Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

Curriculum Vitae

Sharon Macdonald is an Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Social Anthropology. Internationally known especially for her work on museums and heritage, she works in highly inter- and transdiciplinary ways. Trained at the University of Oxford, she has held full professorships at the universities of Sheffield, Manchester and York in the UK, and at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Education

  • BA (Hons) Class I/MA Human Sciences, St Catherine’s College, Oxford University, 1982 (Watts Coleman Scholar)

  • DPhil, Social Anthropology, St Catherine’s College, Oxford University, 1987 (funded by SSRC, Light Senior Award and Sir John Rhys Award for Celtic Studies)

Current Academic Positions

  • Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Social Anthropology
  • Director of the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik
  • Co-Director of inherit - heritage in transformation – Centre for Advanced Study (Käte Hamburger Kolleg)

Selected previous Academic Positions

2015–2023 Director of CARMAH – the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage

2012–19        Anniversary Professor of Cultural Anthropology (full-time until October 2015; fractional until October 2019)

Director of the York European Centre for Cultural Exploration (until October 2015), Department of Sociology, University of York

2005–12        Professor of Social Anthropology, Social Sciences, University of Manchester    

2005–06        Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

2002–05        Reader in Social Anthropology and Sociology, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

1998–2002   Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Sociology, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

1996–98        Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Sociology, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

1995–96        Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Sociology, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Keele University

1990–95        Lecturer in Social Anthropology and Sociology, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Keele University

1990               Lecturer (part-time) in Social Anthropology, Oxford University

1988–90        Research Fellow, Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture and Technology, Brunel University

Current and Recent Honorary Positions (Ehrenamtlich) 

  • Honorary Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Aberdeen.
  • Honorary Professor, Department of Sociology, University of York.
  • Research Affiliate, Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.
  • Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing.

 

Membership of Academic Boards and Committees (current and recent)

  • Member of the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Association (until 2023)
  • Deputy Chair of the Academic Committee of the House of European History
  • Member of the Beirat der Koordinierungsstelle für wissenschaftliche Sammlungen in Deutschland (until 2023)
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Berlin Exhibition in the Humboldt Forum (until 2021)
  • Member of the Board of the Memory Studies Association
  • Member of the Executive Board of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (until 2023)

Membership of Editorial Boards (current)

  • Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
  • Anthropology in Action
  • ICOM Dictionary of Museology 
  • International Journal of Heritage Studies
  • Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
  • Memory Studies
  • Museum and Society
  • Science Museum Journal
  • THEMA, La Revue du Musée de la Civilisation

Membership of Learned Societies

  • Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (elected 2015)
  • Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (elected 1990), Member of Council (2008-11)
  • Member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (1992- )
  • Member of the Association of Social Anthropologists (1988- )
  • Member of the International Council of Museums
  • Member of the Memory Studies Association
  • Member of SIEF – International Society for Ethnology and Folklore
  • Member of the Association for Critical Heritage Studies (2011-)