John Darlington, an archaeologist and author, joined World Monuments Fund in 2015 to lead the British affiliate. Prior to joining WMF, he led projects for the UK’s National Trust focused on historic mansions, gardens and landscapes across North West England. He also served as County Archaeologist for Lancashire, and is a specialist in medieval towns and landscapes, castles and abbeys. John is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, and a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity St David. He holds a BA from Lancaster University, an MA from the University of Birmingham and an MSc from Liverpool John Moores University. He is also the author of over 50 publications, and a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper and other journals.

Laura Searson (née. Jones) is the Cultural Heritage Preservation Lead at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Laura’s role blends the responsibilities of coordinating Crisis Management across all V&A sites and running the museum’s Culture in Crisis Programme – an international project bringing together those with an interest in protecting cultural heritage. Alongside curating an active public programme for Culture in Crisis (including international conferences, lectures, podcast series’ and webinars), she is also responsible to forming new partnerships and international network development. Since 2019, Laura has also played an active role in running the Culture in Crisis Portal, a database of over 1000 heritage preservation projects linking together funders, practitioners and researchers around the world.

As a specialist senior leader and ‘expert generalist’, Lucy Reid has 20+ years of experience in leadership roles in the creative and heritage sectors. She is COO of a dynamic new international foundation that leads for innovation in citizen-led decision-making across all areas of daily life, principally through Citizens’ Assemblies.

Her career began in arts admin - managing choirs, orchestras and arts education programmes. She made a shift into heritage, working for the National Trust (NT) in senior operational leadership roles for 16 years. As well as leading a team that managed a complex portfolio of places - from big houses and gardens, to internationally significant landscapes - she was a regional lead for all things inclusion, and a national lead for the Trust’s urban strategy. She was Programme Director for Birmingham, creating and leading the NT’s first holistic city strategy based on partnerships, and being where the NT was not, all with the aim of activating and bringing about new leases of life for some of the city’s neglected historic buildings and green spaces. She is particularly interested in the power and potential of place, and civic / participatory spaces; in civic activism and citizen-led movements; in what can be achieved through coalitions, connections and collaborations; and in working creatively with people to make things happen.

Stephen Battle is an architect with 30 years' professional experience managing conservation projects in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He started on his professional path in Zanzibar, where he worked on projects in the historic Stone Town. From 1998 to 2008, he worked for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture based in Geneva, where he was project manager for conservation and urban rehabilitation projects in Syria, Tanzania, and Pakistan. He joined World Monuments Fund in 2009 as Program Director, responsible for managing WMF’s projects in Africa. He has led major multi-year conservation projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ghana, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives, and Uganda. From 2017 to 2020, he developed and implemented a project in Jordan and Lebanon to train Syrian refugees, Jordanians, and Lebanese in stonemasonry and conservation, funded by the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund.