Dr Sophia Handaka, Oxon
Dr. Sophia Handaka serves as Curator of World Cultures at the Benaki Museum, Athens, and is Co-Founder and Host of the CoMuseum International Conference. In both capacities, she is dedicated to advancing collaborative practices and community empowerment, while advocating for the role of museums and culture as key drivers of sustainable development. She holds a DPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford, with a specialization in museums and material culture, and has over twenty-five years of professional engagement in the fields of culture, heritage, and creativity. Her work encompasses a wide range of activities, including exhibitions, scholarly publications, public programs, research and development projects, cultural partnerships, consultancy, and teaching.
Sophia is Co-Founder of KOΛEKTIVA, a non-profit organization for social innovation and culture; a member of the Bosch Alumni Network and of Culture for Change; and a 2019 fellow of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. In 2023, she contributed to a major research initiative commissioned by the think-tank diaNEOsis on the value of culture, co-authoring a collective study and extensive policy recommendations for the empowerment of Greece’s Cultural and Creative Sector (Απελευθερώνοντας τις Δυνάμεις του Πολιτισμού. Προτάσεις Πολιτικής). Her most recent curatorial project, Africa Amongst Us* (Benaki Museum / Pireos 138, February–May 2025), was a community-based exhibition engaging more than forty members of the Greek Afro-diaspora—including artists, students, and activists. The project was appraised for its democratic procedures and innovative participatory methodology.
Further information is available via her Europass profile.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-chandaka-7a554123
photo by Pavlos Makridis, 2022
