Events
Take a look at the upcoming and past events from the Heritage Institute here.
Coming soon
ICOMOS-UK and University of Liverpool One Day Symposium - Heritage in Transition: Skills and Approaches for Sustainability
11 April 2025
Join us for a one-day symposium exploring the evolving relationship between heritage preservation and sustainability to be held at the University of Liverpool, HUB502 Building, Lecture Theatre 3 on 11th April 2025.
The event will focus on how we can sustainably adapt and retrofit heritage buildings to improve energy efficiency, enhance thermal comfort, and meet affordability needs while preserving their heritage values.
What skills and approaches will we need to do this? What might we need to do differently?
The symposium brings together academics, policymakers, practitioners, and emerging professionals to tackle these questions through:
• Expert-led discussions featuring international, national, and local case studies demonstrating successful solutions and addressing ongoing challenges.
• Interactive panel sessions highlighting gaps in skills and education required for sustainable heritage management.
• Networking opportunities for collaborative knowledge exchange.
Whether you are an architect, engineer, conservation specialist, policymaker, academic, or student, this symposium offers practical insights and innovative strategies for embedding sustainability in heritage conservation.
Join us as we discuss how heritage can address climate challenges and become a catalyst for
sustainable solutions more widely.
The event is free for University of Liverpool staff and students. Simply email Ataa Alsalloum ataa2@liverpool.ac.uk to register.
Tickets for the in-person event can be purchased at the Eventbrite link here
Tickets for the online event can be purchased here
The event is kindly supported by the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC).
Call for papers: Preservation, Production and Reproduction: Urban Heritage Transformation around the World
Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China
August 29th – 30th, 2025
Submission deadline for the conference: 10 May 2025.
For submission guidelines and conference details, please see below, and download the Urban Heritage Transformation call for papers document [PDF 0.5MB] for the full details on how to submit your papers.
Conference overview and call for papers
We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the upcoming conference, Preservation, Production and Reproduction: Urban Heritage Transformation around the World. This conference invites scholars from a variety of disciplines to explore the dynamic relationship between preserving cultural heritage and fostering urban growth. Our goal is to understand how cities worldwide balance heritage preservation with economic development, social cohesion, and sustainability. By gathering diverse perspectives, this conference seeks to redefine how heritage shapes the future of cities and contributes to policies, education, and practices that support both cultural continuity and urban innovation.
Case studies are invited that explore the balance between economic development and cultural heritage preservation, as well as papers examining how heritage not only connects to the past but also evolves in the present, guiding future directions. Comparative studies, whether in one presentation or in the form of panels, are especially welcome. Through a strong integration of theory and empirical research, we aim to push the boundaries of existing knowledge, reframe our understanding of "heritage," and contribute to the development of public policy, education, and sustainable strategies in heritage preservation and urban development.
Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay, Director of the Heritage Institute, has been confirmed as keynote speaker.
Past events
Launch of the Human Remains Digital Library (HRDL), Fri 21 Feb 2025 at 10:00
The Human Remains Project is launching its new open access digital library (HRDL) on Friday 21 February 2025 at a hybrid event (online and at the University of Liverpool) running from 10am to 4pm (GMT). This is a free public event, and all are welcome!
More details and registration here.
HRDL currently has over 2,000 accounts of historic burial management in British churches since the 7th century AD, covering 32 types of historical records translated from 11 languages, and 200+ examples of archaeological evidence of historic burial management from inside 38 British cathedrals. Offering an unprecedented scale of digital historical and archaeological information on church burial management, the purpose of HRDL is to support research, policy, and practice for those managing or investigating historic burials in Christian contexts. Visit the project website for more details.
Joining on the day will be a range of practitioners, researchers, stakeholders, and managers to discuss how the HDRL was designed and the potential use of HRDL with the current project team over the course of five themed discussions (see below and on Eventbrite).
Whether you are interested in a particular period, place, document type, or archaeological evidence; and whether you want to use HRDL for research, training, teaching, policy, planning, collaborating with us, or building your own digital collection, the team would love to see you there! You can also join The Human Remains Collaboratory (the cross-sector network for all those interested in historic human remains) by signing up to the free mailing list here, to be kept informed of other forthcoming events and opportunities.
Vernacular Heritage and Cultural Landscapes in Lunigiana, Tuscany: from Knowledge to Preservation, 3 February 2025, 15:00-18:30 Central European Time (CET), Mulazzo (Italy).
The event is part of BA3 RE-heritage Studio field trip activities in Tuscany, Italy, and is organised in collaboration with Milan Polytechnic’s Department of Architecture, Built Environment, and Construction Engineering and Mulazzo Municipality.
Programme:
15:00 - Opening Remarks:
Dr Stefania Landi, Lecturer, Politecnico di Milano
Dr Giamila Quattrone, Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool
Claudio Novoa, Mayor of Mulazzo
15:15 - Francesca Guastalli, Director, Archivio Museo dei Malaspina
15:45 - Dr Denise Ulivieri, Associate Professor, Università di Pisa
16:15 - Q&A
16:25 - Comfort break
16:40 - Dr Paola Branduini, Lecturer, Politecnico di Milano
17:10 - Q&A
17:20 - Dr Antonella Saisi, Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano
17:50 - Dr Elena Zanazzi, Research Fellow, Università di Parma
18:20 - Q&A
Heritage Institute affiliates day and inaugural seminar, Tuesday 28 January
Heritage Institute affiliates update event, 2pm
This session will report on the Institute's activities so far; explain the benefits of affiliation and introduce plans to appoint new roles to champion heritage research across their four research pillars.
This event offers an opportunity to think about how your work aligns with the Heritage Institute's objectives, share ideas, and identify ways we can support each other's activities.
Inaugural seminar with Dr Martin Goffriller, 4.30pm
Then from 4.30pm, come along to the SOTA library again to hear from Dr Martin Goffriller who will be delivering a talk on Archaeology and built heritage of the Lower Syr Darya, Kazakhstan, for the Institute's inaugural lecture in their new seminar series.
Dr Goffriller is an archaeologist and heritage management practitioner His academic and professional career is marked by extensive work in the preservation and management of cultural heritage, with a particular focus on Spain, the Middle East and Central Asia.
The event includes a networking session with refreshments from 4.30pm and the talk itself will begin at 5pm.
Heritage Institute Launch event 18th September 2024.
Venue: The Blue Coat, School Lane, Liverpool
Read about the launch of the Heritage Institute here.
Targeting Beauty: Ukrainian heritage in crisis
15 March 2024
Professor Ian Kuijt guest lectures with a first-hand account of travels around Kyiv and Chernihiv, illustrating the destruction on the ground, and discusses the complexity of understanding and assessing the destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage, both material and immaterial.
Heritage keynote lecure 2022: Creating a Wondrous Place
In June 2022, the University of Liverpool was honoured to welcome Karen O'Rourke, Curator of Urban and Community History at National Museums Liverpool, as she presented the annual Heritage Keynote Lecture.
Heritage keynote lecture 2021: Paul Boniface, Secretary of the National Trust
In his talk 'People & Places: The History, Properties and Personalities of the National Trust', Paul charted the history of the National Trust from the end of the nineteenth century to the current day, explaining the charity’s mission and how it has responded to the changing conservation challenges and concerns of different generations.
Future plans
- Annual public lecture & talk series
- Heritage Alliance of the New Silk Road (HANSR) roundtable & events
- Impact projects (10 for REF2021)
- Aga Khan Award for Architecture
- Getty Conservation Institute initiatives