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? 
     


    Find Out More

  • News and Events

    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.

     read more
    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

     read more
    Group of attendees in from of a sign that says Cultural property protection for all. A mix of men and women.

    Core Group Meeting, CPP4ALL Cost Network held in Warsaw Poland

    Yates attended this meeting as Vice Chair of the COST action.

     read more
    Screenshot of a news article showing a fossil that says Irritator geht nach Hause

    Stewens interviewed for Kontext: Wochenzeitung

    The German magazine Kontext: Wochenzeitung interviewed affiliated research Paul Stewens about the repatriation of a rare dinosaur fossil from Germany to Brazil. 

     read more

  • 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

     read more
    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

     read more
    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

     read more
    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. 

     

     read more

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