Curators in conversation

Dr Daniel Soliman is an Egyptologist, researcher and renowned expert in ancient Egyptian history. Since 2019, Daniel has been a curator of the Egyptian and Nubian Collection at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, conducting research and creating and contributing to exhibitions including Discovering Ancient Egypt.

Among his interests are the histories of collecting Egyptian antiquities and the many ways in which ancient Egypt is interpreted in contemporary pop-culture.

Daniel is also co-director of the excavations carried out at the ancient site of Saqqara in Egypt by the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities and its partners.

Craig Middleton is a senior curator at the National Museum of Australia and an Honorary Lecturer at the Australian National University.

He has wide ranging interests in Australian social history, histories of LGBTIQ+ people and communities, and critical museology.

Craig believes in the role of arts and culture to strengthen communities, combat social exclusion, and support a healthy and active democracy. He is the lead coordinating curator of Discovering Ancient Egypt.

Emma Macdonald OAM is Associate Editor of HerCanberra, a multi-award-winning journalist, advocate and businesswoman. Emma began her journalistic career with the Australian Financial Review before moving to the Canberra Times, where she was Bureau Chief.

After 23 years as a newspaper journalist, she moved to online media platform HerCanberra in 2016. Emma has won numerous awards for her work including two Walkley Awards and the John Douglas British Prize for Journalism.

Emma is dedicated to promoting women in media, as Convener of Women in Media Canberra and also co-founded the maternal health charity Send Hope Not Flowers.