"Dr. Oluwatoyin Zainab Sogbesan is an architect, cultural historian, museologist, and heritage consultant dedicated to advancing African-centered approaches to heritage preservation and museum practice. She holds a PhD in Culture, Policy and Management from City, University of London. She is the Founder and Director of the Àsà Heritage Africa Foundation, an organisation committed to safeguarding and reinterpreting Africa’s tangible and intangible cultural assets. She currently serves as President of ICOMOS Nigeria and Vice President of ICICH (International Scientific Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, ICOMOS), positions through which she shapes national and global conversations on heritage conservation and policy. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Re:assemblage 2025–26, a platform rethinking archival practices for African and Afro-diasporic art institutions. Sogbesan has also served as a museum consultant for the European Union National Institute for Culture (EUNIC Nigeria Cluster) and has curated and advised on landmark initiatives, including the LagosPhoto Home Museum Project. Her influence extends to the international cultural arena, where she has been invited as a juror for prestigious photography and art awards and as a contributor to panels on restitution, decolonisation, and sustainable heritage. Her research and publications explore themes of decolonisation of museums, Yoruba palace architecture, restitution ethics, and community-led heritage documentation. Through her teaching, curatorial projects, and leadership, she champions inclusive and participatory heritage practices that foreground African voices while engaging with global audiences."
Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution; The potential of digital representation: The changing meaning of the Ife ‘bronzes’ from pre-colonial Ife to the post-colonial digital British Museum.