Judging Panel
Luisa Elena MENGONI
Head of Asian and African Collections
The British Library
United Kingdom
Dr Luisa Elena Mengoni is Head of the Asian and African Collections Department at the British Library, where she is responsible of the collections from and related to Asia and Africa, and the Visual Arts section.
Before this post, Dr Mengoni worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) for ten years, contributing to major gallery and exhibition projects. As part of the international collaboration between the V&A and China Merchants Shekou for the establishment of a new cultural centre focussing on design – Design Society - she was seconded in Shenzhen from 2014 to 2017 as Head of the V&A Gallery at Design Society to oversee all the components of the collaboration and the setting-up and opening of the new V&A Gallery at Design Society in December 2017. Holding a degree in Chinese Studies from Università degli Studi L’Orientale (Napoli) and a PhD in Chinese archaeology from University College London (UCL), she taught on Chinese art and archaeology, cultural heritage and museology. She continues to be interested in new developments of Chinese design and crafts, and the emergence of new museum models and creative hubs in China.
Before this post, Dr Mengoni worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) for ten years, contributing to major gallery and exhibition projects. As part of the international collaboration between the V&A and China Merchants Shekou for the establishment of a new cultural centre focussing on design – Design Society - she was seconded in Shenzhen from 2014 to 2017 as Head of the V&A Gallery at Design Society to oversee all the components of the collaboration and the setting-up and opening of the new V&A Gallery at Design Society in December 2017. Holding a degree in Chinese Studies from Università degli Studi L’Orientale (Napoli) and a PhD in Chinese archaeology from University College London (UCL), she taught on Chinese art and archaeology, cultural heritage and museology. She continues to be interested in new developments of Chinese design and crafts, and the emergence of new museum models and creative hubs in China.
