Hala Al-Syouf, Head of publication, registration and library at the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Worked on drawing objects that are found in sites and related to excavation restoration for 11 years, for documentation purposes manually and later became experienced in digitizing and archiving photo collections and documents. Actively participated in local and regional workshops in this field and prepared a book “a journey to the past with Lankester Hardring collection” which was published in 2015. Holds Diploma degree in Interior Design and had previous experience in architecture drawing.

Muntaha has a BA in History and MA in Social Studies from the University of Jordan.  She worked as a school instructor and then as an archivist in the National Library.  She Participated in courses and seminars related to women’s social work and workshops on excellence in government performance In addition to her participation in the  MEPPI courses

Hala is an Engineer… Employee of Aleppo Municipality in the Directorate of the Old City, responsible for the historical archive.  Member of the Syrian Association of Antiquities and Secretary of the library.

Nahid is head of the paper preservation and conservation department at the INlA in Iraq
Training courses:
Czech Republic ,2004
Italy,2005-2006
Courses in preservation of photography, Beirut2010— Morocco,2011
Participation in the project of mending the Iraqi-Jewish Archives,USA,2013-2014

Yousef Dartaha is an architect who finished his bachelor degree in Architecture &Urban planning from Birzeit university in 2009, he worked as a Designer for residential , commercial buildings in Palestine before he started working with RIWAQ in 2011 as an Architect& Restorer, until now he is mainly working on restoration& rehabilitation of single historical buildings in west bank &Gaza, which includes: survey, prepare Design& bid documents in addition to upper supervision , and his interest in photography brought him to hold the responsibility of Developing RIWAQ photo Archive, Through what he learned from MEPPI network.

Maha Ali is a lecturer of photograph conservation at the Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, in Egypt. She received her doctorate in Conservation of Antiquities from the Faculty of Archaeology/Cairo University in 2016. She is also a researcher in a joint research project between the Faculty of Archaeology – Cairo University and the Department of Chemical Sciences – University of Catania in Italy entitled “A Scientific Approach to the Conservation of Printed Photos”. Maha further teaches the photograph conservation course at the Faculty of Applied Arts – Helwan University in Egypt as part of a joint International Master’s Program in Conservation of Antique Photographs and Paper Heritage between the University of Catania and Helwan University. She has also held many workshops with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of visual heritage in Egypt and the Middle East and how to preserve it for future generation. Maha has written several papers on the conservation of photographs in English. Recent publications include “A New Method for the Preparation of Gelatin Nanolayer: A Possible Approach to the In-situ Consolidation of Damaged Gelatin Photographic Emulsions, Appl. Phys. A (2016) 122:552”. She is also an alumna of MEPPI Amman 2014.

Mohamed Soliman is Head of Cultural Outreach Sector, Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), with a wide range of experience in manuscripts cataloging, documentation, preservation and description; heritage; multimedia publishing and digital preservation (20 years). One of the founders of the Manuscript Center in the BA (1996), and participated in the development of the Restoration Lab and the Manuscript Museum (BA). A Manuscript Consultant for the Islamic Development Bank for Mali Manuscripts Collection (2008); Center for Research and Study in Kuwait (2012-present); Institute of Arabic Manuscripts; Al-Azhar Al-Sharif; National Library of Libya; King Abdul Aziz Foundation in Saudi Arabia. A teacher of manuscripts in the Faculty of Fine Arts (2009- present) and supervises Masters and PhDs in the same field. Participated in many trainings and workshops in the field of manuscripts and Arabic heritage. Participated in the development of the Manuscripts Exhibition Hall, BA (2002). Participated in many paper and electronic publication in the BA.

Zeina Arida is the Director of the Nicolas Sursock Museum in Beirut (www.sursock.museum).

From 1997 to 2014, Zeina Arida was the Director of the Arab Image Foundation (www.fai.org.lb). There, she set-up and managed the Arab Image Foundation and took actively part of many artistic and photographic preservation projects, including the Middle East Photographs Preservation Initiative (MEPPI: meppi.me).

Arida served as a board member of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture from 2006 until 2012 (www.arabculturefund.org), and was a member of the Prince Claus Fund Network Partner Committee from 2007 to 2013 (www.princeclausfund.org).

She’s a member of the Beit Beirut Museum Scientific Committee since 2010 (www.beitbeirut.org).