Call for papers | ICOM-UMAC & UNIVERSEUM @ TUD 2024

From September 24th to 29th, 2024, ICOM-UMAC, the International Council of Museums’ Committee for University Museums and Collections, and the European Academic Heritage Network UNIVERSEUM will hold their first joint annual meeting at TUD Dresden University of Technology in Dresden, Germany. The conference, hosted by TUD’s Office of Academic Heritage, Scientific, and Art Collections, will be held on-site, with selected keynotes streamed online. The conference language is English.

In a world undergoing profound processes of transformation, societal, political, and environmental changes are increasingly impacting all areas of human life. For university collections and museums, such developments present both challenges and opportunities. The way academic heritage is perceived and the infrastructures dedicated to its management and care are currently in a state of flux, leading sometimes to decline, sometimes to new life. Looking back, similar developments have affected academic heritage at various points in history, and they are likely to do so in the years to come.

These processes of transformation and transition, their impact on university collections and museums, and how we respond to them both individually and as a community, will be the overarching theme of the 2024 Dresden conference.