritage that has been damaged or destroyed.

There will be a networking session after the presentations for in-person attendees.

The speakers are:

Dr Omniya Abdel Bar

Omniya Abdel Barr joined the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2016 as a researcher, working on photographic and architectural collections on Egypt and the Arab world. She is also the the Head of Development at the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation, where she is running projects focussed on documentation, digitisation, cultural heritage rescue and restoration. Omniya is a member of ICOMOS, and a trustee at the Egypt Exploration Society (UK), the Middle East Medievalist (USA), a board member at the Egyptian Post Museum (Egypt), and an advisor to the Diriyah Biennale Foundation (KSA).

Ella Ravilious

Ella Ravilious is Curator: Architecture and Design in the Art, Architecture, Photography and Design Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She is also studying for a PhD in the history of the V&A’s Photography Collection at the Photographic History Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester. With Professor Elizabeth Edwards she recently co-edited the volume What Photographs Do: The Making and Remaking of Museum Cultures, published by UCL Press in November 2022. She is also the author of Eric Ravilious: Landscapes and Nature, published by Thames and Hudson/V&A in 2023.

Bill Finlayson

Bill Finlayson is the Director of the Endangered Archaeology of the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project, based in the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, with additional teams at Durham and Leicester universities, and close collaborations with many of the antiquities authorities in the region.

Nigel Ellway

Nigel Ellway is a former journalist and ministerial advisor. In 2011 he set up what is now the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Explosive Threats and in 2019 he founded The REVIVE Campaign a not-for-profit research & advocacy NGO.

Matthew Offord MP

Matthew Offord has been the Member of Parliament for Hendon since 2010. Matthew is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Matthew has been a member of Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee since 2012 and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Explosive Threats since 2016.

To reserve a place, email us directly at cultureincrisis@vam.ac.uk with the following information:

• Name
• Role
• Institution
• Whether you wish to attend online or in person