Dr. Jyldyz Doolbekova is an anthropologist, researcher, and consultant with a background in traditional ecological knowledge, place-based education, and local development to support and preserve the biocultural diversity and the well-being of mountain local communities in Kyrgyzstan. \n\nShe participated in the research within the project "Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Contribution to SDGs - Community Education and Development" initiated and supported by International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asia-Pacific (IRCI, https://www.irci.jp/). The results of the study entitled "Visionary Local Communities in Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage in Kyrgyzstan" (2020), and "The Evolving Role of Community Museums in Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study from Kyrgyzstan" (2021) were presented at the International Symposium in Tokyo (online).\n\nShe has 15 years of experience with the Christensen Fund Central Asia Program (California, San Francisco) as a Special Advisor, Program Manager, and Regional Coordinator. Before joining The Christensen Fund, she was the University Projects Officer for the Aga Khan Humanities Project (AKHP), based at project headquarters in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), where she developed and implemented programs in conjunction with Central Asian universities to promote pluralism in ideas, cultures, and people through innovative humanities curricula rooted in traditional arts and knowledge. \n\nShe received a Ph.D. in anthropology, ethnology, and ethnography with a thesis on "Traditional ecological culture of the Kyrgyz (on the example of the Murghab Kyrgyz in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries)" at the Institute of Cultural Heritage of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic; received the equivalent of her MA from Kyrgyz National University Department of History and also earned a Master’s in International Relations from the International University of Kyrgyzstan. \n\n

Born in the Great Cold Mountains, Sichuan, Dr Qubumo Bamo originates from the Nuosu, a subgroup of the Yi people. She obtained her Ph. D. in Folkloristics at Beijing Normal University in 2003. She is Senior Fellow and Director of the Oral Traditions Research Center at the Institute of Ethnic Literature (IEL), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). She also acts as Vice President of the China Folklore Society (CFS), an accredited NGO and a member of the Evaluation Body of the Committee. \n\nConcentrating on the links between the written and oral traditions of the Yi, she has conducted long-term targeted field study on various aspects of Bimo (ritualists) scripture culture and Yi oral narratives. She is the author of The Golden-Eagle Spirit and Poetic Soul: A Study of Archaic Poetics in the Yi's Scriptures (2000), Spirit Picture and Ghost Board: A Survey of Incantation Epos and Ritualized Paintings in Nuosu Yi Area (2004), and more than 130 articles. Her translation of Gregory Nagy’s Homeric Questions was published in 2008. Her newest book, entitled Verbal Dueling and Epic Performance, is in press, and is a revised edition of her dissertation, based on a targeted field study carried out in her hometown. She has recently been working as a principal expert on the National Key Project for Developing Metadata Standards for Documentation of China Ethnic Minority Oral Traditions. \n\nDr Bamo teaches courses on oral tradition, folkloristics, and ICH studies at University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS) for the PHD and MA graduate students. Topics of current research include epic tradition, oral poetics, ICH safeguarding and cultural policy. Her essays on ICH is in print (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 2021).\nSince 2004, she has been extensively engaged in the field of Intangible Cultural Heritage at local, national, and international levels, possessing competence and consulting expertise in policy-making, training design, lecture delivering, as well as programme evaluation for governmental organs, professional institutions, centers of communities, and universities. Since 2007, she has been active in the China Delegation to statutory meetings and events under the 2003 Convention. As one of the ICH Team (CFS4ICH) leaders in the China Folklore Society, she plays a central role in annual tasks.