Dr. Adi Sela Wiener is a registered architect specializing in Cultural Heritage and Heritage Conservation. She is a Lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem, teaching in the School of Architecture and the Department of Visual and Material Culture. Dr. Sela Wiener serves as the Academic Coordinator for the Master's Program in Urban Design and its Heritage and Conservation Track, and is a member of the UNESCO Chair in Urban Design and Conservation Studies. Her expertise focuses on urban heritage and the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, central themes of both her Master’s and Ph.D. research. She also specializes in cultural routes, a topic on which she has published several papers.

Dr. Sela Wiener holds a B.Arch., a Diploma in Built Heritage Conservation, a Master of Art, and a Ph.D. Currently, she consults for the Israel Planning Administration, Holon Municipality, and the Ministry of Heritage. Previously, she served as the Conservation Policy Coordinator for the Israel Antiquities Authority, where she led the writing of the Charter on Ethics of Heritage Conservation in Israel (2016). She is the Chairperson (voluntary) of the Cultural Routes Scientific Committee for ICOMOS Israel.

Michael Turner, born in the UK, is a practicing architect, professor, and UNESCO Chairholder in Urban Design and Conservation Studies.  He has been involved with urban and environmental issues in Israel since establishing the first Municipal Unit in 1974 in Jerusalem.

Turner has been involved with master plans for the Old City of Jerusalem and Bnei Berak and conservation designs for sites as Apollonia, Montfort and Shuni.  His recent European research activities include the management of pre-historic sites; the Divided Cities of Jerusalem and Berlin and a tri-national Partnership for Peace offering mechanisms for shared heritage and sustainable peace. Other projects have included Designing Safer Urban Spaces, managing the Bologna Protocol in Israel and currently part of a Marie-Curie doctoral consortium on Heritage. He was an initiator of the National Archive for Art, Architecture and Design and continues to be involved.

Serving on many international professional-academic bodies he has contributed many articles and presentations to academic fora and professional meetings all over the world. He chaired the Israel World Heritage Committee from its inception in 1999 till 2011, and with two decades of contribution to UNESCO, he was elected to the World Heritage Committee in 2005 and during 2007-2008 served as its vice-President.  He has accompanied the debate on Historic Urban Landscapes and is special advisor to the World Heritage Centre Director providing international assistance in the fields of urban design and conservation.

Prof. Els Verbakel is a founding partner of Derman Verbakel Architecture and Head of the School of Architecture at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem. She was a faculty member at the Technion in Haifa, Columbia University, NYC, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and Princeton University, New Jersey. Els has earned her PhD in Architecture from Princeton University, a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, and a Graduate Degree in Civil Engineering and Architecture from the University of Leuven, Belgium. She served as the editor of two books: “In Search of the Public. Notes on the Contemporary American City” and “Constellations: Constructing Urban Design Practices” as well as the Architectural Design (AD) Magazine on the theme “Cities of Dispersal.”