Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga, PhD in economy, is a graduate of the Cracow University of Economics, where she currently holds a position of an assistant professor  (UNESCO Chair in Heritage and Urban Studies). She has been a coordinator of the Culture 2000 programme in Poland (2003-2005) and in the European Affairs Unit in the Department of Culture Strategy and European Affairs in the Ministry of Culture. She has also being working in the Research Institute for European Heritage at the International Cultural Centre in Kraków, partly as the coordinator of the Anna Lindh Foundation network in Poland. Also she is a consultant in the Centre for Cultural Statistics of the Statistical Office in Kraków. She is an author and an editor of publications on the links between culture and heritage and development,  the EU cultural policy, the European Capitals of Culture, and intercultural dialogue.