Board of Visitors

pitt rivers museum by john cairns 25 9 18 31

Board of Visitors

Professor Patricia Daley

Patricia Daley is Professor of the Human Geography of Africa at the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University. She is also the Helen Morag Fellow in Geography at Jesus College, Oxford, where she served as Vice-Principal from 2018 to 2021. She was the University Assessor (2015-2016) and co-founded the Oxford University Black and Minority Ethnic staff network in 2013. She was elected to the University Council in 2021 and sits on the Education Committee and General Purposes Committee. She is also a member of the University's Staff Employment Review Panels.

Professor Trish Greenhalgh

Professor Trisha Greenhalgh OBE is a medical doctor and Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. She undertakes research at the interface between social sciences and medicine, with a particular focus on the potential of technologies to transform care (for better or worse).

Ms Melanie Keen

Melanie Keen is Director of Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library in London which aims to challenge how we all think and feel about health. Prior to joining in October 2019, she was Director and Chief Curator at Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), where she was instrumental in the revitalisation of Iniva’s mission and vision by making the library collection its creative hub.

Ms Iliane Ogilvie Thompson

Chair of the Pitt Rivers Museum Development Advisory Board.

Mr Richard Ovenden OBE

Richard Ovenden has been Bodley’s Librarian since 2014, the senior executive position of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. In February 2022 he was also appointed Head of Gardens, Libraries and Museums at the University. He sits on the Board of the Consortium of European Research Libraries, and the Council on Library and Information Resources and is currently President of the Digital Preservation Coalition. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019 and holds a Professorial Fellowship at Balliol College.

Ms Evie O'Brien, Executive Director, Atlantic Institute

Evie O’Brien is the Executive Director of the Atlantic Institute. Based at Rhodes House in Oxford, the Institute was established in 2016 by Atlantic Philanthropies to build the life-long global community of Atlantic Fellows from the seven Atlantic Programs across the world.

Evie is indigenous Māori from New Zealand and has an extensive executive leadership background in higher education institutions in New Zealand, spanning more than 25 years. She holds a B.Ed (Adult Education) from Massey University and an MBA from the University of Waikato.

Prof. dr Laura Van Broekhoven

Laura is the Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum and Professor of Museum Studies, Ethics and Material Culture at the University of Oxford. Laura holds a Professorial Fellowship at Linacre College, and is associated with the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at Oxford. Previously she led the curatorial department of the National Museum of World Cultures (Amsterdam, Leiden and Berg en Dal) and was a lecturer in archaeology, museum studies and indigenous heritage at the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University.

Prof. Jane Shaw (Chair)

Jane Shaw, FRHistS, is Principal of Harris Manchester College, Professor of the History of Religion & a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Besides serving as Chair of the Board of Visitors of the Pitt Rivers Museum, she is also Chair of the Management Board of the Rothermere American Institute, and Co-Director of the Oxford Next Horizons Programme, a collaboration between Harris Manchester College and the Rhodes Trust. Before taking up her current posts at Oxford in 2018, Professor Shaw taught at Stanford University. Her research is on religion in the modern world.

Prof. Clare Harris

Prof Clare Harris FBA will be the Head of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford from October 2024-October 2027. She is also Curator for Asia Collections and Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College. Prof Harris’s pioneering work on Tibetan art, visual culture, material culture, photography and museums has created a new field of study for which she has received book prizes, research awards and invitations to lecture around the world.

Dr Nick Merriman

Dr Nick Merriman has been Chief Executive of English Heritage since February 2024. From 2018 he was Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum & Gardens in London, winning Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2022. Previously he was Director of the Manchester Museum at University of Manchester and prior to that Reader in Museum & Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He is Honorary Professor of Museum Studies at UCL & the University of Manchester & chaired the 2023 Review of Funding for HE Museums, Galleries & Collections for Research England.

Prof. Conall Mac Niocaill

Conall Mac Niocaill is Junior Proctor, a Fellow in Earth Sciences at Exeter College and Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Geology and Geophysics from the National University of Ireland and studies and worked in France, Norway and the US before coming to Oxford as an EU Marie Curie Research Fellow. He was awarded a University teaching award in 2007 and the 2013 OUSU prize for 'Most Acclaimed Lecturer' in the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division.

David Isaac CBE

David Isaac CBE is the Provost at Worcester College, Oxford and Chair of the Governors of University of the Arts London.

Throughout his career, David has been deeply involved in the arts, human rights and education. He is the former Chair of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission of Great Britain, of Stonewall and of Modern Art Oxford. He was also a director of the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, the Human Dignity Trust, the Big Lottery and 14-18 NOW. For many years he was a partner in Pinsent Masons LLP. He was awarded a CBE in 2011 for services to equality and diversity.

Prof. Benjamin Bollig

Prof. Bollig is Fellow of St Catherine's College and University Assessor. He studied Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Nottingham before taking an MA in Latin American Cultural Studies and a PhD in Argentine Literature at King's College, London. He worked as a lecturer at universities in London and then as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds. He joined the University of Oxford (St Catherine's College and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages) in 2011. In 2016 he was awarded the title of Professor of Spanish American Literature.

Janet Stott

Currently Interim Director of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Janet has a background in science teaching and prior to moving into museums, taught in London secondary schools for 10 years. Janet has led the public engagement team at OUMNH since its inception in 1998 and was appointed Deputy Director in 2016. She has a particular interest in the role of museums in engaging diverse audiences with contemporary science research and the challenges this presents. Current projects include a series of Contemporary Science & Society exhibitions and a major redisplay of the galleries.

Dr Jimena Lobo Guerrero Arenas

Dr Jimena Lobo Guerrero Arenas is Senior Curator for World Archaeology at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Before joining Cambridge in October 2021, she was a Lecturer at the University of Caldas and Curator of Archaeology at the Centro de Museos in Colombia. She also served as Director of Casa del Alabama-Museum of Pre-Colombian Art in Quito, Ecuador, where she was responsible for shaping and curating its permanent exhibition. Her research interests focus on the historical archaeology of the Americas and the archaeology of colonialism.

Professor Shadreck Chirikure

Professor Shadreck Chirikure is Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science and Director of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art in the School of Archaeology and Fellow of Linacre College. He is advisor to private and public museums, including the Museum of West African Art and Archaeology & chairs the STEM Knowledge Network established by the UN Under Secretary General and Special Advisor on Africa. As well as other prestigious awards, he was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2022.

Sondra Hausner

Sondra Hausner is a sociocultural anthropologist of South Asia and the Himalayas. She teaches the history of anthropological theory from the 19th century through to the present and she has published widely on religion and ritual; migration and diaspora; gender and sexuality; and theory and method in the social sciences and humanities. She is Professor of Anthropology of Religion at the University of Oxford.

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