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Staff Profile

Dr Emma Cunliffe

Senior Research Associate: Cultural Property Protection

Background

I am a Senior Research Associate supporting the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace. My work focuses on developing future, sustainable, good CPP practice by looking at the protection and destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflict, examining the reasons for damage, and developing proactive solutions to protect it, I particularly focus on the role of the armed forces, and the place of national and international law: I specialise in the implementation of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols). I have been invited to speak on this all round the world, and am widely published in internationally leading law and heritage journals.

 

My PhD is from Durham University, using satellite imagery to analyse site damage in Syria in peacetime, looking at how the threats to archaeological sites have changed since the 1960s, but this expanded to include the current conflict, and then broadened into global studies of heritage in conflict. I have extensive experience in remote sensing and analysis of geo-spatial data, specialising in the Middle East, and have worked on a number of large-scale site recording and assessment projects using satellite imagery, such as the Durham University Fragile Crescent Project, Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA), as a consultant for UNOSAT-UNITAR, doing damage imagery assessments of heritage sites damaged during conflict together with UNESCO, and have published widely on this academically and in a number of public magazines and journals.


I was the Secretary for UK Blue Shield and now Chair the Conflict Working Group, and am part of the Secretariat for Blue Shield International, supporting the Blue Shield Movement (an association of NGOs protecting heritage in conflict and disaster). In that role, I am the international coordinator of the worldwide movement, as well as supporting civil military cooperation and providing subject matter expertise for military training (focussing on cultural property protection, human security, and protection of civilians), as well as advocating for improvements in policy and implementation of heritage protection law.


Fellow Newcastle Policy Academy

Fellow of the Society Of Antiquaries. 


Google Scholar: Click here.


Research

My research focuses on the destruction of cultural heritage – its uses and abuses in conflict, and its loss during peace – with the goal of enabling better site protection policies by governments and armed forces. I am particularly interested in how states parties implement the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its Protocols 1954/1999, and carry out extensive practice-based research with heritage professionals and armed forces, which contributes to my peer-reviewed research in leading international journals, and encyclopaedias. Building on foundations examining why heritage matters to people, I examine the roles of major actors, particularly the military, who are fundamental to the protection – and destruction– of heritage. I regularly participate in military training through Blue Shield International and research how to protect heritage in conflict based using scenario--based simulations. In addition to this training, my current work includes geo-spatial databases for armed forces to use in conflict and emergency response; the ways sites are damaged and the motivations underlying this; and the applications of national and international law in heritage protection in the event of armed conflict.


These topics were the focus of my recent co-edited book, Safeguarding Cultural Property in the 1954 Hague Convention. All Possible Steps? (2022), with colleague Dr Fox. My new co-edited book, The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Destruction (with Antonio Gonzalez-Zarandona and Melathi Saladin) came out in 2023, with case studies in from a wide range of temporal and geographic contexts, looking at destruction across the peace-conflict spectrum.


I am a Co-Investigator on the Royal Society APEX grant, Explosive damage to heritage structures, led by Dr Mol (UWE Bristol) with Dr Brassey (Manchester Metropolitan University). Blast damage to modern materials, especially in the context of protection of human life and weaponry, is a well-researched topic. Less is known about the impact of blasts on heritage structures, which have been exposed to deterioration processes often for centuries or even millennia. The response of these fragile structures to blasts in the vicinity is still not known, especially the potential relationship between pre-existing condition of the stonework and distance to the blast. A scientifically sound understanding of these effects could be a valuable asset in the prevention of damage and subsequent stabilisation and conservation costs. This in turn can redirect resources to humanitarian needs, as well as provide a ‘goodwill’ pathway to reconciliation with the local population. It also enhances our capacity to provide remote assistance to partners working in conflict zone, providing a more accurate interpretation of remote sensing imagery of damaged sites as well as photos taken in situ. 


As a Fellow of Newcastle Policy Academy, I am committed to ensuring my research benefits society. I am working with key organisations to develop strategies for protection in peace and conflict, and in the implementation of heritage protection laws, in the UK and internationally, lobbying for improvements to law and policy, and informing my teaching and training.

Teaching

I teach satellite imagery analysis and basic GIS, as well as international cultural property protection law, specialising in the 1954 Hague Convention.


Externally, I have extensive experience providing military training in cultural property protection and run regular courses and workshops for civilians and military personnel in cultural property protection (for example, multiple NATO HQ, NATO, British Army Cultural Property Protection Unit, Georgian National Guard, and Lebanese Armed Forces). I have also created several external online courses on these topics for various organisations.


From 2018 - 2024, I co-directed an MLitt in Cultural Property Protection in the School of Arts and Cultures together with Professor Peter Stone.


I currently supervise 3 PhD students, all studying various aspects of cultural property protection, and am available for applications. Areas of study should relate to:

  • contemporary armed conflict in relation to CPP, examining various conflicts and actors
  • critiques of cultural heritage destruction and protection as contested arenas
  • national and international legal, ethical, and policy frameworks, and military doctrine
  • understanding of the role of various actors in heritage destruction and protection
  • understanding of the technologies available for cultural property protection

with specific relation to conflict and disaster, rather than heritage management more generally.

Publications