When: 9 April 2025
Embracing Transformation – Healing With Museums
On 9 April 2025, the ICOM UK S&EP Working Group will host an online event to explore how museums are evolving into spaces of healing, resilience, and education in response to global challenges.
Attend an invigorating and inspiring conference designed primarily for students and emerging professionals in the museum and cultural field.
The event will feature workshops, panel talks, and presentations to discover new approaches to curatorial innovation, community involvement, digital engagement, and sustainable practices.
Programme:
09:30 – 09:50 Opening Remark S&EP WG
09:50 – 11:20 Keynote Speech: Prof. Helen Chatterjee
11:25 – 12:25 Panel 1:Curating Difficult Histories
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Light After Loss: The Role of Museums and Heritage Learning in Guiding Grief and Nurturing Empathy by Katerina Provornaya, Group for Education in Museums (GEM)
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Museums Healing Historical Trauma: First Nations Art at NGV, Melbourne by Gabriella Kourtidou, Athens School of Fine Arts
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Spontaneous Memorials As Loans – Museum Care and Community Healing in the Aftermath of Traumatic Events by Lesley Cheung, University of Manchester
12:25 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:30 Panel 2: Bridging Hidden Voices
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Fostering Cultural Dialogues Through Explorations of Taboos by Noël van Riswick, National Trust
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Curating Discomfort, Fault Lines, and Potential Histories: Exploring Engagement with Conflicting Views on the Past in Museums by Claire Taylor, University of Cambridge
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Embodied Archives: Digital Sound Collections as Sites of Sensory Engagement and Healing by Zhuolin Li, University of Leicester
14:35 – 15:35 Panel 3: Digital Strategies for Community Co-creation
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Co-Creating Heritage: A New Model of Collecting at the Museum of Broken Relationships by Lottie Hyde, University of Plymouth
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Home-landing: A virtual Journey in Search of a Sense of Belonging by Maria Mkrtycheva, University of Wolverhampton
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‘Archive in Five’: Digital Innovation at the SS Great Britain (Pre-Recorded Presentation) by Rebecca Davies
15:35 – 15:50 Comfort Break
15:50 – 16:50 Panel 4: Sustainability, Regeneration, and Resilience
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Empowering Coastal Communities through Museum Initiatives: A Legal and Cultural Perspective by Pablo Zamora, MarViva Foundation, Costa Rica
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Healing Through Architecture: Museums, Exhibitions, and the Rewriting of History by Ri Su, Central Saint Martins
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Museu de Favela (MUF): Socio-Cultural Dynamics and Community Engagement by Gabriela Araldi & Elizabete Dos Santos Pereira
16:50 – 17:00 Closing Remarks
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Register Now on Eventbrite: ICOM UK Student and Emerging Professionals Conference 2025
ICOM UK Student and Emerging Professionals Conference 2025
The ICOM UK Student and Emerging Professionals (S&EP) Working Group started organising events aimed at students and early-career professionals in museum and cultural studies. Since April 2022, this group has encouraged ideas exchange, collaborative projects, and a reimagining of the evolving museum industry.
The project launched from the ‘Career Challenges Facing Students and Early Career Professionals’ meeting at ICOM UK’s 2022 Working Internationally Conference.
The S&EP Working Group supports ICOM’s engagement with younger generations and is open to fostering a community of diverse voices sharing research and projects.
[Athina Gkouma, owner of Local Approach, has been a co-organiser of the S&EP Group since October 2022 and will facilitate one of the panels]
