European Association of History Educators

Dr. Bodo von Borries studied history, German language and literature, and social sciences. Bodo von Borries holds a doctor's degree in "social and economic history" which he obtained in 1968 at Bonn University (Germany). He worked as a high school teacher in history and German language and did professional work on educational reform. From 1988 -2002 he did cross-cultural studies on historical consciousness, questioning of adolescents and their teachers in East and West Germany (1990, 1992) and in Eastern and Western Europe (YOUTH and HISTORY, 1995) in order to use comparative methods for deeper understanding of national traditions and particularities. He also initiated mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) study in German speaking regions in 2002. From 1976 to 2008 he was professor of education (with special respect to the learning and teaching of history) at Hamburg University (Germany).

Laurie Neale graduated as an architect from McGill University and worked professionally in corporate and private architecture offices designing for a wide range of projects. She also entered a number of architecture competitions and taught at a professional technical college. After a year long study tour through Europe and South-East Asia, she earned her Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Studies at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, University of London. This multi-disciplinary course investigates how people’s behaviour and their movement patterns are affected by their built environment, both spaces within buildings and outside in urban environments. The knowledge gained through detailed analysis of the planning morphology of the spaces could be later applied to design problems. Laurie Neale has worked and taught in offices, schools and independently. She held the position of Europa Nostra’s Heritage Awards Coordinator from 2002 to 2004. Between 2004 -2006 she represented Europa Nostra in Brussels as it increased its contacts with the construction industry and the architecture profession. In September 2006 she took up the position of Europa Nostra’s Communication Officer.

Having arrived in London in August 2006, Ruth is currently enjoying her status as “a Canadian in London”. She joined the Understanding Slavery Initiative (USI) as the Learning Project Manager in November 2007. Her work involves engaging with museum educators, learners, national and international education stakeholders, and government, to encourage learning and understanding around the history and legacies of transatlantic slavery through museums collections. Prior to joining USI, she worked for Museums, Libraries and Archives London as the Cultural Coordinator for the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 2007. Ruth has a diverse employment history. Prior to working in the UK she spent three years as a teacher and manager of a Second-Language school in Japan. And has over four years of experience in the field of Employment Equity and Diversity having worked for the federal Government of Canada as an employment equity advisor and policy development officer for both the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Department of Justice.

Robert Maier received his academic degree in Marburg where he taught East European History from 1989 to 1994. Since 1994, he has been working at the Georg Eckert Institute, where he is now a senior research fellow. He is responsible for projects with Russia, Poland and the CIS States (until 2002 also with the Czech Republic). His special field of research is East Central and East Europe. His scholarly expertise and special interests lie, besides textbook research, in the history of Stalinism, the history of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet women's movement. He also holds a teacher's degree in history, political science and Russian.

Dr Robert Stradling is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Blueprint Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.  This is an interdisciplinary research centre which focuses on evaluating the introduction of new government policies and initiatives.  Having taught modern history and politics at London University for some years he then took up a post as deputy director of a policy research centre in 1988.  In 1992 he moved to Scotland to help establish a new University for the Highlands & Islands. He moved to Edinburgh University in 2001 and has been seconded to the Scottish Government since September 2006 as a policy adviser. Although now working mainly in the field of policy research he has retained his interest in academic history and issues related to the teaching of history, and has been a part-time consultant to the Council of Europe for many years. He is the author of Teaching 20th Century European History (Strasbourg 2001) and Multiperspectivity in History Teaching (Strasbourg 2003).  He is also the editor of Crossroads of European History: Multiple outlooks on five key moments in the history of Europe (Strasbourg, forthcoming 2008).  With Chris Rowe he has also produced a CD-ROM containing a multiplicity of sources drawn from across the whole of Europe around five turning points in recent European history: Critical Moments in Recent European History (Strasbourg, forthcoming 2008).

Dr. Dean Smart is Senior Lecturer in Education, specialising in History and Citizenship. He heads the PGCE History programme and serves as the Co-ordinator for the Student Associates Scheme.  He received his Bachelor Degree in Education from Bristol Polytechnic and his Masters Degree and Ph.D. in Education from the University of The West of England. Previously, Dean Smart has worked at St. George Community College: an inner-city, multicultural school as the Head Of History; Senior Professional Tutor (ITE Co-ordinator); Deputy Head of Year; Teaching and Learning Styles Co-ordinator; and Resource Centre Manager (i/c, multimedia education).  He taught history and humanities at Nailsea School, Avon and prior to that at St. Martin’s School, Brentwood, Essex. His specialties include History and Citizenship Education, Multi-ethnic and inclusive histories, Citizenship/national identity and history related themes, History Textbook Analysis, Local and Landscape History, Using Drama, Artefacts, Sound and Music in History teaching, and ICT and multimedia in History teaching. Dean Smart is the author of numerous publications, including ‘Black Resistance to the Transatlantic Slave Trade’ Online Article for Multiverse (ITE Multiethnic Resource Base) in 2007. He writes for the EUROCLIO Online Bulletin and has also authored many educational materials and role plays. Dean Smart serves on the Board of EUROCLIO (elected for the period of 2004-2010, The European Association of History Educators and has attended many conferences on its behalf. He is a member of the TDA Steering Group for Student Associates Scheme and of the Council for Racial Equality Advisory Group on Teaching About the Transatlantic Slave Trade 2007 and served on the Advisory Group for the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum Breaking the Chains (Slaver/ Abolition 200) Exhibition in 2006-2007. He has served as a consultant for the Bristol City Council on the Accelerating Progress Project Evaluation 2006. Dean Smart is Elected Committee Member of HTEN (History Teacher Educator Network) from July 2004 till present. In 2007-2010, he serves as the External Examiner for PGCE History at the University of Exeter and the Chichester University College. Dean Smart also serves as a consultant on a number of international projects and for several museums and schools.

Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic serves as the Secretary General of Europa Nostra.
Publications: Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic, Rupert Graf Strachwitz (Editors). Heritage and the Building of Europe, Maecenata, Berlin 2004

Richard Hermans studied history at the University of Utrecht, and followed a  post-doc programme at  the Dutch Archiefschool (Archives School).  From 1988 – 1999 he worked as managing  director in several municipal archives, taught archival management at the Dutch Archiefschool. He served as the President of  the Dutch society of Municipal Archivists. From 1999-2006, Richard Hermans was the Managing Director of the Dutch umbrella organisation for archives and records DIVA. Since January 2007, he is the Executive Director of the Netherlands Institute for Heritage.

Maria Grever (1953) is professor of Theory and Methodology of History, and director of the Center for Historical Culture at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). In 2006 she has founded the Center for Historical Culture which initiates, coordinates and produces academic research on historical culture. The Center aims at functioning as an intellectual forum for Dutch and foreign scholars in the field of historical culture, and at bridging the gap between the academic and the educational sector.
Between 2002 and 2007 Grever was a board member of the Faculty of History and Art Studies, and director of Bachelor and M.A. Program, History Department, EUR. She has been convener and co-convener from several national and international conferences. Over the years she has been involved and still is as president or board member national foundations, advisory boards, editorial boards of journals, and other professional (historical) organizations.
Her research focuses on the transformation of historical culture since the late 18th century in various contexts. She is particularly interested in how and why historical cultures have been shaped by both consumers and producers of collective memories (including central governments), and by traditions and rituals (including the monarchy). Next she examines how the changing meaning of historical cultures influences the construction, transmission, and canonization of historical knowledge. These questions resulted in research projects Paradoxes of De-Canonization. New Forms of Cultural Transmission in History (NWO) and National identity in context (WRR), a comparison of high school students in Rotterdam, London and Lille.

Jill Cousins serves as the Program Director of EUROPEANA, the European digital library net that aims to connect museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections under the supervision of European Digital Library Foundation (EDL). Jill Cousins has many years experience in web publishing, which are now being applied to the library side of the fence with the launch of The European Library.org in March 2005. Jill has transferred the lessons learnt as the European Business Development Director of VNU New Media to scholarly publishing, looking after the online journals of Blackwell Publishing. Prior to publishing, Jill worked as Marketing and Event Director for Learned Information, running Online Information in London, extending Internet World throughout Europe and creating Knowledge Management. Her experience of libraries is partly as a user, but also as a provider of information to businesses and industries having run her own research company, First Contact, prior to selling it to Disclosure Ltd in the early 90’s. All of which is very deviant from her first career as a Middle Eastern Map Researcher for the Ministry of Defence.

Astrid Weij (MA in museum studies) is program manager heritage from an international perspective. The main topics within her program are heritage and Europe and common cultural heritage globally. On EU level, the institute participates in Europana, an EU network on mobility of collections and EPOCH. As a representative of Europa Nostra, Astrid Weij is a member of the EU Platform ‘Access to Culture’ and a member of the policy working group of Europa Nostra. Working before at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Weij was responsible for mobility of collections on EU scale and digitisation of heritage on EU level. She was responsible for Lending to Europe and chaired an EU working group on mobility of collections.