Drs. Jorissa Neutelings

"I am writing on behalf of my colleague, Dr. Joris Kila, to provide a professional reference affirming his qualifications and expertise in the areas of archaeology, cultural heritage, and cultural property protection (CPP). I have known Dr. Kila for some eight years now and over those years have come to know him well as a colleague and close collaborator in our parallel efforts to protect cultural property during times of military conflict. He has been a valuable partner in an organization I have co-founded for the benefit of the U.S. military, the Combatant Command Cultural Heritage Action Group or CCHAG (www.cchag.org). Dr. Kila is the Director of a European counterpart to the CCHAG, the International Cultural Resources Working Group or IMCurWG, with whom we partner on issues of mutual interest such as Cultural Property Protection training and awareness, product development, etc. In that capacity, we have also had occasion to invite Dr. Kila to professional conferences here in the U.S. to have him offer lectures on his unique perspective to CPP issues in different parts of the world. We are also currently collaborating closely as co-editors of a book series through Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden, The Netherlands) entitled Heritage and Identity: Issues in Cultural Heritage Protection. Dr. Kila’s revised dissertation entitled Heritage Under Seige (University of Amsterdam) became Volume 1 in this book series and has effectively set the standard for scholarly excellence and topical expertise. Because of this close collaborative relationship with Dr. Kila, I can wholeheartedly and without qualification endorse him as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in this field of study. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information."