Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime

A UNESCO Chair Researching the Heritage Crimes of the Present and Future
  • Blue and white logo that said UNESCO Chair and has the UNESCO primary logo on it

    New and emerging heritage crimes occur beyond the boundaries of detection, deterrence, and imagination. 

    We ask: what comes next? 
     


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  • News and Events

    Fossil

    In the media: who do fossils belong to?

    A CORDIS article asks who fossils belong to, drawing on Yates and her TRANSFORM project.

     

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    Ecole du louvre provenance

    Donna Yates at École du Louvre's UNESCO Chair inaugural symposium

    Held in Paris in June 2026.

     

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    NVC Conference session sign with title on it

    Team Members Present at NVC Conference on Art Crime

    Held on 11 May 2026 at the Dutch Royal Library, The Hague.

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    Conference speaking microphone in front of a label that says DONNA YATES SPEAKER

    Keynote at Informal meeting of Culture Ministers in Lefkosia, Cyprus

    Yates was a guest of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU

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  • Publications and Outputs

    Cover of the journal History of the Humanities. The title of the journal is shown on top of a historic painting of an arm.

    Spiritualism in Plaster: Philosophy, Archaeology, and Figurative Practices in Félix Ravaisson’s Study of the Venus de Milo

    Journal Paper in History of the Humanities

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    Cover of the journal IJHS

    The Legal Classification of Hominin Fossils: Lessons from the Broken Hill Skull

    Journal Paper in: International Journal of Heritage Studies

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    Law of the arts logo: the words on a white background

    Brazil Reclaims a Dinosaur: Irritator challengeri and the Restitution of Trafficked Fossils

    Blogpost on Law of the Arts, 12 May 2026

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    Book cover for book Variably Legal Markets

    Variably Legal and Irregularly Regulated: Global Markets in Collectable Antiquities, Wildlife, and Fossils

    Book Chapter In: Variably Legal Markets: Rethinking Markets and Crime. 

     

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  • The UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime is held by Prof. Donna Yates and hosted by Maastricht University