Nathalie Isaak is a cultural anthropologist. Whilst studying folklore and cultural history at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, she spent two semesters studying in Turku and Saint Petersburg. At the University of Weimar, she also studied intercultural music and event management and undertook an internship at a municipal cultural organisation. She subsequently moved to the University of Hamburg and completed her degree in Empirical Cultural Studies in 2022. Nathalie Isaak’s academic interests include migration, Eastern European studies, transnational and transcultural perspectives, and ethnographic research. During this time, she worked as an intern at a TV production company specialising in cultural programmes, as a student (research) assistant at the Institute of Ethnology, and as a tutor and lecturer. 

Nathalie Isaak has been teaching continuously at the Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies at the University of Hamburg until 2026. From 2022 to 2024, she worked on an ESF-funded project providing counselling to young asylum seekers from Ukraine. In 2025, she began the MUSEALOG further training programme to become an officer in the field of collection management and quality standards in museums in Lower Saxony. As part of this qualification, she worked as academic staff at the German Siel Harbour Museum in Carolinensiel on the Wadden Sea coast.

Since October 2025, she has been a teaching and research fellow in the Cultural Management chair at the BTU. Alongside her teaching there, she is currently planning her doctoral research project. Her research interests lie in the significance, interpretation and handling of culture within fragile structures, with a focus on Ukrainian cultural work in the age of Russian neo-imperialism. In her teaching and research, she emphasises a critical and reflexive approach to research, an ethnographically oriented methodology, and an epistemology dedicated to a relational and assembled understanding of the world.

Jayne Linaker joined the Department of Cultural Management at BTU as a teaching and research fellow in January 2023 and specialises in cultural heritage management. She holds a BA (Hons) in Archaeology and Ancient History as well as International Studies (Monash University, Australia), with an interdisciplinary key research area focused on trade and foreign policy in New Kingdom Egypt. In addition, Jayne spent a semester at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, where she studied cultural heritage and international relations. Since then, she has completed her MA in Architectural Conservation and Site Management (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Helwan University, Egypt), specialising in the management and interpretation of archaeological sites. Whilst studying at BTU, she worked as a student (research) assistant at the Chair of Cultural Management and within the Cultural Heritage Management study programme, and served as a student representative on the examination board for WHS & HCSM.

Alongside her academic career, Jayne worked for several years in museums and cultural heritage institutions in Australia, England and Italy. Her experience in this field lies primarily in museum curation and management, with expertise in museum programme design, exhibitions, outreach, collection management and education. She has undertaken further training and gained professional experience in Australia, England, Italy, Egypt, Mexico, Kosovo and Germany. Her research interests centre on cultural heritage policy, planning and consultancy, with a particular focus on cultural heritage outreach, as well as the management and presentation of archaeological sites and their movable cultural heritage.