
Convention of European university museum professionals at UWr (report)
From 4 to 7 July 2023, the University of Wrocław hosted an international scientific conference, ‘The Experience of Academic Heritage’, under the honorary patronage of the Rector of UWr, prof. dr hab. Robert Olkiewicz. The event took place as part of the 23rd annual meeting of members of the UNIVERSEUM European Academic Heritage Network, an organisation of university museum professionals from across Europe, and a meeting of members of the Association of University Museums (SMU), which brings together university museum professionals in Poland.
The convention in Wrocław came about at the initiative of the UWr Museum, which submitted UWr’s candidature to host the conference last year, and by the decision of the Universeum and SMU’s board of trustees, the candidature was accepted. As a result, UWr hosted representatives of university museums from 18 countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Some participants also represented international organisations for museums and museum professionals: in addition to the Universeum, ICOM UMAC (International Council of Museums, Committee for University Museums and Collections) and the Coimbra Group. Among the participants were museologists from many Polish universities, polytechnics and other types of higher education institutions, representing home university units. A total of 185 people attended the conference. The language of the conference was English.
During the three days of sessions, 20 oral presentations were given within four thematic blocks: By whom and for whom? (7 oral presentations), Experiencing difficult heritage (4 oral presentations), Media and methods of interpretation (6 oral presentations), Strategies for Developing and Managing Museums and Collections (3 oral presentations). On the second day, workshops were held on two topics: Digital Initiatives Working Group and Student Engagement Working Group in collaboration with new Early Career Professionals Working Group. In addition, a student session (presentation of a project by students from Université Libre de Bruxelles) and a poster session (presentation of 14 posters prepared by conference participants) were held. The conference programme included guided tours of five university museums in Wrocław, including two museums of the University of Wrocław: the UWr Museum and the UWr Natural History Museum. During the congress, the General Election Assembly of SMU members and the General Assembly of UNIVERSEUM members were also held.
The sessions were held in the Aula Leopoldina, the European Union Hall at the UWr Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics and in the conference room of the University Library in Wrocław. During the three days, many topics important to the university museums community were discussed, and bold questions were raised about the future of academic heritage.
The main objective of the conference was to promote academic heritage, internationalisation, the exchange of experiences, as well as to gain an insight into current scientific projects in the area of university museology in Europe. UWr, as the host of the conference, made sure to present its historical collections to the participants, with the aim of encouraging representatives of foreign units to cooperate in international projects, both scientific and exhibition and educational.
The conference was co-financed by the Ministry of Education and Science: the project ‘Experiencing Academic Heritage. A new perspective on the preservation and development of university collections’ was co-financed by the State Budget. Excellent Science Programme of the Ministry of Education and Science.
The sessions were streamed live on UWr’s YouTube channel and the recordings are available online:
The organisers of the conference:
Muzeum Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Stowarzyszenie Muzeów Uczelnianych
UNIVERSEUM European Academic Heritage Network
Photo coverage of the conference in the Aula Leopoldina









