Speakers

The speakers for the FRH Biennial Conference 2026 “The time is now: How to future-proof religious heritage together are confirmed!

SUB-THEME 1 |  From community-based to holistic: Different approaches to future-proofing religious heritage

Luigi Bartolomei

Researcher at the University of Bologna and director of the Cherubino Ghirardacci Centre for Studies

Keynote speaker. Luigi Bartolomei, PhD in Architectural Composition (2008), is a researcher focused on the management and adaptive reuse of ecclesiastical heritage. Since 2016, he has coordinated conferences and training programs on the future of redundant religious assets, including the first Italian summer school dedicated to the reuse of buildings owned by communities of consecrated life. His studies have been presented at international venues such as the Liturgical Conference in Bose and “A Living Presence” in Washington DC. He is a consultant for the National Office for Cultural Heritage of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) and served on the promoting committee for the Holy See’s 2022 conference “Charism and Creativity.” He currently teaches “Religious Cultural Heritage” and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Scopus-indexed journal IN_BO. Since 2013, he has been a member of the editorial board of Il Giornale dell’Architettura.

Manuela Klauser

Research associate of the TRANSARA project at the University of  Leipzig

Dr. Manuela Klauser is art historian with a doctorate and experienced in freelance project work. Since 2022, she has been a research associate in the DFG research unit FOR 2733 “Transformation of Sacred Space: Function and Use of Religious Places in Germany”, project 1: Exemplary case studies on the transformation of sacred spaces in the Aachen area. Her research areas include architectural history of modern church buildings and their close connection to liturgical history as well as their link to architectural theory and architectural sociology.

Dani Kranz

Coordinator of research at the Tikvah Institut in Berlin

Dani Kranz is the coordinator of research of Tikvah Institut, Berlin, director of Two Foxes Consulting, Germany and Israel. She is a consultant to the high commissioner of the German government for Jewish life and in the fight against antisemitism, as well as to a range of other foundations, museums, and NGOs. She is the president of Präsenzen – Netzwerk jüdische Gegenwartsforschung e. V. (Presences – Network for the Research on Contemporary Jewry); a board member of the Association for the Social Scientific Jewry (ASSJ) as well as a founding member of the Network of Jewish University Teachers (Netzwerk jüdischer Hochschullehrender, NJH). Her expertise covers migration, integration, ethnicity, law, state/stateliness, political life, organisations, memory cultures and politics as well as cultural heritage and allosemitism in the shape of antisemitism and philosemitism.

Sarah Ross

Director of the European Center for Jewish Music at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media

Sarah Ross is a professor of Jewish music studies and director of the European Center for Jewish Music at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. Since 2022, she is also head of an international research priority program on Jewish heritage: https://spp-juedisches-kulturerbe.de/en/home/

Karim Ettourki

Consultant of the KADOC Public Services and Sharing Expertise department

Karim Ettourki holds an MA in Oriental Languages and Cultures from Ghent University. Between 2008 and 2013, he was affiliated with the research department of KADOC, the Documentation and Research Centre for Religion, Culture and Society at KU Leuven. From 2013 to 2023, he served as a part-time consultant for the heritage of cultural minorities at KADOC-KU Leuven. Concurrently, he held a part-time position at Archiefpunt, a network organisation representing predominantly private archival institutions in Flanders. Since 2023, he has been a full-time consultant within the KADOC Public Services and Sharing Expertise department. In this capacity, he contributes to the development and support of projects aimed at safeguarding, documenting, and valorising cultural heritage, with particular attention to community engagement and inclusive heritage practices.

Hajar El Hadji

Policy Officer at EMPACT

Hajar El Hadji has a Bachelor in Family Science from the University of Brussels. Currently, she is active at Empact as a policy officer and at ’Nuff Said as a community builder. Her work focuses on super-diversity, racism and discrimination, intersectionality, and the empowerment of migrantised communities. Previously, she worked at GATAM and the Red Cross Flanders, where she gained experience in international cooperation, community development, migration, and social inequality.

SUB-THEME 2 | Policies and Instruments: Good Practices Across Europe

Sara Vermeulen

Policy Officer at the Flanders Heritage Agency

Sara studied engineering-architecture and art history at KU Leuven and the Sorbonne in Paris. She works as a policy officer for immovable heritage at the Flemish Government. Her mission is to develop a feasible and publicly supported plan for every building and site. She guided local authorities in projects such as, for example, the Predikherenklooster in Mechelen (Immovable Heritage Award 2020), the redevelopment of the Diksmuide Town Hall (Wivina Demeester Award 2016) and the repurposing of the Moorsel rectory (Wivina Demeester Award 2014). These experiences were also reflected in the publication ‘First investigate, then repurpose’ by the Flanders Heritage Agency, after which she further explored the success factors for sustainable reprogramming.

Judith Toebast

Programme manager of the Future of Religious Heritage Program at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

Since 2022, Judith Toebast has been program manager of the Future of Religious Heritage Program at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, part of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The program is a collaborative program involving various government bodies, owners of places of worship, and representatives of heritage and civil society organisations. After studying Architecture, specialising in repurposing and renovation, at Eindhoven University of Technology, she immersed herself in rural architecture – historic farmhouses. From 2007 to 2022, she worked as a specialist in rural architecture at the same organisation until she made the switch to religious heritage.

Abdul-Azim Ahmed

Deputy Director of the Islam-UK Centre at Cardiff University

Dr Abdul-Azim Ahmed is a sociologist and lecturer in British Muslim studies. He is the Deputy Director of the Islam-UK Centre at Cardiff University, where he is part of an interdisciplinary team researching contemporary Islam. He is also Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales, working with Muslim collectives and charities in Wales in pursuit of the common good. His first work, The Contemporary British Mosque, explored the growth and significance of Muslim religious institutions. In 2026, he published Muslim Wales – A History in 9 Places that documented the story of Muslims in Wales.