Rula Shahwan received her master’s degree on Conflict Resolution from the Arab American University (AAU). Her thesis is entitled: “The power of visual archive, collective memory and national identity”. Ms. Shahwan received her BA from Birzeit University in History and Political Science and high diploma in Management and Development from the Continuing Education Center at Birzeit University. She started her career at the Palestinian Ministry of Culture before working for the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) as the head of the Visual Archive Unit. Mrs. Shahwan participated in several international conferences to present the threats and reality of the Palestinian visual archive. She wrote several articles about the importance of the visual archive as a Palestinian collective memory.