A review of the 2025 ICOM UK annual conference (Liverpool, 1-2 May 2025)
The theme of this year’s ICOM UK conference focussed on how museums globally can address climate and social emergencies. Museums act as regenerative forces, engaging communities in solutions that integrate sustainability, resilience and ancestral knowledge to combat environmental collapse and climate injustice. At this conference, museum colleagues from around the world shared practical examples of regenerative development in museums. The event emphasised moving beyond sustainability and net-zero goals toward restoring ecosystems, rebalancing value systems and using cultural heritage to foster climate action.
For this conference, ICOM UK was honoured to collaborate with Lucimara Letelier who co-curated the programme. As well as being the Vice-Chair of ICOM SUSTAIN (ICOM’s Sustainable Development and Museums International Committee), Lucimara is the founder and director of RegeneraMuseu, a Brazil-based organisation committed to fostering regenerative practices in the international cultural heritage sector.
International working, cultural diplomacy and ideas exchange are core parts of the ICOM mission, to which our 2025 UK conference made a significant contribution. The conference had more international participation than ever before: 14 of the 25 presenters were based outside of the UK, while speakers, moderators and delegates – originated from more than 17 countries. ICOM UK was honoured to welcome to Liverpool the Chairs of ICOM Armenia and ICOM Ukraine, as well as the Head of Visual Arts from the Ukrainian Institute as part of this conference. The British Museum’s International Training Programme was also represented by several current fellows.
The theme of the conference – ‘Regenerative Museums for Sustainable Futures’ – set the tone for showcasing practical solutions. The impacts of climate change are already being felt by many museums. How do you adapt your museum building to these impacts? How do you work with your museum’s community to preserve indigenous knowledge? How does a museum return traditional knowledge to its community to enable economic development? How does a museum establish a community-interest business to regenerate both heritage and ecosystems? Case studies to help provide answers to these questions came from Egypt, Brazil, Kenya and Benin, respectively, in addition to similar contributions from Australia, USA, Bangladesh, Iran, Rwanda and the UK. The presentations on Day 1 were recorded and will made available on the ICOM UK website shortly as a record of the event.
The blended programme of presentations, discussions, workshops, guided gallery and city tours was specifically designed to provide ample opportunities for networking. The appetite for personal conversations with sector colleagues from around the world was symbolised by the relative numbers attending online. Despite attractive online ticket options, 90% of delegates chose to come to Liverpool in person – including from as far afield as Canada and Pakistan.
The programme was spread across various venues to showcase much of Liverpool’s cultural landscape, including the diverse part of the city between Bold Street and Chinatown, the Waterfront and the Albert Dock, and museums including Victoria Gallery and Museum, Walker Art Gallery, World Museum and Museum of Liverpool.
This was our first conference not held at a museum; instead, the Spine offered an all-round conference package in a venue with outstanding sustainability credentials. There is a balance to be struck between the impact of international travel to facilitate knowledge sharing, and the benefits this travel brings to making significant sustainability contributions. The carbon footprint of producing and transporting food is substantial, as is the carbon footprint of human travel; to limit the carbon footprint of this event as much as possible, all food at both the Spine and the evening reception at Museum of Liverpool was vegetarian or vegan.
Where do we go from here? We very much hope that the connections made and renewed last week in Liverpool will develop and result in fruitful collaborations. We hope the inspiration gained at this conference will be translated into transformative actions in museums and their communities. We will not know the impact of this conference for some time to come, but if any of the conversations and shared experiences result in positive changes in a single community, then our Liverpool conference will have been a success.
At ICOM UK, we aim to be a reliable partner to support our membership in these efforts. To that end, and in fulfilment of our Strategic Plan, we will soon announce the launch of three new Working Groups this summer, including one with a focus on Sustainability. These will provide an opportunity for our members to become more closely involved in the work of our National Committee and shape our daily work. To further strengthen our work we are also currently looking for new Trustees, including one specifically for the Sustainability portfolio. If you are interested, we would be delighted to hear from you.
The 2025 ICOM UK Conference was an opportunity to learn from global colleagues with the experience to solve problems affecting us all. This event was supported by an unprecedented number of partners, to whom we owe thanks: the National Museum Directors’ Council, RegeneraMuseu and ICOM SUSTAIN, with kind support from Barker Langham, British Council, Narro Associates, Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership, National Museums Liverpool, and University of Liverpool Museums and Collections. Our media partner for this event was blooloop. The venue for Day 1 – including IT support and catering – was provided by Spaces at the Spine. City tours on Day 2 were provided by Experience North. We would like to extend special thanks to our Conference Organising Committee – especially our Conference Coordinator, Katie Hardgrave, who made sure everything ran like clockwork behind the scenes.
Dr Christian Baars and Maria Blyzinsky, Co-Chairs, ICOM UK
