Cultural Council

Abiti Nelson holds the position of Principal Curator at the Uganda National Museum responsible for collections management. He recently participated as a curator of the Uganda Museum in returning 39 Ugandan cultural objects from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in June 2024. Abiti is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Cape in South Africa studying the history of Uganda Museum collections and exhibitions. Abiti has contributed in the publications on Critical Approaches to Heritage for Development, National museums in Africa: Identity, history and politics and Post-Conflict Participatory Arts, The Unseen Archive of Idi Amin published in Comparative Studies of Society and History.  His research interest focuses on post conflict community memorials,  debates around restitution, meaning of ethnographic collections and tribal society in Uganda in the national museums.  

Asta Mønsted is Greenlandic-Danish born in Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) and is trained as an archaeologist specialized in Arctic cultural heritage working as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on integrating Inuit oral history with archaeological records, while also exploring how contemporary architects can draw inspiration from prehistoric Greenlandic architecture, enabling modern Kalaallit to see themselves reflected in their built environment. She has conducted archaeological excavations in various parts of the world, including in Greenland, Denmark, Germany and Japan, and she was the project manager for the National Museum of Denmark in the large Creative Europe-funded Taking Care project.

Dan Lin is a filmmaker and photojournalist based in Hawai'i. He entered the filmmaking world seeking ways to address the complexity of issues arising in the Pacific. He is primarily interested in telling stories of Indigenous peoples, and their connection to the land and sea, in captivating ways. Dan also serves as the Pasifika Storytelling Lead at Nia Tero Foundation, where he and his team work to uplift Indigenous voices and stories across the Pacific region.  

Dilda Ramazan is a curator and PhD candidate at Sorbonne University. She is part of the DAVRA research group. Her main research interests are related to the Central Asian contemporary art scene, mainly that of independent Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.   

Guy Ritani is a proud Māori Artist, climate justice advocate & human rights defender from Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Koata & MacNamara whakapapa. They build collaborative capacity across 3 main focus areas: Climate justice, Food systems & the arts/culture sector. They focus on community organising to develop self-determined development pathways that are culturally, ecologically & equitably responsible. Guy operates across a number of global networks & focuses mainly in the Oceanic region of Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand & the Pacific. They are deeply passionate about youth leadership & capacity building as a pathway to global climate & cultural solutions.  

Jack Gillmer is a proud Worimi and Biripi guri of the Gathang language group, and architect who explores Country as the driver of narrative to his architectural approach. He champions First Nations leadership and co-design, drawing on the intersection of cultural knowledge systems and built environment practices to shape multi-sensory, place-based outcomes. With a deep obligation to care for Country, Jack works alongside Traditional Custodians, artists, and storytellers to ensure Country leads the design process.  

As recent Galang Residency recipient (Powerhouse Museum & Cité internationale des arts, Paris), Jack investigated reframing museology through a cultural architectural lens, exploring themes, not limited to, rematriation, agency, access, enduring reciprocity & truth-telling, and exhibition display. His research into arts, exhibition, and museums continues to inform his practice including presenting in Australia’s Pavilion at the Venice Biennale as Co-Creative Director for HOME.  

Dr Katrina Talei Igglesden is an academic, director, creative and museum professional of mixed British and Indigenous Fijian ancestry who currently works as the Director of the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji). With 20 years’ experience working in and with museums – as staff and as a community member – she has contributed to several academic research projects and follow-on impact driven projects focusing mainly on Indigenous Fijian arts and culture, Pacific barkcloth and, most recently, Fiji’s urban youth. Katrina is interested in collaborative anthropology, specifically in reconnecting diasporic communities with their cultural heritage housed in museums by facilitating reciprocal relationships between cultural heritage institutions and communities, as well as the contemporary urban experience of ‘culture’ by young people. Additionally, she sits on several Pacific and Fijian institutional and community-led advisory committees and has curated exhibitions in the United Kingdom, Fiji, Canada and the United States.  

Lena Ortega is a member of the Kw’tsán Cultural committee of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe. She is involved in significant efforts to protect Quechan ancestral lands, including advocating for resolutions to safeguard sacred sites such as Indian Pass.   

Louisa Onuoha (PhD) is an Assistant Director, Museum Educational Services and Training, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Oyo, Nigeria. A museum educator/ curator, she combines research with active museum practice creating and initiating various museum programmes. Her research areas include topical and contemporary issues of preservation of intangible heritage, restitution, decolonization, transatlantic slave trade and human trafficking among others.  She holds a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria and an MA in Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She is a fellow of IVLP, US Dept of State Cultural Preservation Program ; Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture, NMAAHC ; Columbia University, Global Thought Department and the University of Oxford, Africa Oxford Initiative. She is well published and currently serves as the President of International Council of Museums-Nigeria, Vice President of Commonwealth Association of Museums and a member of various heritage associations.  

Roxanne Tsang is an anthropological archaeologist specialist in rock art and archaeology of Papua New Guinea (PNG). She graduated with a PhD in archaeology in 2023 (with Excellence in the Research Thesis) from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. She is a post doctorate researcher with the School of Archaeology as a British Academy International Fellow under the mentorship of Dr Dylan Gaffney. Roxanne is looking forward to collaborating with others at the School including the Pitts River Museum (PRM). Her project explores the nature of mark making in deep human history and how some designs are transposed to other media through time and across space. A strand of her project is to look at ethnographic and archaeological collections from PNG at PRM, so she is grateful for this opportunity. Prior to moving to Oxford, she was teaching archaeology at the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby.  

Sonia Luhong Wan is an artist, curator, and translator from Sarawak, Malaysia. Trained in graphic design, she has worked in arts management, wildlife conservation, and renewable energy access. She believes in the arts as a powerful, intersectional medium for education and awareness beyond self-expression. Sonia is a co-founder and active member of Borneo Bengkel and HAUS KCH, creative organisations fostering cultural and artistic exchange.  

Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu is a researcher and heritage practitioner with experience in archaeology, ethnography, and museum projects. He has worked extensively on cultural heritage initiatives in Nigeria, including with the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), and the British Museum. His research focuses on material culture, community engagement, and conserving West African heritage—particularly within the Benin Kingdom. Uwagbale co-curated the recent re-display of the Benin collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum and has contributed to several of the museum's projects, including Activating the Archive. He continues to explore collaborative approaches to museum and academic research that centre the voices and experiences of source communities connected to heritage materials and culture. 

Willow Lawson is a writer, researcher and community liaison. A descendant of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota, she has worked most recently as an exhibit writer for the American Museum of Natural History. Willow is interested in colonial histories of institutions, repatriation and how museums engage with descendant communities and the public. She studied archaeology and journalism at Harvard College and Columbia University, respectively. In 2025, Willow joined the American Wing at the Met as a Research Associate. Willow lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

Victor Wang (王宗孚) is Director of Artspace, located on Gadigal Country/Sydney—one of the leading institutions for the production and presentation of contemporary art in the Asia Pacific. He is also an Adjunct Curator at the Mori Museum, Tokyo, and a member of the Director’s Circle at the newly established Bangkok Kunsthalle. Previously, he served as Executive and Artistic Director of M WOODS Museum, overseeing its Beijing and Chengdu locations. Wang’s curatorial practice centres on cultural exchange, with collaborative exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo, Tate Modern, and the British Museum. He has organized landmark solo exhibitions in China for artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bruce Nauman, and Huang Rui. Known for curating and supporting live and time-based art, he curated Frieze LIVE (London, 2020), founded the Institute of Asian Performance Art, and edited Performance Histories from East Asia 1960s–90s (2018).   

Marenka Thompson-Odlum is Research Curator (Critical Perspectives) at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Marenka's doctoral research in history at the University of Glasgow explored Glasgow’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade through the material culture housed at Glasgow Museums.  At the Pitt Rivers Museum, Marenka leads a research and curatorial programme of work, including publications, exhibitions and interpretive displays that explore new critical histories and pathways through museum collection, bringing them to new and existing academic and public audiences. Marenka is also leading an ArtFund project to commission new objects for the Museum's collections, build new relationships with indigenous communities, and enhance the museum's displays, and is also Co-I on the AHRC-funded project Making the Museum. In 2024 Marenka curated the exhibition Hawaii: Ma Uka To Ma Kai at the Pitt Rivers Museum, involving numerous collaborations and activities with community partners.

Faye Belsey is Senior Assistant Curator and Deputy Head of Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Faye joined the Pitt Rivers Museum in 2008 as Collection Move Manager for the project ‘Taking the Past into the Future', redeveloping the entrance of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Most recently she has worked with the Evenki community on the project ‘Wandering in Other Worlds’ which involved a reconciliation ceremony held at the Museum and an indigenous curated redisplay of shamanic Evenki material culture. Faye has also led on repatriation efforts, returning ancestral remains to Aotearoa and Australia, and the first cultural object to the Kenyah Badeng community in Sarawak in November 2024. Faye is currently spending time in the Museum stores, supporting the move of collections to the new Collections, Teaching and Research Centre.