Sian Tiley-Nel

Sian Tiley-Nel is a South African Chief Curator with a specialised PhD interest in historical and contested archives and heritage conservation. She currently manages the University of Pretoria Museums and serves a Chief Curator of the Mapungubwe Collection, an honoured position that she has held for 18 years. She serves as Chairperson of the Museum Committee and holds several other professional memberships. She is a naturalised advocate for preservation and infers a great understanding, status and sound experience in curating major exhibitions into a public space. She is known for curating and combining an awareness of preservation, a sense of shape, sense of object materiality and a sense of audience to which one connects effortlessly. She holds several degrees with a foundational Bachelors Degree in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Honors Degree in Archaeology, Postgraduate diploma in Heritage and Museum Science and graduated mid-career under the tutelage of the South African Institute for Objects Conservation as a Laureatus Conservator. Sian is an “unintentional author and accidental writer” having published in both the academic and creative community widely on the Mapungubwe collection and in the field of archaeological preservation, including two coffee table books as well, authoring numerous research articles and produce beautifully written and illustrated catalogues.