Harriet Deacon is a historian with interests in tangible and intangible heritage management, public policy on heritage, intellectual property law and the intersection between culture and health. She was involved in the preparation and delivery of UNESCO training materials from 2010. She has facilitated workshops in Central Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has a PhD in History and a MSc in Management of Intellectual Property. At present, she is affiliated to the Coventry University Centre for Dance Research, and is working on research projects in India and Kyrgyzstan exploring the role of ICH in sustainable development.