Maria Luisa de Bivar Black

Senior Advisory Board Member

As a university teacher in Lisbon, Portugal, Luisa Black was responsible for Initial Teacher Training (History), focusing mostly teaching methods (didactics) and curriculum development.

Working as expert for the Council of Europe since 1996, Luisa Black was involved in bi-lateral, regional and intergovernmental projects in various countries including Cyprus, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Check Republic, Moldova, Kosovo, Russia Federation, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Serbia, Romania, Norway and Estonia.

In this capacity, Luisa Black prepared and delivered keynote speeches in seminars, led interactive workshops, written education materials for teachers and learners and prepared reports for the Council of Europe. Acting as expert for Euro Clio since 1998, Luisa Black animated workshops, delivered keynote speeches, was involved in teacher training mainly in the Balkans and was one of the experts involved in the project Understanding a Shared Past, learning for the Future, which included Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia.

As a consultant for the Council of Europe, Luisa Black has organized large-scale projects in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, being responsible for engaging relevant experts for a series of seminars and meetings concerned with curriculum development and teaching methods, and planning the content of the meetings. She wrote a Manual for History Teachers in Bosnia & Herzegovina (2008) and History Teaching Today, Approaches and Methods (2011), for Kosovo, both published by the Council of Europe.

Since 2010, Luisa Black has also been working in Maputo, Mozambique and Luanda, Angola, as a translator and HR consultant, namely related to communication. She has been regularly involved in history education projects with the Council of Europe, such as The image of the Other in History Education and Shared Histories for a Europe without Dividing Lines, which is currently being disseminated (she was responsible for Theme IV: Europe and the World). Maria Luisa de Bivar Black, 2015.