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Elections: Joëlla van Donkersgoed candidate for Treasurer of the IFPH

Biographical note
Joëlla van Donkersgoed (she/her) is a first-generation scholar from a rural community in the Netherlands. This background has shaped her commitment to inclusive communication and to amplifying localized voices in how we interpret and engage with the past. Her academic trajectory began with Public Archaeology at Leiden University (2011/2014) and continued with a PhD in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies at Rutgers University (2020).

Her doctoral research focused on the Banda Islands in Indonesia through a cultural landscape framework, developing a polyvocal and community-centered approach to heritage management that bridges nature and culture, past and present, and human and more-than-human relations. Her monograph, Navigating Polyvocal Heritage in a Postcolonial Cultural Landscape: The Banda Islands (Routledge, 2026), reflects more than a decade of sustained engagement with community partners, their histories and landscapes.

Since 2021, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg. She developed multilingual public history initiatives for the postindustrial city Esch-sur-Alzette together with Thomas Cauvin. These efforts were shortlisted for the EU Prize for Citizen Science (2024) and the FNR Prize for Outstanding Promotion of Science to the Public (2023).

In 2023, she received the FNR Flagship Grant to establish historesch.lu, a national platform for public history. She is active within the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) and the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), and together with memory scholar Gerlov van Engelenhoven she is co-editing the volume Powerful Silences in Public History for the Routledge Global Perspectives on Public History series (2026).

Statement interest
I am applying for the position of Treasurer after being approached to consider this role due to my familiarity with the administrative and legal framework in Luxembourg, where the IFPH headquarters are based. Through my work leading public history initiatives in Luxembourg, I bring practical experience with relevant procedures as well as a local support network that would help ensure continuity and compliance. I see this not only as a logistical advantage, but as an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the strengthening and long-term sustainability of the IFPH.

As a public historian, I understand my role as that of a facilitator—someone who builds capacity, encourages participation, and creates opportunities for access and collaboration. As Treasurer, I would bring that same ethos to financial oversight: ensuring that budgets and spending align with strategic priorities, support inclusive programming, and advance the participation of early-career scholars and colleagues from underrepresented and underfunded regions.

Strengthening collaboration with the Early Career Group and enhancing membership benefits would be a key priority. One concrete initiative I hope to support structurally is the development of a formalized book review system with the journal editors, transforming an informal practice into a transparent and equitable structure. This system would help make otherwise costly publications accessible and create publication opportunities through reviews in our open-access journal—an example of how planning can directly support scholarly equity.

To conclude, I would welcome the opportunity to serve the IFPH as Treasurer and contribute to its growth as an inclusive, multilingual, and internationally connected public history community.

 


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Jimena Perry (November 27, 2025). Elections: Joëlla van Donkersgoed candidate for Treasurer of the IFPH. IFPH-FIHP. Retrieved December 14, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/158ih


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