Inês Fialho Brandão

Name: Inês Fialho Brandão
Professional Category: Head of Cultural and Digital Mediation at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
Thematic areas: Provenance; Difficult histories; Mediation; Inclusion; Islamic art
Position within IHA: Integrated Researcher | RG Member [Museum Studies] | SC Member
Contact: ibrandao@gulbenkian.pt
CIÊNCIA ID: 3611-564B-644D
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9304-8913
Biography
Inês Fialho Brandão is Head of Cultural and Digital Mediation at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Her research focuses on the mediation of alterities in the museum space, focusing on difficult histories, forced migratory movements, and the restitution of cultural heritage. She holds a PhD in history from Maynooth University, a Masters in Museum Studies and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University, and a first degree from the University of Edinburgh. She was an elected  member of the Scientific Council of the Observatory for History Teaching in Europe (Council of Europe). (2020-2025)
She previously headed the Exiles Memorial Centre in Estoril, researching World War II refugees in Portugal (2018-2021), and the Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum (2010-2; 2016-7). She teaches Islamic Art and Architecture at FCSH as a guest lecturer (2023-2025). She is a researcher for the digital mediation component of GLAZE: The Art & Science of Iznik Tiles, a project funded by Fundação Ciencia e Tecnologia ( 2023.16519.ICDT  |  LISBOA2030-FEDER-00753900)
Key Projects and Publications:
  • MuseoBot: Museums, Democracy and Artificial Intelligence – Curated and developed at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, exploring the boundaries of AI curatorship.
  • “Worthy of Enabling and Support”: The Exhibitions of the Lisbon Buchholz Bookshop and Their Critical Reception in the Context of the Second World War (Published in Routledge’s Collections, Exhibitions and Museums in Portugal and Its Empire).
  • ‘What’s in Lisbon?’ Portuguese Sources in Nazi-era Provenance Research (Published in the Journal of Contemporary History).
  • Histórias Desconfinadas, permanent exhibition at the Exiles Memorial Centre.
  • ‘I Remember’, curator of video series for the Exiles Memorial Centre
  • Multiple Voices on Art and Islam (Editor, exhibition curator).
  • Collecting for the Res Publica (Contributor, exhibition co-curator).

(data supplied by the researcher)

Abbreviations:
SC – Scientific Council; RG – Research Group