Our Team

Hossam Mahdy is an independentconsultant and researcher on the conservation of built heritage, based in Oxford, UK. He earned his PhD from Glasgow University, MSc from Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, Leuven and BSc from Ain Shams University, Cairo. 

He is a member of ICOMOS-UK and the president of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Vernacular Architecture (CIAV) and a member of the Board of Trustees for Paul Oliver Vernacular Architecture Library (POVAL) at Oxford Brookes University. He is currently a consultant to ICOMOS, UNESCO, governmental and non-governmental organizations on the conservation management of World Heritage Sites.

Hossam has more than thirty years’ experience as an architect, researcher, consultant and lecturer on built heritage conservation. His previous roles included the head of Conservation Section at the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, UAE; the head of Heritage Section at the Alexandria Mediterranean Research Centre at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina; consultant to the Getty Conservation Institute for the preparation of a management plan for Queens Valley in Luxor; consultant to the Ministry of Culture in Egypt on urban conservation in Historic Cairo. He contributed as a conservation architect to the conservation of various Islamic historic buildings in Egypt, Kuwait and UAE. He contributed to the urban conservation of historic areas in Egypt, UAE, Jordan and Oman. 

Hossam was a member of staff as a lecturer on conservation at South Valley University and a visiting lecturer at various Egyptian universities. His academic research focuses on culture-specific approaches, philosophy and practices of conservation in the Arab region. He is the author of “Glossary of Arabic Terms for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage” and Approaches to the Conservation of Islamic Cities: the case of Cairo. Both are published by ICCROM.

Frank Stremke is a documentation expert and archaeologist specialist, with over 20 years experience in Africa, India, Asia and the Middle East. Frank has extensive experience working in Iraq, Baghdad, Najaf and Basrah and led the documentation work at Khan Marjan and Kish, Temple of Ishtar. 

Stefan Karakolev is Liwan's Finance Officer. He is responsible for the financial affairs of the organisation, including financial planning and management. Stefan is a graduate of the UK based Anglia Ruskin University and has significant international financial experience. Stefan is ACCA qualified.

 Nadia is a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London), currently investigating the illegal exportation of Iraq’s tangible cultural heritage (primarily cuneiform tablets and manuscripts) by antiquities dealers in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. Trained as an assyriologist, her primary research interests are cuneiform, and the provenance history of cuneiform tablets purchased on the antiquities market by museums between 1884 and 1940. Nadia obtained her PhD in the languages of the Near and Middle East (Akkadian, Sumerian) from SOAS. She was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow between 2019 and 2023. Her work focuses on the Iraqi-French antiquities dealer Ibrahim Elias Gejou (1868-1942), a major collector, seller, and smuggler of ancient artworks from Iraq. 

Nadia is leading the conservation work in Kish, at the Temple of Ishtar, in the province of Babylon.

Mehiyar is a UK-based academic, working at the University College London's History Department. Mehiyar has over twenty years of experience working in international projects in Iraq, in the field of civil society, culture and heritage. Mehiyar works to develop new and innovative practices and approaches to cultural heritage in Iraq through the operationalisation of concepts associated with safeguarding, sustainability and continuity. His recent publications include 'Decolonising Babylon' published in the International Journal of Heritage Studies and 'Heritage Predation' published by London-based think-tank, Chatham House.