Sent to South East Asia as an enlisted private in the Foreign Legion ('Légion Étrangere'), Jean Narcisse Commaille (24 June 1868, Marseille - 30 Apr. 1916, Siem Reap) became the First Conservateur (Curator) of Angkor Wat in July 1908 after joining the EFEO as a mere secretary-accountant eight years… Read more

A leading specialist in Southeast Asian religious history, performing and visual arts, Solange Thierry née Bernard (1921, Mehun-sur-Yevre, France - 2009) was a Curator of Phnom Penh National Museum from 1947-1949. After graduating in Khmer and Siamese languages, she studied Sanskrit, Pali and… Read more

A heritage preservation professional, Senthilpavai Kasannian is Doctor in Archeological Conservation, University of Sydney.With a background in Architectural Heritage, Conservation, Cultural Heritage Management and GIS, he was worked many years in India and Australia in a diverse range of… Read more

Associate Researcher with CNRS (France), Ludivine Provost-Roche specializes in historical research on the end of the Angkorian period. Her PhD dissertation in 2010 is titled 'Les derniers siècles de l'époque angkorienne au Cambodge (env. 1220-env. 1500)' (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle).An art… Read more

Art historian Madeleine Giteau (1918, Nantes - 2005) was the Curator of Cambodia National Museum (then Musée Albert Sarrault) from 1956 until 1966. A member of École française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) from 1956 until 1981, she taught Southeast Asian art and history at Sorbonne University until her… Read more

War photo-correspondent and traveling photographer Marc Riboud (24/06/1923, Lyon - 30/08/2016, Paris) is one of the major figures in 20th-century international photography. He joined the prestigious Magnum photo-agency at the invitation of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa. While covering major… Read more

Photographer Paisarn Piemmettawat has contributed to numerous books on Southeast Asian art and history, including Cambodia. He is currently Managing Director of River Books Publishing, Bangkok, Thailand. Read more

An indianist and renowned researcher in Indian and Khmer arts, Mireille Bénisti (1909-1993) completed her studies at École du Louvre under the guidance of Philippe Stern. She also studied Sanskrit and History of Art at EHESS and College de France. Joining the Centre national de la recherche… Read more

Photographer Laurent Weyl (b.1971, Strasbourg, France) has worked extensively in Asia, especially in Vietnam where he lived from 2011 until 2016. He specializes in social-ethnological reports, for instance on global refugee populations and ethnic minorities. A member of the Collectif Argos, he has… Read more

Dr. Scott Hawken is a lecturer in the Australian Graduate School of Urbanism, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. An urban designer, landscape architect and landscape archaeologist, Scott Hawken focuses his expertise in three thematic areas: Smart Cities (Planning and Design), Asian… Read more

Self-taught orientalist and ethnologist, ardent socialist converted to Georges Clémenceau's patriotic republicanism, founder of one of the richest collections of Khmer studies outside of Cambodia (in his French hometown of Alençon), Adhémard Leclère (12 May 1853, Alençon, France - 16 March 1917,… Read more

Head of research at the National Museum of Asian Arts (Musée Guimet) in Paris, Thierry Zéphir is also professor at École du Louvre, where he teaches courses on India and the countries of the "Indianized" world. A former student of Albert Le Bonheur (1938–1996) at École du Louvre, he majored in art… Read more

A scholar in Hindu studies, Sanskrit scriptures and Iconographic History, Adalbert Gail has published several studies on Hindu and Buddhist mythology, South Asian and Khmer arts. Professor emeritus Dr. Gail held the chair on History of Indian Art at Freie Universität Berlin until his retirement in… Read more

Head of Technical Studies at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, Janet Douglas is a leading expert in conservation science of cultural heritage, technical studies on works of art and archaeology (especially inorganic materials such as stone, jade and metal), and characterization of… Read more

Dr Rethy Chhem (1952, Phnom Penh) is a medical doctor, biomedical scientist, science diplomat, historian of medicine and educationalist He has been a professor of radiology for 28 years, teaching in Canada, Singapore, Austria and Japan. Dr Chhem is the Executive Director of the Cambodia Development… Read more

Martin Polkinghorne is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at Flinders University, Australia. Between 2011 and 2014, he led the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery project on pre-modern craft economies in Cambodia. This initiative discovered the first historic bronze foundry known in Southeast… Read more

British architect and conservationist John Sanday has been associated to many Global Heritage Fund projects, especially in Nepal and Cambodia. He became Asia Field Director for the GHF in 2007. Read more

An independent researcher who worked extensively in Banteay Srei, the Bayon, Banteay Chhmar and Ta Prohm, Olivier Cunin is an architect-archeologist who has been promoting the technique of 3D reconstruction.With a PhD in architecture, Architect DPLG, Olivier Cunin has worked with several research… Read more

A Reuters newsreel agency correspondent during the American war waged in Indochina during the 1960s-1970s, Peter D. Sharrock, PhD, teaches at SOAS/University of London. He has been studying the spread of Buddhism (and Tantric Buddhism) across Maritime Asia as it is visible in the art and… Read more

Amitav Gosh (1956, Calcutta) is a worldwide respected Indian author in fiction and non-fiction, focusing on cultural and societal explorations. A former reporter with the New Delhi Indian Express newspaper, Gosh encountered recognition with his debut novel, The Circle of Reason (1986). His short… Read more