The UNESCO Chair
The UNESCO Chair on Critical Heritage Studies and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage explores the effects of the implementation of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its Operational Directives and other Basic Texts, building on the global movement of critical heritage studies. It contributes to the evaluation and reframing of the standard-setting instruments of UNESCO and to linking science, inclusive policies and society.
The Chair is embedded in the rich academic environment of the international ARCHES research group and the University of Antwerp’s educational programme.
Sophie Elpers (chairholder) and Marc Jacobs (co-chair) at the twentieth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (New Delhi, December 2025), photo by Jorijn Neyrinck.
Presenting the UNESCO Chair on Critical Heritage Studies and the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage
A new beginning in October 2026
Inaugural lecture on 12/10/2026
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Predecessor: the UNESCO chair hosted by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2014-2026)
From 2014 to 2026 the UNESCO chair on critical heritage studies and the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage was based in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, with prof. dr. Marc Jacobs as chairholder. See the programmatic article Marc Jacobs, Lulu Tang, Jiyun Zhang, Lorrana Mourao, Monalisa Maharjan, Internationale netwerking, duurzame ontwikkeling en evoluerende kaders : het programma van de UNESCO-leerstoel voor kritische erfgoedstudies en het borgen van immaterieel cultureel erfgoed aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Volkskunde, 120 :2, 2019, p. 179-191.
