About AlAnood

Dr. AlAnood AlShaikh possesses a unique perspective on the contextualisation, institutionalisation, heritagisation, and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. Her managerial and research work focuses on the heritage-making processes and under-recognised intangible meanings, narratives, practices, and values of heritage within conservation, interpretation, and procedures of inscription on UNESCO’s cultural heritage lists. She is the founder of DLALA (دلالة)—an interdisciplinary cultural advisory dedicated to harnessing the transformative power of cultural expressions, meanings, people, practices and values on national and regional levels based on particularities of a given context. AlAnood’s in-depth knowledge of international and context-based conservation standards, combined with her practical experience in the field, has enabled her to lead interdisciplinary and multisectoral heritage projects—including processes of cultural monitoring, documentation of living heritage, and the transmission of community-led practices that are integral to protecting World Heritage values and attributes.

Her current qualifications allow connecting multifaceted and interdisciplinary cultural approaches that prospects living heritage as a driving force for sustainable development that is often overlooked despite its economic and social significance; hence offering a holistic and reconciliation approach to the intangibility of World Heritage. AlAnood has been awarded a doctoral degree in the field of cultural heritage—the dissertation speaks to many topical challenges in cultural heritage policy and practice where her insights have been well-received by peers and experts alike. She is also an active contributor to scholarly discourse of heritage studies and related topics. In addition, AlAnood is an expert member of multiple international committees affiliated with UNESCO’s Culture|2030 Indicators, International Council of Museums (ICOM-UAE), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS).

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