Board of Trustees

Dr Abeer Eladany graduated from the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, and then gained a postgraduate diploma and Pre-MSc degree from the Faculty of Tourism, Helwan University. She worked at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, for more than 10 years before travelling to Italy to study conservation of ceramics in Florence. She then joined the KNH Centre, University of Manchester, to study Biomedical and Forensic Studies in Egyptology where she achieved her MSc and PhD. In 2015, Abeer gained an MLitt in Museum Studies from the University of Aberdeen. In her current role as a curatorial assistant at the University of Aberdeen’s Museums and Special Collections, she promotes wider access to the museum collections. Abeer’s research interests are mainly related to human remains, the history of Egyptology, and Museology (particularly Ethics and Repatriation), and she has joined archaeological excavations in Egypt and in Scotland.

Abeer is an active volunteer for a wide range of charities ranging from community projects to heritage groups in the UK and is currently a Trustee for SHMU, a community media organisation and one of the core cultural organisations in Aberdeen. She is also a director on the Board of Trustees of Soundfestival a new music incubator based in north-east Scotland encouraging new music creation and discovery.

Abeer is a member of the Slavery, Empire and Scottish Museums steering group that has recently published recommendations following a large public consultation regarding how Scotland’s existing and future museum collections and spaces can better recognise and represent a more accurate portrayal of Scotland’s colonial and slavery history.

Dr Jennifer Cromwell is Reader in Ancient History at Manchester Metropolitan University. She studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool for her BA, MA, and PhD (focussing on Coptic legal documents from western Thebes in the 8th century CE), and before joining MMU in 2018 she held research positions at the University of Oxford, Macquarie University (Sydney), the University of Copenhagen, as well as the British Museum. Her research focusses on social and economic life in Egypt during the late 6th to 8th centuries CE; the study of Coptic papyri; and the reception of ancient Egypt in modern analogue and digital games. From 2021–23 she was the principal investigator on a UK Research Institute-funded project, ‘Ancient History, Contemporary Belonging’ (with sociologist Dr Caitlin Nunn), which worked with Manchester Museum, Sheba Arts, and migrant-background youth researchers (aged 16–24) in Greater Manchester to creatively explore the forced migration of ancient historical objects and what it means to ‘belong’. 

Dr John Baguley MBA is a Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising UK and in 2016 received its Lifetime Contribution Award. He heads the International Fundraising Consultancy (groupifc.com), which he founded in 2000 to change the world. It now has offices in twelve countries.

His clients include the top UN organisations, international NGOs and game changers of all sizes and in all fields.

He has also developed the free Top Table breakfast discussions for heads of fundraising in the Gherkin, London and free First Friday fundraising clinics in several countries as well as Fundraising TV on YouTube. He is occasionally active on social media.

John has worked and lectured around the world and is the author of several books on Amazon.uk including ‘Successful Fundraising’, his guide for fundraisers of all disciplines, which is also available in Russian. His PhD thesis “The Globalization of NGOs” is published by VDM.

Dr Kathleen Sheppard is Professor in the History and Political Science department at Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri. She earned her MA in Egyptian Archaeology at University College London in 2002, and an MA and PhD in History of Science from the University of Oklahoma in 2006 and 2010, respectively. She has spent her whole career telling the stories of women in Egyptology. Her first book was a scientific biography of Margaret Alice Murray, The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology (2013). Throughout the research for that and her second book, My Dear Miss Ransom…: Letters Between Caroline Ransom Williams and James Henry Breasted, 1898-1935 (2018), she found so many of Egyptology’s missing women in archives spread all over the world. She wanted to tell those stories, but her third monograph, Tea on the Terrace: Hotels and Egyptologists’ Social Networks, 1885-1925 (2022) focused on social and professional networking among Egyptologists in European-run Egyptian hotels. Her most recent book, Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age (2024) is a grand retelling of the history of Egyptology through the work that women did. These are the women whose lives and work built the discipline of Western Egyptology. Her forthcoming work includes a four-volume set of primary sources in Egyptology (Routledge) and a chapter about Archibald Sayce’s life on his dahabeah Ištar. She is also working on Kate Bradbury’s travel journal from her US trip from 1889-1890, with Amelia Edwards.

At Missouri S&T, where she has been on faculty since 2011, she teaches undergraduate general survey courses. In her History of Science courses, sadly, she only talks about Egyptology for one lecture. She is also the Director of the Research Center for Science, Technology, and Society.

Dr Leire Olabarria holds a DPhil in Egyptology from the University of Oxford. She is Associate Professor in Egyptology at the University of Birmingham, where she delivers courses on the archaeology, history, and language of ancient Egypt. She is a committed teacher who tries to instil in her students a passion for the archaeological and cultural heritage of Egypt and Sudan. Her main research deals with kinship and the way it is expressed on the monumental record of the Middle Kingdom, a topic that she explored further in her 2020 monograph ‘Kinship and family in ancient Egypt: archaeology and anthropology in dialogue’. Leire is also interested in the construction of Egyptological knowledge and its colonial roots, as well as in the reception and popular perceptions of ancient Egypt. As a field archaeologist, she has worked for the Dayr al-Barsha Project (KU Leuven) in Middle Egypt. She is delighted to join the EES to contribute actively to its goals of promotion and preservation of Egyptian and Sudanese heritage.

Dr Tobias Stone is a technology entrepreneur and policy advisor. He is an Hon. Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology at Imperial College London with a PhD in Sociology and Innovation. Toby specialises in strategy, business development, machine learning, and insurance. His current business uses AI to help improve the insurance of heritage and art. He set up and ran the Chartamede Foundation, an economic development NGO that worked with the Soros Foundation and British Council in the Western Balkans, and has lived in Tallinn and Berlin. Prior to his career, Toby spent the 1990s studying and practicing archaeology and Egyptology. His digs ranged from the rescue excavation of a Mesolithic fishing site in Portugal to diving over shipwrecks in the harbour at Dor, in Israel. He first studied Middle Egyptian at UCL with Prof Harry Smith, and then at Oxford with Prof Mark Collier.  

Hilary McGowan FMA FRSA is a graduate in History from the University of Edinburgh, holds the Fellowship of the Museums Association, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Bath Heritage Services Advisory Committee. Like many of us, from the age of 7, following a visit to a museum, Hilary wanted to be an Egyptologist.

Hilary has a background as a museum curator who moved on to become Director of some of the most significant collections in the UK, in York, Exeter and Bristol. She set up her own business over 25 years ago and has since worked with over 120 museums and heritage organisations.  She now specialises in governance, leadership and supporting organisational change and is an experienced Trustee, after 11 years on the Board of Bletchley Park and 12 years with the Museums Association. 

Hilary has considerable experience of capital projects leading to the transformation of museums, including successfully applying for National Lottery Heritage Funding, as well as winning a RIBA Building of the Year award as the Lead Consultant for Creswell Crags Museum & Education Centre in 2010. 

She would look to use her clarity of vision and enthusiasm for museums and history to help the EES to continue to build financial resilience and to deliver a successful Building the Future capital project. 

Hilary is the co-author of Managing Change in Museums and Galleries: a Practical Guide (with Piotr Bienkowski).  (Routledge, 2021.)  They are currently writing Cultural Leadership: a practical guide to building an Inclusive and Sustainable Organisation.  She now lives in Somerset with her husband and two cats, in a house they rescued, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

James Potts joined as a Trustee of the EES in 2021. He is a barrister at 3 Verulam Building chambers, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration in London, the Middle East, the Far East, and the Caribbean. Having travelled widely in Egypt over several years, he joined the EES in 2016 and began studying ancient Egyptian language on the EES short courses. Inspired by this, he recently completed a part-time MA in Archaeology at Birkbeck, with his dissertation research focusing on trade networks and interactions between Middle Kingdom Egypt and the Horn of Africa.

James also holds a degree in English Literature from Oxford University and an MPhil in Eighteenth Century Studies from Cambridge University. He was twice a Hawthornden Fellow for creative writing. James has chaired the Society’s Development Committee since 2022, steering the future redevelopment of the EES London Office.

Jenny Chong has 25 years of experience in technology, big data and AI. She was formerly the Global Head of eCommunications Surveillance at Credit Suisse in London. She now sits as a non-executive director on various boards and committees for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Orthopaedic Research UK, The Design Museum and Imperial College London. She is also an advisor to various social impact startups. Jenny has a keen passion for archaeology, Egyptology and Islamic art which she has cultivated through her membership of the Egypt Exploration Society. She has been co-opted to the EES Finance Committee since 2020 and looks forward to contributing her skills in technology and management to the Board of Trustees. 

Lizzie Glithero-West FSA has been the Chief Executive of The Heritage Alliance since 2016. Her previous career has been mainly in the civil service and she has expert knowledge of a wide range of policy areas including archaeology, heritage protection, museums, and tourism.

Lizzie has also spent time as Private Secretary to Culture Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, as Head of Logistics at DCMS at the time of the 2015 General Election and on secondment to English Heritage and to the National Museum Directors’ Council. Lizzie’s first love is heritage. She has a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford, and an MA in History of Art from Birkbeck. In 2014 she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Lizzie is a mum to two energetic girls and tries to keep up with her academic interest in Egyptian Revival in her spare time. Lizzie has published on Belzoni and the Egyptian Hall and on Cartier’s Egyptian Revival Jewellery in the Art Deco Period. She is a member of the Government’s Heritage Council, the Historic Environment Forum and the Canal and River Trust’s Cultural Heritage Advisory Group, and she has lectured at Oxford University on heritage.

Robert Lee is a real estate lawyer at London international law firm DACBeachcroft where he is a partner involved in major housing regeneration projects. Robert has worked in the legal sector for some 40 years and lives in London and North Devon with his wife Helen and their four children.

Robert has a keen interest in ancient Egypt which was sparked when he took his late father (who did his national service in Port Said and Cairo) for a holiday to Egypt some 20 years ago. This led Robert to read into the subject and to join the Egypt Exploration Society. Robert is a keen champion of the EES and previously served as a Trustee between 2010 and 2016 Robert has subsequently visited Egypt on many occasions.

In addition to an interest in both ancient and modern history Robert is a keen collector of antique silver particularly of the Georgian period.

Yvette Mhic Giolla Rua Adebanjo is a London-based artist and business owner, deriving her passion for Egyptian heritage through travels to Egypt & continued didactic learning. Yvette’s background started in medicine and business, completing her MD/MBA degree at Columbia University before moving to London in 2019. She initially consulted for early stage companies, focusing on fundraising, brand identity and strategic development. She found her voice as an artist in 2022, working as a blacksmith’s apprentice, and in 2023, exhibiting in Space21, an international art festival, the performance piece Lunch (Firavîn). Her studio, Y, is a concept art studio with multiple long-term projects in development, mostly exploring the shape of self / other in a consumerist society.

Yvette is keen to use her varied experiences to focus on EES’s mission to preserve and promote Egyptian heritage. She sees how deeply society cherishes Egyptian culture and history, and aims to support EES’s impact, so that it may nurture this innate fascination for ages to come.