The team of Strata Heritage Consulting, LLC is led by Professor Dr. Thomas Leisten, an academic and cultural heritage manager with extensive experience in strategic and operational leadership, managing operations, and policy development for cultural institutions as well as in teaching and administrative leadership.
Leisten holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies and Islamic Art History and Archaeology with minors in Ancient Near Eastern and Iranian Studies. His expertise and published works focus on the culture, arts and archaeology of the MENA region and Central Asia, but also include modern and contemporary art production in this region. He has taught at Harvard and at Princeton University where he belonged since 1995 to the faculty of the Department of Art and Archaeology, acting also as its chairman over the last four years until 2012. Professor Leisten has led and participated in excavations and surveys in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq.
His involvement in the development of cultural heritage management and cultural awareness began with his service on the Board of Trustees of the Qatar Museums Authority (2006-2012). He joined Qatar Museums in June 2012 as its Chief Officer of Archaeology, Conservation and Education and served until 2021 as Senior Advisor for Cultural Heritage and Chief Officer of the Division of Cultural Heritage as well as the country’s UNESCO focal point. Main tasks connected to these positions were the organization of a modern and efficient excavation and protection service for the country’s cultural heritage, including its UNESCO World Heritage site, but also coordinating the work of foreign archaeological missions and scientific institutions as well as spearheading large-scale restoration and rehabilitation efforts for historic buildings and settlements in Doha and northern Qatar. At the same time, he undertook preparatory work and contributed to the creation of the country’s new heritage law.
Serving simultaneously as the Director of International Heritage Protection since 2016, he led the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project, the worldwide most expansive project in the field of cultural heritage conservation, archaeology, site management and tourist development since UNESCO’s famed Nubia campaign of the 1960s. Leisten has served as a member of the Supreme Council for the Qatar-Sudan Project, on the board of Qatar Museums, University College London, Doha and the Heritage Council of Qatar National Library.
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