ICMM Biennial Congress 2024 – ‘Low Lands, High Tides’

The International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the next biennial ICMM Congress (conference), to be held from 15-20 September 2024 in the ‘low land’ countries of The Netherlands and Belgium.

The 2024 Congress has been organised in collaboration with four host museums:

Your hosts for the week will be:
Het Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum) – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Maritiem Museum Rotterdam – Rotterdam, Netherlands
Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) – Antwerp, Belgium
Zuiderzee Museum – Enkhuizen, Netherlands

We invite you to gather in these two nations, rich in maritime heritage, to explore with us the role of maritime museums in the contemporary world, to discuss how museums might respond to marine climate change, how to reinterpret maritime heritage, how to diversify our audiences and reconsider interpretive practice, as well as how to rethink our relationship with the ocean from regional, national and/or global perspectives. We welcome a diversity of submissions from all backgrounds to share challenges and opportunities related to your museums and institutions.

Conference themes

Each day of the Congress will be structured according to the following topics, on which we now invite proposals for papers:

• Day 1 –  Blue Ocean and the Marine Environment
  How can maritime museums respond to ocean conservation challenges, the changing climate, and our changing relationship with the sea?
• Day 2 – Museum Ships and Maritime Heritage
  How can maritime museums navigate current and future impacts on museum vessels and the maritime heritage sector to enhance their sustainability?
• Day 3 – Maritime Crafts and Skills in Museums
  How can maritime museums best conserve, collect and present historic maritime crafts and skills?
• Day 4 –  People and the Sea
  How should the impact of maritime history on today’s society be represented through our values and behaviours as museums and through our exhibitions and public programming?
• Day 5 – The Maritime Museum as Activist?
  The world is currently confronted by global ecological and socio-demographic challenges, many of which link directly to our oceans. How should the role of maritime museums and leaders adapt to address these challenges?

‘Pecha Kucha’ / Short report sessions
Alongside the above themes, we also encourage submissions for short reports, particularly from any new ICMM members from new regions, or those with new projects. These short reports should be presented in a ‘Pecha Kucha’-style format (a maximum of 7 minutes duration).

Proposals can be made for a conference paper, panel, workshop or short report.
The format of each presentation is 20 minutes long (including 5 minutes Q&A), and 7 minutes for a short report. The proposal should not exceed 300 words.

During the Congress, there will also be a ‘Market Place’ session, where participants can promote and exchange information about any travelling exhibitions or other matters of interest to member maritime museums.

Submission and deadline

Abstracts should be submitted here.
The following information should be included in the abstract proposal:

• Title of the submitted proposal.
• Indicate if it is a paper, panel session, workshop or short report (Pecha Kucha).
• Name(s) of Author(s) or presenters.
• Institutional Affiliation(s) (if you have one), country and email address.
• Technical requirements for the proposed presentation, and whether you propose to use audio or video media.
• 100-word biography for each presenter.

The abstract must be submitted in English. Presentations should be delivered in English but a live sub-title service in other languages may be available online. 

We encourage in-person attendance, to benefit from the experience of being in the ‘low lands’ countries and to network with other attendees, but some online sessions may be considered.

The ICMM 2024 Programme Committee will review all proposals, and selected presenters will be notified by January 2024.

It is anticipated that bookings for the Congress will open early in 2024. ICMM offers Congress bursaries through its Richard Foster Bursary scheme to encourage and support attendance from those who lack financial support. More details on this will be issued in the next few months.

Proposal Submission Deadline: 30th November 2023
Accepted Proposals: January 2024

For enquiries relating to the Call for Papers please send these to:
Zefeng You
Chair of ICMM 2024 Programme Committee
Sailing for More Maritime Museum, Ningbo, China
E-mail: zyou@ioacs.org / icmm2024pc@gmail.com