Advisory Board

Advisory Board

In 2020 FRH established its Advisory Board. The Advisory Board members deputise for the Council and Council President and take on specific roles and responsibilities or any specific task which the Council or the President has assigned to them.

Lilian Grootswagers-Theuns – Advisory Board President

Member since 2011

Lilian Grootswagers is the owner of Erfgoed. nu, she advises governmental institutions, cooperations and private owners in heritage-related issues. She is the author and co-author of multiple publications in the field of heritage. As one of the five Founding members of FRH,  she was a council member from 2011-2020. She was the representative of FRH in the structured dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector during the EYCH2018.  Since its foundation in 2019, she represents FRH in the European Commission Cultural Heritage Group. She is a member of the European Heritage Alliance founded in 2011. She was Vice-chair of Task Force Toekomst Kerkgebouwen, a national and independent citizen’s movement in the Netherlands aiming to re-establish religious buildings as living elements of the urban and rural landscape and communities.

Thomas Coomans de Brachène

Member since 2011

Thomas Coomans is a Belgian architectural historian, archaeologist and heritage conservationist, full professor at the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven and programme director of the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC). Since more than thirty years, his research and numerous publications deal with various aspects of church architecture, history and heritage (mediaeval religious and monastic architecture, Gothic architecture in the Low Countries, reception of medieval architecture in the nineteenth century, churches in China, building archaeology/construction history, conservation and adaptive reuse of churches). He is one of the founders of FRH and was a council member from 2011 to 2019. Prof. Coomans is a member of ICOMOS international scientific committee on Places of Religion and Ritual (PRERICO), the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, etc. and is associated with the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage (UQAM, Montréal) as well as the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University. 

Graham Bell

Member since 2011

Graham Bell is the director of the UK-based NGO Cultura Trust and the Hungarian Renaissance Foundation. He is part of Europa Nostra Board, the Executive Committee of the European Federation for Architectural Heritage Skills, chair of the The Bakelite Design Trust and one of the founder members of the Climate Heritage Network. He is also member of a range of international heritage organisations including ICOMOS, Europeana Network Association, and IMPACTOUR. He is the author of many publications in the field of heritage and sustainability and a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences across Europe on subjects including cultural heritage management, conservation and reuse of 20th century buildings and cultural heritage management skills. At European Union level, he is part of the European Commission’s “Voices of Culture” Working Group and was a participant of European Commission’s Expert Group on Digital Cultural Heritage and Europeana. He was UK national co-ordinator during the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. He is one of the founder members and current member of FRH’s Advisory Board.

Sarah de Lencquesaing

Member since 2014

Sarah de Lencquesaing is Board member of French Heritage Society and member of its Audit and Grant Committees, Board member of French American Foundation and member of its Audit and Program Committees, Board member Vieilles Maisons Françaises, Board member Musique Sacré Notre Dame de Paris, and past Vice Chairman of the American Library in Paris. Previous career in banking. She was a Council Member of FRH from 2014 to 2023.