François Mairesse is Professor of Museology and the Economics of Culture at the University of Paris 3. He also teaches museology at the Louvre School and at the University of Neuchâtel.

He has been President of the International Committee for Museology of ICOM (ICOFOM) since 2013. After a Masters in Management and a Masters in Art History at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, he obtained his doctorate in 1998 in the same university and his authorization to direct research in Lyon in 2008.

He successively worked for the National Scientific Research Fund, the Office of the Minister President of the French Community of Belgium and, from 2002 to 2010, at the Royal Museum of Mariemont of which he assumed the direction.