Karla Nunes Penna

Professor, Center for Advanced Studies in Integrated Conservation, Australia

Karla Nunes Penna is an architect, cultural heritage manager and educator with a Ph.D. in Education and Anthropology at Murdoch University in Australia. Her academic work is focused on enabling effective and innovative curriculum design, critical and creative pedagogic methodologies, constructive learning environments and contextualized delivery practices, to improve the performance of training courses for cultural and education professionals. As a practitioner, for 26 years she has been working in developing people-centred and culture-based strategic mechanisms in 14 different countries. Her work is embodied in human rights, decolonisation, social justice and participatory practices, and education for political freedom.  Although she lives in Australia, she is a professor at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Integrated Conservation – CECI in Brazil, teaching classes in partially online mode. Her work invokes learning innovation, embedded in humanizing pedagogical approaches such as critical pedagogy, education for sustainability and transformative education. In parallel, Karla has collaborated with sites listed as UNESCO World Heritage in Latin America, supporting local teams and universities in designing and implementing cultural heritage education. She also works in Rio Tinto, focused on meaningful engagement with Aboriginal Peoples in Western Australia and on designing cultural heritage management policies to promote participatory governance and shared management.