Eighteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

  • Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums: Engines of Innovation and Social Participation
  • 15-17 September 2025
  • University of San Jorge, Zaragoza, Spain + Online

Conference Themes and Special Focus

Founded in 2008, The Inclusive Museum Research Network is brought together by a shared concern for the future role of the museum and how it can become more inclusive. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tensions.

The Eighteenth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum calls for research addressing the following annual themes and special focus:

  • 2025 Special Focus—Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums: Engines of Innovation and Social Participation
  • Theme 1: Visitors
  • Theme 2: Collections
  • Theme 3: Representations

2025 Plenary Speakers

Faye Hobson

Faye Hobson

Director for Culture, Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria

Jesús Pedro Lorente

Jesús Pedro Lorente

Professor, University of Zaragoza, Spain

"The Importance of Museum Introductions: Singularly in Galleries of Contemporary Art"

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs

Professor, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium

“Presents, All the Way Down…and Up”

Pilar Irala-Hortal

Pilar Irala-Hortal

Full Professor, University San Jorge, Spain

"Digital and Digitised Heritage As Inclusive Heritage"

Alissandra Cummins

Alissandra Cummins

Director, Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Barbados

Conference Rapporteur

Research Network Chair

Amareswar Galla

Amareswar Galla

Pro-Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of Indigeneity and Inclusive Museum & Heritage Studies, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneshwar, India; Professor and Pro Chancellor, Kaling Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneshwar & UNESCO Chair on Museums and Sustainable Heritage Development; Emeritus Faculty, Australian National University, Canberra; Executive Director, International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, Australia/India/USA; Founding Member, UNITWIN-UNESCO Network – Tourism, Culture and Development, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; and Former Vice President, ICOM, Paris, and former President, ICOM of the Asia Pacific, Paris; formerly full Professor of World Heritage and Sustainable Development at the University of Split located in the World Heritage City of Split; first full Professor of Museum Studies in Australia at the University of Queensland, Brisbane; and prior to that full Professor and Director of Sustainable Heritage Development Programs, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra; extensive publication record includes the flagship project and publication, World Heritage: Benefits Beyond Borders, Cambridge University Press & UNESCO Publishing , for the 40th Anniversary of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention launched in Kyoto, Japan, 2012 (English, Korean & French).

Local Conference Chair

Pilar Irala-Hortal

Pilar Irala-Hortal

Professor, University San Jorge, Spain

Conference Partners

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