This page presents the individuals who contributed to the preparation of a proposal for a new ICA Working Group on the History of Cartography,  which was discussed by the ICA Executive Committee at their meeting in August 2025 and December 2025. These short introductions aim to provide context and support community-building in anticipation of future developments.

Dr Lindsay Frederick Braun (PhD, Rutgers, 2008) is Associate Professor of History at the University of Oregon (USA).

His work addresses survey and mapping in colonial southern and eastern Africa from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s, as well as global settler colonialism during the same period.

Dr Tome Marelić is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Zadar, where he teaches Cartography and Geoinformatics. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Zadar, earned through the interdisciplinary postgraduate program Adriatic – Link Between Continents. His main research interest lies in the enigmatic origins of portolan charts, which he explores using a cartometric approach in combination with historical sources. From 2016 to 2023, he held research and postdoctoral positions at the same department. His academic background includes mathematical and nautical geography, and scientific methodology. Dr Marelić’s work combines geoinformatics with historical cartography, aiming to shed light on some of the most intriguing questions in medieval map history.

Dr Jana Moser is Head of the Department of Cartography and Visual Communication and Coordinator of the Geovisualisation research area at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL). She studied Cartography and received her doctorate from the Technical University of Dresden with a dissertation on the cartographic history of Namibia until 1990. Before joining IfL in 2011, she led the “Historical Atlas of Saxony” project in Dresden at the Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig. Her main areas of expertise include atlas and map design, the history of cartography, and regional studies focusing on Saxony, central Germany, and southern Africa.

Dr Petra Svatek studied geography and history at the University of Vienna and has worked on various projects related to the history of Austrian and German geography and cartography. These projects have been supported by the Austrian Science Fund, the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria, the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna, and the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin. Since 2018, she has been working at the Woldan Collection of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her current research focuses on scientific geography and cartography in Berlin and Vienna from 1900 to 1950, as well as on cartography and environmental catastrophes in the early and late modern periods.

Dr. Zsolt G. Török is Associate Professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest. He holds degrees in cartography and philosophy from ELTE and has taught the history of cartography for over three decades. Alongside his academic career, he own and runs CartArt, a unique traditional map and globe-making workshop, widely regarded as a pioneering application of experimental methodology in the field. By reconstructing historical techniques and materials, the workshop bridges scholarly research and material practice, offering an innovative model of research-based craftsmanship. His research focuses on cognitive visualization, early modern mapping practices, reproduction technologies, and the cultural contexts of cartographic production. He has contributed to the international The History of Cartography monograph project and has published extensively in the field. Dr. Török has been actively engaged in the International Cartographic Association (ICA) since 1990, serving as Hungary’s national representative in the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography and organizing its 2012 symposium in Budapest. He is Trustee of Imago Mundi and was Founding Chair of International Society for the History of the Map ( ISHMap, 2011–2016). He maintains an extensive international network and a strong commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Dr Jiajing Zhang is an Associate Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Humanities, Beijing, China.. She received her PhD in the History of Science from the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on the history of cartography, particularly the circulation and localization of Western mapping knowledge in China and the practices of survey-based mapping from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. She also works on the history of modern Chinese scientists and their intellectual networks. Dr Zhang currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Historical Geography and as Secretary of the Committee on Scientific Biography, Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology.