Gunay Uslu (; born 25 October 1972) is a Dutch cultural historian and politician, who has served as State Secretary for Culture and Media in the

fourth Rutte cabinet The fourth Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 10 January 2022 until 2 July 2024. The cabinet was a continuation of the third Rutte cabinet and was formed by the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( ...

from 10 January 2022 till 1 December 2023. She is a member of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

(D66) party.

Early life and education

Uslu was born in 1972 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

as the daughter of Turkish immigrants. She attended her

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

between 1985-1992 at the Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam, where she completed the MAVO and HAVO curricula. After obtaining propaedeutic diplomas in

teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

(

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

) from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in 1993 and in

Dutch law The Netherlands uses civil law. The role of case law is small in theory, although, in practice, it is impossible to understand the law in many fields without considering the relevant case law. The Dutch law system is based on the French Civil Co ...

from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

in 1996, she studied

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

at the University of Amsterdam and obtained an MA degree in 2001, specializing in the policy and management of European

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

. In 2015, she obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in History, Art History, and Archaeology from the same university.

Career

From 1997 to 1999 and from 2014 to 2020, Uslu held management positions at the Corendon Tourism Group, which was co-founded by her brother Atilay. Between 2001 and 2018, she taught several courses at the University of Amsterdam, including

heritage studies Heritage studies looks at the relationship between people and tangible and intangible heritage through the use of social science research methods. The publication of the book by David Lowenthal, ''The Past is a Foreign Country'', in 1985 is cre ...

museology Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

and

cultural policy Cultural policy is the government actions, laws and programs that regulate, protect, encourage and financially (or otherwise) support activities related to the arts and creative sectors, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, and ...

. Uslu has also worked for the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the Project planning, planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined star ...

for

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

events Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

and has been the

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of exhibitions at, among others, the

Allard Pierson Museum The Allard Pierson Museum is the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam. It is situated at the Oude Turfmarkt 127 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Artifacts from the ancient civilizations of ancient Egypt, the Near East, the Greek W ...

and

Amsterdam Museum The Amsterdam Museum, known until 2010 as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, is an Amsterdam-based museum dedicated to the city's past and present. Due to the renovation of its main location, the museum is temporarily located in the Amstelhof on the ...

. On 10 January 2022, she joined the

as State Secretary for Culture and Media, on behalf of the

. On 30 November 2023, Uslu announced that she would resign from her position as State Secretary and that she would return to Corendon, her brother's company. There, she would work as the CEO per 11 December 2023.Staatssecretaris Uslu vertrekt naar familiebedrijf Corendon
- website of Dutch public broadcasting corporation NOS

Electoral history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uslu, Gunay 1972 births Living people 21st-century Dutch historians 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Democrats 66 politicians Dutch people of Turkish descent Cultural historians People from Haarlem State secretaries for education of the Netherlands University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam