Honorary Lifetime Members

Prof. Dr. Eckart Liebau
1967 – 1974 Academic studies of pedagogy, sociology, political science and history at Goettingen and Muenchen.
1974 – 1987 Diverse scientific pedagogical projects (Universities of Goettingen, Kassel, Hamburg, Tuebingen).
1979 Doctorate (Goettingen) in pedagogy.
1987 State doctorate (Hamburg) in Pedagogy.
1988 – 1992 Heisenberg-Scholarship of the DFG (Award of the German Research Foundation) (University of Tuebingen).
1992 – 2014 Chair of pedagogy at the Institute of Education, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
2010 – 2019 UNESCO-Chair in Arts and Culture in Education, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Since 2013 Chairman of the Council for Cultural Education
Larry O‘ Farrell is Professor Emeritus and past holder of the UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning, Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, Canada. He is Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Network for Arts and Learning Foundation. He has served as Chair, Steering Committee, International Network for Research in Arts Education, an organization that was formally approved by UNESCO as the UNITWIN Network for Research in Arts Education for Diversity and Sustainable Development. Previously, Larry served two terms as President of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association.
He led major curriculum development initiatives for the Ministry of Education in the Canadian province of Ontario and served on panels assessing teacher education programs for the Ontario College of Teachers and the Hong Kong Institute of Education (now the Hong Kong University of Education). For several years, he was Coordinator of Continuing Teacher Education at Queen’s University. In this context, his work in distance education included extensive experience in the development of e-learning for teachers and e-training for industrial application.As General Rapporteur for the 2nd UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (Seoul, Korea, 2010) Larry was instrumental in preparing The Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education. In 2011, this international action plan was unanimously endorsed by the General Council of UNESCO.Larry has published widely and presented keynote addresses, papers and workshops at national and international conferences. His research includes international studies on creativity in drama/theatre and arts education, singing and well-being, and intercultural understanding through arts education. Larry was Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Institute (University) of Education and a recipient of the Campton Bell Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education.

Dr. Shifra Schonmann is Professor Emerita, holder of Bar-Netzer Chair of Education, Society and Theatre for Young People at the University of Haifa, Israel. She also runs the Laboratory for Research in Theatre-Drama Educationat the Faculty of Education.  The continuingareas of her research are: aesthetics, theatre-drama education, theatre for young people, arts education, curriculum, and teacher education. She has published numerous articles on the above issues, as well as books, including: Theatre as a Medium for Children and Young People: Images and Observations (Springer), And (Ed.): Wisdom of the Many: International Yearbook for Research in Arts Education (Waxmann).She has been a visiting and research professor at a number of significant universitiessuch as: NYU, Stanford, S.F.U Canada, Reading University England , University of Melbourne, Doshisha University,Kyoto, Japan, and University of London, Central School of Speech & Drama.She is an invited speaker in international conferences, acts as a member of Editorial Board of several leading journals and serves as an advisor of UNESCOArts Education Observatory for Research in Local Cultures and Creativity in Education, Hong Kong. She is currently engaged in an extensive international research in theatre for young people (Typ). She serves on various academic committees, and was also a member of INRAE’s steering committee and now a member of UNITWIN.

Contact: shifras@edu.haifa.ac.il

Ernst Wagner studied visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany, and graduated with a PhD in art history (University of Munich). He worked as a teacher at secondary schools at the Bavarian Ministry of Education and Culture, and at the Institute for School Quality and Research in Educationin Munich. Since 2008, Ernst has been working at the UNESCO-Chair in Arts and Culture in Educationat at the University of Erlangen-Nurembergand from 2014 until now at the Academy of Fine Artsin Munich. He is an honorary professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research is focused on Intercultural Communication, Heritage Education, Global Citizenship Education, and Education for Sustainable Development.
Ernst Wagner is member of the Board of Culture at the German Commission for UNESCO. On the European level he is chairing the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA). He initiated the “European Network of Observatories in the Field of Arts Education” (ENO) and the “International Network for Research in Arts Education” (INRAE), the latter being a global network of UNESCO-Chairs and UNESCO-Observatories – that has been transformed into the UNITWIN network in 2018.  Within INRAE he has been responsible for the project “Monitoring Arts Education” (MONAES). He has published more than 300 articles and books in ten languages.

Professor Susan Wright joined the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne as the Chair of Arts Education in 2011.  She became the Director of the Melbourne UNESCO Observatory of Arts Education in 2012 and advocated for the development of studioFive, a purpose-built facility for integrated arts at the University of Melbourne which has received several architectural awards.Currently she is Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne. Prior appointments included Head of Early Childhood and Special Education at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, and Director of the Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Professor Wright has taken an active role on numerous national committees in Australia, including the Australian Music Examination Board, the Music Council of Australia, the Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation.
Professor Wright has published over 100 books/monographs, chapters/refereed journal articles and research reports, and has curated 2 exhibitions.  She has chaired two international conferences, presented 50 keynote addresses in 10 countries, and been on the editorial board of international and national journals.  She has performed with Opera Queensland, the Edmonton and Brisbane Symphonies, da Camera singers, Arlo Guthrie, José Feliciano, and with several original music ensembles ranging from Medieval Funk to Jazz-Rock Fusion.