Tag: conferences

CFP for [online] Session at Royal Geographical Society Conference: Aging and the ‘crafts of place’: creative engagements in practice and method

The Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers conference will be held in Birmingham, UK, from August 27-29, 2025 on the theme of Creative Geographies/Geographies of Creativity. 

For those working on social and cultural geography with an interest in aging, intergenerational learning, and place, please consider submitting a proposal to this online session – accepted papers will be notified by February 28, and the session will be submitted to the RGS-IBG team for consideration by March 7.

Aging and the ‘crafts of place’: creative engagements in practice and method 

In a 1981 lecture, Clifford Geertz used the term “crafts of place” to describe practices and systems that “work by the light of local knowledge” (1981, 167). This evocative terminology highlights the relationship between knowing, doing, and place – a nexus for interdisciplinary consideration of land-based knowledge, place-making, and place-based cultural production. Indigenous ways of knowing have long emphasized the role of land as pedagogy (Betasamosake Simpson 2014), while attention to sustainability has given new impetus to studies of place-based and vernacular skills, products, and practices (Paneels 2023; Watson 2019). Placemaking, too, might be conceptualized as a ‘craft of place,’ with recent scholarship beginning to outline the role of creativity in placemaking (Courage and McKeown 2019; Courage 2020) and underscoring the relationship between regional ecologies, cultural landscapes and cultural heritage practices (Gillett 2022; Luckman and Thomas 2024). Given that these frameworks highlight the importance of spending time with a place and the validity of embodied and relational ways of learning and knowing, how do they intersect with the real or imagined effects of time on human bodies and communities – with aging? How does engagement with the ‘crafts of place’ evolve throughout the life course? What is the role of intergenerational relationships in sustaining local knowledge and place-based practices? Might the elements of time and aging challenge or broaden the notions of local knowledge or crafts of place? Might thinking of aging in relation to these themes provide a lens through which to consider it as a socially, culturally and spatially-delineated process? How might research itself become a ‘craft of place’ that engages creatively with practices, places and (aging) demographics whose ways of knowing have been historically marginalized by institutions?

This single-session online panel invites speakers to submit abstracts for 10-15 minute presentations that engage with themes of aging and ‘the crafts of place,’ broadly interpreted, with particular consideration given to those that use case studies to highlight creative and innovative practices and methods. Speakers are invited to share ideas for how best to facilitate conversation around their presentation topics and will be able to upload additional material as well as questions for the audience ahead of the session. It is anticipated that the session will include an opportunity for discussion in themed breakout rooms. 

Research Group Sponsorship: Social and Cultural Geography Research Group Sponsorship application submitted, not yet confirmed

Convenor and Affiliation: Dr. Molly-Claire Gillett, Postdoctoral Fellow, Trent Centre for Aging and Society, Trent University (Canada) & School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies, University of Galway (Ireland)

Guidelines for prospective authors: please upload an abstract of ~250 words along with a short bio of ~50 words to this form: https://forms.office.com/r/iiNZwUcdaW by February 21, 2025.

Questions can be directed to Molly-Claire Gillett (mollyclairegillett@trentu.ca) Selected authors will be notified by February 28, with the complete panel proposal sent to RGS for consideration by March 7.

References:

Betasamosake Simpson, Leanne. 2014. “Land as pedagogy: Nishnaabeg intelligence and rebellious     transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3 no. 3: 1-25.            https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/22170/17985 

Courage, Cara. 2020. The art of placemaking: a typology of art practices in placemaking. London:     Routledge.

Courage, Cara and Anita McKeown. 2019. Creative Placemaking: Research, Theory, and Practice. London:  Routledge.

Cutchin, Malcolm and Graham D. Rowles, eds. 2024. Handbook on Aging and Place. Cheltenham and   Northampton: Edgar. 

Geertz, Clifford. 2000. Local Knowledge: Further Essays In Interpretive Anthropology. E-book. New York:   Basic Books.

Gillett, Molly-Claire. 2022. “‘Storying’ Landscape and Material Practice: Clones Crochet Lacemaking            as Irish Intangible Cultural Heritage.” New Hibernia Review 26, no. 4: 36-   64. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/nhr.2022.0045.

Luckman, Susan and Nicola Thomas. 2024. Craft Communities. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.

Panneels, Inge. 2023. “The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable          Enterprise in the Craft Industry.” Sustainability 15, no. 4: 3791.     https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043791

Skinner, Mark, Rachel Winterton and Keiran Walsh eds. 2021. Rural Gerontology: Towards Critical       Perspectives on Rural Ageing. London and New York: Routledge.

Watson, Julia. 2019. Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism. London: Taschen.

Contact Information

Molly-Claire Gillett
Postdoctoral Fellow, Trent University and University of Galway

Contact Email

mollyclairegillett@trentu.ca

CFP: Graduate Student Program Proposals SAA Annual Meeting

The 2025 Student Program Subcommittee is accepting proposals for two special sessions dedicated to student scholarship during the 2025 Annual Meeting in August. Work from both master’s and doctoral students will be considered. This call encompasses proposals for sessions to be presented either in-person or virtually during the hybrid Annual Meeting.

Graduate Student Presentation

The work of three current archives students and/or SAA student chapters will be selected for presentation. Each speaker will be allotted fifteen minutes to present a paper. Be creative! Proposals from individual students as well as SAA student chapter groups will be considered. Proposals may relate to the student’s applied or theoretical research, research about the archives profession itself, or even practical/internship experiences. Student chapters may consider presenting on projects or initiatives conducted in the current term (Fall 2024 through Summer 2025). Participant selection will be based on the quality of proposals submitted.
This session will be held in-person.

Graduate Student Poster

The 25th annual Graduate Student Poster Session will showcase the work of both individual students and SAA Student Chapters. All posters will be presented in-person and virtually in PDF format. More information about preparing posters will be shared upon acceptance. Posters will be available to all meeting attendees throughout the week of the conference and on the virtual platform.

Individual posters may describe applied or theoretical research that is completed or underway; discuss interesting collections with which students have worked; or report on archives and records projects in which students have participated (e.g., development of finding aids, public outreach, database construction, etc.). Submissions should focus on research or activity conducted within the previous academic year (Fall 2024 to Summer 2025).

Student chapter posters may describe chapter activities, events, and/or other involvement with the archives and records professions. A single representative should coordinate the submission of each Student Chapter proposal.

Submission Instructions and Deadline

The submission form will be available by February 14. To submit a paper or poster proposal, please complete the proposal form no later than March 24. (Proposals received after this date will not be considered.) Emailed submissions or submissions in any other format will not be accepted.

SAA encourages broad participation in the ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2025. All presenters—including speakers, session chairs, commentators, and poster presenters—are limited to participation in one session. Please alert the 2025 Student Program Subcommittee if you have agreed to participate in another accepted session.

If presenters wish to attend any portion of the 2025 Annual Meeting, they will need to secure institutional or personal funding to register for the conference. SAA is not able to consider complimentary registration for student presenters.

If you have any questions, please contact conference@archivists.org.

Proposals for posters and presentations for the 2025 Annual Meeting are due Monday, March 24. Proposals received after this date will not be considered.

CFP: “The Past as Knowledge,” 10th Annual International Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference

All submissions are welcome. The selection committee interprets our theme broadly and encourages proposals that reflect on women’s, gender, and queer studies. The conference will include presentations that address issues of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies across various disciplines, including, but not limited to, the social studies, humanities, fine arts, activism, and STEM fields. We invite students, faculty, staff, scholars, and activists to propose papers, panels, roundtable discussions, and workshop presentations.

The International Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference is presented by the Women’s Research Center and the BGLTQ+ Student Center at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) with assistance from the UCO chapter of the National Organization for Women. In tandem, these organizations promote engagement with Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) issues.

____________________

Our theme this year is “The Past as Knowledge.” Instead of defining the past as times, events, and modes of knowledge preceding the present moment, the 10th annual International Gender and Sexuality Studies (IGSS) Conference invites the many ways that people have based their future-forward thinking through engaging with and being inspired by the past. The past, in fact, has always been one with–and living among–the present. At a time when cultural amnesia and other forms of forgetting pervade every corner, how should we protect and make good use of archives as defense? How should the past be the current guide for our knowledge production? What epistemic value does the present-past offer us? Virginia Woolf, in Women and Writing, asks that we don’t ignore quotidian history, saying “It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman’s life…that we can account for the success or failure of the extraordinary woman as a writer.” Likewise, scholars such as Miriam David and Sue Clegg have resisted the temptation to obscure foundational second-wave feminist thinking–the personal as the political–in current research and practices. With your participation, we will take up many questions related to WGSS in multiple disciplines during our two-day conference on October 17 through October 18, 2025, while sustaining a productive and positive space for students, activists, and community members alike.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Paula Sophia Schonauer (LCSW), a licensed social worker in the State of Oklahoma and the director of the Counseling Center at Oklahoma City University. A published writer, Schonauer has written fictional work as well as forensic social work. Schonauer’s talk, which will cover activism and social work in the mental and medical healthcare settings, will be moderated by Lindsey Churchill, Ph.D., Professor of History and Director of WGSS.

The deadline to apply is April 18th, 2025 at 11:59PM Central Time. Please use the following link for the CFA: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/27/tenth-international-gender-and-sexuality-studies-conference-1017-18-2025.

For questions, please contact thecenteratuco@gmail.com or Shun Kiang, Ph.D., at skiang@uco.edu.

Contact Information

Women’s Research Center and BGLTQ+ Student Center at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO)

Contact Email

thecenteratuco@gmail.com

URL

https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/27/tenth-international-gender…

CFP: Archives Association of Ontario 2025 Virtual Conference

The Archives Association of Ontario is pleased to announce the 2025 Annual Conference to be held from May 6th to May 8th virtually.

Theme: Ebb and Flow: Narratives of Adaptability

This theme focuses on how archives, archivists, and information professionals adapt to challenges, recover from disruptions, and transform their practices to remain vital and responsive to their communities. Whether facing environmental change, evolving technologies, or funding constraints, “Ebb and Flow” explores how the path towards innovation and growth is rarely straightforward.

Stay tuned for more information!  #aao25conf

CFP: Sounds of a Lifetime: Audio Media and Life Writing

Sounds of a Lifetime: Exploring Life Writing in Audio Media (29–30 January 2026, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) 

This conference aims to expand the boundaries of life writing studies by focusing on the often-overlooked domain of audio life narratives. As Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson highlight in the preface of Reading Autobiography, “[l]ife narrative studies has become an expansive, transnational, multimedia field” (xi), going far beyond the written word. In the latest edition of this seminal work, they touch upon the concept of mediated voice and the aural qualities of social media messages, indicating the varied manifestations of auto/biographical acts (129).  

Building on the exciting new work being done in studies of life writing, auto/biography, literary studies, sound studies, and media studies, this conference seeks to explore the multifaceted realm of sonic life narratives, with a particular emphasis on their literary and artistic features, as well as listeners’ individual and collective experiences. More specifically, it seeks to examine how audio life writing represents, mediates, and (re)constitutes lives; what aesthetic strategies are used and what effects they generate; how audio life narratives are received and remediated; as well as their inherent politics. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:  

  • Theoretical/methodological reflections on audio life writing  
  • Audio life writing in specific genres and media (radio drama, podcasts, rap and spoken word poetry, …) 
  • Voice, sound and music in audio life writing  
  • Audio life writing and cultural memory 
  • Audio life writing and identity (individual and collective) 
  • Audio life writing and politics 
  • Audio life writing and intermediality 
  • Adaptations of life stories to audio media 
  • Audio archives and life narratives  
  • Fact and fiction in audio life writing  
  • Listening to audio life writing  
  • … 

The conference will be held in English, but research on non-Anglophone contexts is strongly encouraged. Please note that we are aiming for an in-person conference.  

The following keynote speakers have confirmed: Julia Lajta-Novak (University of Vienna), Jarmila Mildorf (University of Paderborn), Matthew Rubery (Queen Mary University of London) 

Please submit your abstract (250–300 words) as a PDF or Word document, including your name, affiliation, and contact details, along with a brief biography (100 words) via email to soundsofalifetime@vub.be by February 15, 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by March 20, 2025. Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of an international peer- reviewed journal or an edited volume.  

Please follow updates on our conference website: https://events.vub.be/sounds-of-a-lifetime-exploring-life-writing-in-audio-media 

CFP: A Polyphony of Emotions: Thinking Affect in Heritage, Memory and Material Culture

The Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture is pleased to share the Call for Papers for the 11th Annual Conference ‘A Polyphony of Emotions: Thinking Affect in Heritage, Memory and Material Culture.’ This conference occurs at the University of Amsterdam on 2, 3 and 4 July 2025. 

Cultural heritage shapes individual and collective emotions, and vice versa. The reciprocal relationship between heritage and emotions is demonstrated by how, in recent years, political, activist and academic debates have reconsidered the importance of affect. No longer relegated merely to the individual and psychological dimension, these debates have come to frame emotions as constituent elements of social experience. Suffice it to consider the use of social fear of a global nuclear war; the imperialist nostalgia of Western countries, which see nationalism and/or populism as the solution to counter globalisation; the emotional polarization with the ongoing wars in Palestine and Ukraine; the resurgence of radical ethno-traditionalist rhetoric all around the world, driven by frustration with open-market globalism, and the manipulation of foreign-state propaganda aimed at exploiting emotions to politically target local populations; the pride or vindictive anger of activists who deface museums, works of art and monuments; heightened emotions in the context of social revolutions and political revolts and (neo)colonial struggle, the emotions connected to the memory and impact of the Pan-Atlantic slave trade and all forms of enslavement of people; or the solastalgia and anxiety caused by the ever-faster crisis of climate change.

These few examples indicate the extent to which emotions and thinking affect can become performative forces, driving actions and therefore building, preserving, destroying heritage and memory. Understanding the role of emotions in heritage sites, memory acts and material culture practices, policies and politics, therefore, is essential to grasp how the past is experienced, contested, romanticized, rejected or silenced across various local, national and transnational levels. In response to the need to better understand these processes, the 11th annual conference of the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM) will be dedicated to the polyphonies of emotions and thinking affect in heritage, memory and material culture studies. By crossing academic, artistic and professional boundaries, the aim of the conference is to investigate how the past can be constituted as a battleground where emotions are designed, weaponized and manipulated to advance political and ideological agendas, or to shape the mobilization of communities. This conference aims to explore the dynamic relationship between heritage and collective emotions, focusing on how emotions affect varied global heritage and memory practices, narratives and policies, and, vice versa, how heritage can serve as a tool for emotional mobilization, resilience and reconciliation.

We welcome abstracts and proposals for papers, panels and roundtables emanating from diverse historical and geographical contexts that engage with (but are not restricted to) the following themes:

  • Theories of emotions and heritage: what theoretical perspectives can illuminate the relationship between heritage, emotion, and conflict, and how can these frameworks deepen our understanding of the emotional dimensions of heritage?
  • Emotions and the politics of heritage and social justice: how do emotions contribute to preserving or challenging dominant and hegemonic heritage narratives? What role do emotions play in (re)shaping research positionalities, resisting cultural and political polarisation or facing systemic oppression and injustice?
  • Emotions and heritage construction: how are emotional narratives intentionally constructed in heritage sites, museums, works of literature, films, and commemorations, with the aim of influencing collective memory and identity?
  • Emotion and collective memory: how do emotional frameworks shape collective memory and the understanding of the past?
  • The weaponization of emotions in conflict: how are emotions strategically manipulated to justify the destruction of cultural heritage or to mobilize communities to defend it?
  • Heritage and collective solidarity: in times of crisis, how do communities utilize heritage to foster emotional resilience, solidarity, and a sense of shared purpose?
  • Methodologies for studying emotions and heritage: what innovative qualitative and quantitative research methods are most effective for analyzing the role of emotion in heritage studies?

Applications

  • A short abstract (max. 250 words)
  • A brief academic biography (including name, affiliation, research interests; max 100 words)

Applications for panels and roundtables

  • A short rationale of the aim of the panel (max. 250 words)
  • A short abstract of each paper to be presented (max. 250 words)
  • A brief academic biography of all presenters (including name, affiliation, research interests; max 100 words)

Proposals can be submitted by 15 March 2025 to ahmannualconference@gmail.com.

About the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM)

The AHM fosters dynamic, interdisciplinary and transnational research on heritage and memory, organizes PhD training, seminars, reading groups, workshops, public debates and international conferences, and stimulates schola. The school brings together researchers working in diverse areas and fields, interconnecting heritage and memory studies, cultural studies, museum studies, archaeology, material culture, art history, media, conservation and restoration, archival studies, digital humanities, postcolonial and performative studies, religious studies, music and theatre studies, conflict and identity studies, Slavonic languages and cultures, Holocaust and genocide studies, European memory studies, Middle Eastern studies, and cultural, public and oral history. For more information about AHM please visit the website: https://ahm.uva.nl/ 

Contact Information

Josien Franken, Conference Assistant. 

Contact Email

ahmannualconference@gmail.com

URL

https://ahm.uva.nl/shared/subsites/amsterdam-institute-for-humanities-research/…

CFP: International Conference on the History of Map Collecting. Vienna, Central Europe and Beyond

The one-day conference will be held on 12 June 2025, at University of Vienna. The conference will be organised jointly by the Vienna Center for the History of Collecting (Austria) and Moravian Library in Brno (Czech Republic) and will be accompanied by a poster exhibition on Bernard Paul Moll composite atlas preserved at Moravian Library which originated in Vienna in the 18th century.

We welcome papers on history of map collecting and composite atlases, 17th-20th centuries. Paper´s title, abstract of 5-8 senteces and short CV in English are welcome by 17 March 2025. The acceptance notification is scheduled on 31 March 2025. There will be 20 minutes space for presentations. The conference language will be English.

Contact Information

Eva Chodejovska, Moravian Library in Brno (Czech Republic)

Silvia Tammaro, University of Vienna (Austria)

Contact Email

chodejovska@mzk.cz

CFP: EurAsian Materials in Central European Collections

EurAsian Materials in Central European Collections (Innsbruck, 5 and 6 June 2025). 

Traditional categories essential to cataloguing and describing objects (such as date, maker, and geographic origin) are opposed to the layered processes of creation, circulation, and reinterpretation that characterize much EurAsian material culture in central European collections. Museum labels pinpoint where and when objects were “made.” A methodology grounded in material histories shifts the emphasis to multiple sites of creation and adaptive reuse. These questions open new spatial and temporal contexts for objects, placing them more firmly in local and global circuits. The goal of this workshop is to bring these material entanglements to the surface and develop concrete measures that make them more visible to both scholars and the general public. To do so, the workshop brings together a group of international experts to present cutting edge research and explore new avenues for scholarship, teaching, and outreach that place Eurasian materials at the center of thinking about central European collections. 

The focus will be on the use and adaptation of raw materials (such as metals, minerals, bones, nutshells) to explore deep object biographies. The workshop will look closely at well-known EurAsian resources like lapis lazuli (Lake Baika and in the Kokcha River valley), ruby (Central and Southeast Asia), nephrite (most famously from Hotan), diamonds (Indian subcontinent), citrine (Ural Mountains), and coconut (Indo-Pacific). Workshop participants will also focus on less-studied materials such as chalcedony, aurochs’ horn, jasper, agate, rock crystal, amethyst, sardonyx, diamonds, heliotrope, and garnet. 

The workshop will include academic papers as well as a tour of the collections at Schloss Ambras, and a brainstorming session on outreach (focused on floating ideas for revising labels, creating digital tours for existing platforms, educational programming, ideas for the development of educational materials to be sold at gift shops). The workshop is organized and funded by the FWF Cluster of Excellence in EurAsian Transformations, and we have funding to cover the cost of travel and accommodations for a limited group of participants.

We invite proposals for traditional research papers (20 minutes) or object-focused discussions (10-15 minutes). Please send a title and abstract of no more than 300 words alongside a CV to radwayr@ceu.edu by February 15, 2025.

Contact Email

radwayr@ceu.edu

CFP: A Polyphony of Emotions: Thinking Affect in Heritage, Memory and Material Culture

The Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture is pleased to share the Call for Papers for the 11th Annual Conference ‘A Polyphony of Emotions: Thinking Affect in Heritage, Memory and Material Culture.’ This conference occurs at the University of Amsterdam on 2, 3 and 4 July 2025. 

Cultural heritage shapes individual and collective emotions, and vice versa. The reciprocal relationship between heritage and emotions is demonstrated by how, in recent years, political, activist and academic debates have reconsidered the importance of affect. No longer relegated merely to the individual and psychological dimension, these debates have come to frame emotions as constituent elements of social experience. Suffice it to consider the use of social fear of a global nuclear war; the imperialist nostalgia of Western countries, which see nationalism and/or populism as the solution to counter globalisation; the emotional polarization with the ongoing wars in Palestine and Ukraine; the resurgence of radical ethno-traditionalist rhetoric all around the world, driven by frustration with open-market globalism, and the manipulation of foreign-state propaganda aimed at exploiting emotions to politically target local populations; the pride or vindictive anger of activists who deface museums, works of art and monuments; heightened emotions in the context of social revolutions and political revolts and (neo)colonial struggle, the emotions connected to the memory and impact of the Pan-Atlantic slave trade and all forms of enslavement of people; or the solastalgia and anxiety caused by the ever-faster crisis of climate change.

These few examples indicate the extent to which emotions and thinking affect can become performative forces, driving actions and therefore building, preserving, destroying heritage and memory. Understanding the role of emotions in heritage sites, memory acts and material culture practices, policies and politics, therefore, is essential to grasp how the past is experienced, contested, romanticized, rejected or silenced across various local, national and transnational levels. In response to the need to better understand these processes, the 11th annual conference of the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM) will be dedicated to the polyphonies of emotions and thinking affect in heritage, memory and material culture studies. By crossing academic, artistic and professional boundaries, the aim of the conference is to investigate how the past can be constituted as a battleground where emotions are designed, weaponized and manipulated to advance political and ideological agendas, or to shape the mobilization of communities. This conference aims to explore the dynamic relationship between heritage and collective emotions, focusing on how emotions affect varied global heritage and memory practices, narratives and policies, and, vice versa, how heritage can serve as a tool for emotional mobilization, resilience and reconciliation.

We welcome abstracts and proposals for papers, panels and roundtables emanating from diverse historical and geographical contexts that engage with (but are not restricted to) the following themes:

  • Theories of emotions and heritage: what theoretical perspectives can illuminate the relationship between heritage, emotion, and conflict, and how can these frameworks deepen our understanding of the emotional dimensions of heritage?
  • Emotions and the politics of heritage and social justice: how do emotions contribute to preserving or challenging dominant and hegemonic heritage narratives? What role do emotions play in (re)shaping research positionalities, resisting cultural and political polarisation or facing systemic oppression and injustice?
  • Emotions and heritage construction: how are emotional narratives intentionally constructed in heritage sites, museums, works of literature, films, and commemorations, with the aim of influencing collective memory and identity?
  • Emotion and collective memory: how do emotional frameworks shape collective memory and the understanding of the past?
  • The weaponization of emotions in conflict: how are emotions strategically manipulated to justify the destruction of cultural heritage or to mobilize communities to defend it?
  • Heritage and collective solidarity: in times of crisis, how do communities utilize heritage to foster emotional resilience, solidarity, and a sense of shared purpose?
  • Methodologies for studying emotions and heritage: what innovative qualitative and quantitative research methods are most effective for analyzing the role of emotion in heritage studies?

Applications

  • A short abstract (max. 250 words)
  • A brief academic biography (including name, affiliation, research interests; max 100 words)

Applications for panels and roundtables

  • A short rationale of the aim of the panel (max. 250 words)
  • A short abstract of each paper to be presented (max. 250 words)
  • A brief academic biography of all presenters (including name, affiliation, research interests; max 100 words)

Proposals can be submitted by 15 March 2025 to ahmannualconference@gmail.com.

About the Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM)

The AHM fosters dynamic, interdisciplinary and transnational research on heritage and memory, organizes PhD training, seminars, reading groups, workshops, public debates and international conferences, and stimulates schola. The school brings together researchers working in diverse areas and fields, interconnecting heritage and memory studies, cultural studies, museum studies, archaeology, material culture, art history, media, conservation and restoration, archival studies, digital humanities, postcolonial and performative studies, religious studies, music and theatre studies, conflict and identity studies, Slavonic languages and cultures, Holocaust and genocide studies, European memory studies, Middle Eastern studies, and cultural, public and oral history. For more information about AHM please visit the website: https://ahm.uva.nl/ 

Contact Information

Josien Franken, Conference Assistant. 

Contact Email

ahmannualconference@gmail.com

URL

https://ahm.uva.nl/shared/subsites/amsterdam-institute-for-humanities-research/…

CFP: ICA Section on University and Research Institution Archives

ICA/SUV 2025 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

XXX JORNADAS DE LA CONFERENCIA DE ARCHIVEROS DE LAS UNIVERSIDADES ESPAÑOLAS

Barcelona, 27th-28th October 2025 / 27 – 28 Octubre 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS / LLAMADA DE COMUNICACIONES

“Innovating University and Research Archives. Challenges Towards Sustainability”

“Archivos de Universidades y de Investigación Innovadores. Desafíos para la Sostenibilidad”

The International Council on Archives Section on University and Research Institution Archives (ICA-SUV) and the Archivists Conference of the Spanish Universities (CAU – CRUE) are pleased to announce their annual conference for 2025.The conference, titled Innovating University and Research Archives. Challenges Towards Sustainability, will be held at the University Autonomous of Barcelona in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain), 27-28 October, 2025. This will be an in-person conference. 

This conference presents an opportunity for reflective discussion about many aspects around:

1. Alignment of University Archives with the SDGs and Compliance with the 2030 Agenda The 2030 Agenda is a United Nations action plan for the people, the planet, and prosperity. The Agenda sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 169 targets aimed at achieving a balanced approach to three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social, and environmental spheres. The contribution of University and Research Institutions Archives in reaching these goals is crucial. Wellbeing, Education and Quality, Reduce Inequalities, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and Production, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions are among those objectives where the impact of the work of archivists can be most significant.

We welcome proposals which:

•     Use practical examples to demonstrate how university and research institution archives can support the SDGs.

•     Focus on specific goals such as Good Health and Well-being or Reduced Inequalities to show how records and archives are vital in contributing to success in these areas.

•     Explore how archivists can work in partnership with others to support their institution and society to achieve these goals.

2. Archives in the Face of the Climate Emergency: Prevention and Actions

The consequences of climate change are increasingly influencing our daily lives, with effects becoming more catastrophic for people and their environment. Archives and documentary heritage, due to their special structural vulnerability within the institutions to which they belong, have been directly affected in recent years by floods, storms, fires, and other disasters arising from the climate emergency. This affects history, memory, culture, and the identity of communities, as well as the fulfilment of citizens’ rights and obligations by public administrations, alongside the enforcement of transparency and accountability. The adaptation of our services may be crucial in the protection of both people and heritage.

We welcome proposals which explore some of the following topics:

•   How archivists can ensure they are prepared for potential disasters and emergencies, particularly in a university setting

•   What archive services can do to limit the harm they do to the environment and to support sustainability

•   The importance of university and research institution archives in providing evidence of climate change and supplying data which can help society to plan for a better future

3. Archives: Experiences of Adaptation and Innovation

Digital transformation and the move to digital governance in institutions have posed a challenge for archives and professionals in the area of document and record management. Maintaining the role of records and archives as a core element which reaches across increasingly digitised management structures has been one of the most significant goals of the century. Colleagues have successfully adapted to innovations and become more visible, offering society and its organisations an essential and innovative service in document and records management, while also becoming a reference in the promotion of their historical heritage.

We welcome proposals that discuss:

•   Innovative approaches to the management of archives and records in digital systems.

•   Successful collaboration with other professionals, such as information technologists and others.

•   Effective advocacy for the importance of consulting archivists when designing and running digital governance and management systems

Professional conversations at conferences like this are important to furthering global and local understanding of innovating University and Research Archives and challenges towards the sustainability.

Papers and presentations formats: 

  • Lightning Talks: Rapid and concise presentations; 10 minutes long 
  • Papers: Research/scholarly papers; 20 minutes long; can be analytical, descriptive, or reflective 
  • Experiences: A 15-minute presentation related to subtopic 3.
  • Panel Discussion: Composed of 3 speakers, plus a facilitator, with varied perspectives discussing a similar topic; indicate length of time requested 
  • Posters: Presentation of research work, a project, an idea, or any other type of work in poster format, which participants of the ICA-SUV and the CAU Conference can view in a dedicated space at the conference venue. Those presenting a poster should be present during the presentation session to provide explanations and answer questions related to the poster.
  • Wild Card : Submit your own idea or format and indicate length of time requested

Please submit to Caroline Brown, ICA-SUV Chair, at c.z.brown@dundee.ac.uk an abstract of 250-300 words accompanied by a bibliography of at least two titles, which will not count towards the 250-word minimum plus the following information:

Short bio for each speaker (150-200 words) 
Title of paper or presentation
Presentation format
Name(s) of speaker(s)
Job title(s) and institution(s)
Postal address and email address