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Expanding Our Team, Strengthening Our Purpose
The EES is currently undergoing a significant period of transformation whilst we work towards the redevelopment of our London premises. As part of this, we have increased our capacity by restructuring the London Office and growing our team dedicated to making Egyptian cultural heritage more accessible! We still need your help to make this a reality. Find out how you can support our Building the Future campaign below.
Introducing Our New Team Members
We're welcoming two new team members. Elizabeth Owen will be overseeing the movement of our collections to off-site storage as Collections Manager. Elizabeth takes on this role from Dr Stephanie Boonstra, who trained her as a former EES intern and volunteer. Adelaide Robinsmith will be joining our newly structured Senior Leadership Team in her new position as Head of Operations. Adelaide will be maintaining the smooth running of the London Office whilst we focus on Building the Future together. Find out more about our latest team members below.
Adelaide Robinsmith
Adelaide joined the EES as Head of Operations in July 2025. She has a background in non-profit and museum management as well as extensive fundraising experience, and manages the Society’s administration, premises, and staff. Adelaide joins us at an exciting time in our journey and is looking forward to transforming the London premises into a new, more accessible centre for Egyptian cultural heritage. Adelaide is a firm believer that heritage and academia can and should be accessible to everyone and has a particular passion for supporting and celebrating neurodiversity.
Adelaide studied Medieval History at Queen Mary, University of London and received an MsC in Library Science from City St George’s. She maintains a keen interest in the history of libraries and the myriad ways in which humans create, share, and shelve stories.
Elizabeth Owen
Elizabeth initially became involved with the EES in 2023 when she did an internship digitising the object cards from excavations at the Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara. This experience introduced her to the world of archives! After, she continued to be involved with the EES in an ad hoc voluntary capacity, helping promote the Society at events and accessioning many new additions to the lending and reference libraries.
As Collections Manager, Elizabeth will be responsible for the general administration of the Society’s Lucy Gura Archive, Ricardo Caminos Library, papyri, and special collections. She will prepare the collections currently held at the London office for movement into off-site storage ahead of the redevelopment closure, planned for 2026-2028 (subject to funding).
Before starting her role at the EES, Elizabeth completed an Egyptian archaeology and heritage MA at University College London. Prior to this, she undertook a BA in Ancient History at the University of Birmingham, where she first became interested in Egyptology. In July 2022, Elizabeth participated in the EES’ Sixth Egyptian Archaeology Skills School.
Overall, Elizabeth is excited to start her career at the EES by learning the intricacies of collections care and management. She is keen to support and facilitate engagement in the collections, and hopes to rediscover fascinating and lesser-known stories when packing up the archive.
The London Team stood outside the EES London Office from left to right: Adelaide Robinsmith, Carl Graves, Charlotte Jordan, Elizabeth Owen, Edward Scrivens and Neville Leslie. Of course, we must not forget our remote colleagues not pictured here, including Publications Manager Julia Thorne, and our JEA Editorial Team, Eva Lange-Athinodorou and Suzanne Arnold.
Note from our Chair
I am thrilled to welcome Libby and Adelaide to the EES this summer! They may have been with us for only a few weeks, but they have already made themselves indispensable to our London Team. Expanding our capacity at Doughty Mews will ensure smoother operations and will also grant us the opportunity to offer additional services and activities to our members. For example, there will be an open day in September when you will have the chance to see our collections before the redevelopment of the premises starts next year. Don’t miss this upcoming event, and make sure to say hello to Libby and Adelaide when you visit!
New opening times
This increased staff capacity means that we can now extend our opening times! To increase access to our collections before redeveloping our premises (subject to funding), we will now open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Friday, and our summer closure will only be the August Bank Holiday.