Interpret Europe’s subject coordinators are responsible for specific fields of interest that play an important role in the development of heritage interpretation in Europe. At present there is one subject coordinator leading his own team:

  • Cultural Heritage Coordinator: Patrick Lehnes (Germany)
  • Natural Heritage Coordinator: Philipp Thapa (Germany)
  • Tourism Coordinator: Vacant Position
Patrick portait IMG33857

Patrick Lehnes (Germany)

Cultural Heritage Coordinator

Cultural heritage is a manifestation of past people’s constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. Its interpretations shape contemporary views of the past and present and conceptions of the future. In light of current challenges, our team explores how enhanced interpretation can contribute to make our societies more sustainable, resilient and ‘united in diversity’.

During and after my studies of geography and biology at Freiburg University I focused on environmental planning and evaluation methods in Environmental Impact Analysis. But then in 1996, while on vacation in Wales, I had my first encounter with ‘heritage interpretation’. This changed my life.
At that time, hardly anybody in Germany had ever heard of the interpretive approach. But we found EU funding for pilot projects at Freiburg university on heritage interpretation aiming to enhance sustainable hiking tourism and subsequently for transnational research and development projects on quality criteria for interpretive services.
In 2002 I founded a spin-off on the university campus offering services from interpretive master planning to implementation as well as training and mentoring. At that time, I took part in NAI’s training in interpretive planning and as a trainer for interpretive guides (CIT) and interpretive hosts (CIH). Besides projects ‘at home’, I found it exciting to collaborate with project teams in different cultural contexts between the Mediterranean and Poland, Scotland and the South Caucasus.
These experiences motivated me, my wife and international colleagues to establish Interpret Europe as a formal association and to serve as its director during its first five years. Questions related to interpretation of sensitive and controversial heritage roused my research interest in the philosophies that underlie heritage interpretation practice. This involves critically reflecting upon our role and responsibility as interpretation experts within plural democracies.
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Philipp P Thapa asymmetrisch

Philipp Thapa (Germany)

Natural Heritage Coordinator

The Natural Heritage Team is a learning hub on interpreting the natural world. We help Interpret Europe members and external experts to share skills and knowledge. Our sights are on interpretive work around protected areas, natural history museums, outdoor recreation, and beyond. The Natural Heritage Team maintains exchanges with professional communities in nature conservation, land and sea use, research, environmental education, and related fields.

As Natural Heritage Coordinator, I keep the Team running. For me, this job is an exciting chance to learn about many different examples and conceptions of interpreting the natural world. My goal is to build knowledge resources that offer this opportunity to many others.
Where my own ideas and questions are called for, I draw on my professional experience in protected area management, rural development, and ecological research, as well as on nearly twenty years of research and teaching in environmental philosophy.
My first big experience in the professional world was working as a volunteer with protected areas in Nepal. I was given the job to create information displays and visitor leaflets. In other words, I began my career as an accidental heritage interpreter. It took me another 25 years to learn this term.
In the meantime, I studied conservation ecology back in Germany, both returning to Nepal and spending three months in and around the Taklamakan Desert in Western China to conduct field research on forest ecology. Later, there was a stint as a rural development advisor with the German Development Service (DED, later merged with GIZ) in Nepal. Since 2008, across various jobs and institutions, my professional focus has been environmental philosophy, a discipline dedicated to (re-)interpreting the relationship between humans and the natural world. I’ve taught university courses in environmental ethics (in addition to other courses and topics) every year since 2010, lately as an adjunct lecturer with the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. 
In 2023, through the Sustainable Europe Research Institute Germany, I joined an EU partnership project that included Interpret Europe. I finally found the right term for the work that had captivated me 25 years ago. I have since participated in IE’s three basic training courses, on interpretive guiding, writing, and planning. 
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