International Council on Archives - Call for Papers Open for ICA Barcelona 2025: Discover, Discuss, and Shape the Future!

The Congress Programme Committee is excited to invite your proposals for papers and sessions centered around the theme “Knowing Pasts, Creating Futures.” This is a unique opportunity to share your insights and experiences as we collectively shape the future of our profession. We warmly welcome participation from new professionals, fresh faces in the ICA community, and individuals from other professions eager to engage with archivists and records managers.

An evaluation panel will select proposals based on quality, relevance, and the significance of the topics, ensuring a diverse lineup of speakers representing a wide array of perspectives from around the globe. The final program will also highlight record keeping and archival practices in our host country.

Important Details for ICA Groups

ICA Branches, Sections, and Expert Groups are invited to reserve meeting time on Monday, 27 October, subject to venue availability. There is no need to submit a proposal for these meetings, which can be open to all attendees or limited to members. Additionally, ICA will organize dedicated lightning talk sessions for Sections and Expert Groups to introduce their objectives and ongoing projects to the general audience.

Subthemes for Proposals

Managing Memories / Preserving Identities

To navigate the uncertainties of the future, humanity must not forget its past. In this context, archives are essential instruments of society, which is expressed through traditional communication channels and others that are constantly evolving. These include social networks and new social movements, which, in many cases, generate instant and ephemeral documentation.

Click here to read the full description.

Conflict, Disaster, and Displacement

Around the world there are episodes of forced displacement, displaced people and emergent movements whose memory and that of the reception spaces are important to preserve. These memories are fragile and endangered, and from the archives we must respond to preserve them as a testimony of human activity (displaced people), social activity (organisations supporting displaced people: humanitarian, medical, etc.), and official activity (driven by states and global organisations: UN, EU, etc.).

Click here to read the full description.

Records of Rights

Archives guarantee personal and collective rights by providing access to our memory through heritage management. Document management ensures better access to documents, greater transparency and good governance of public administrations. In terms of collective rights, archives promote corporate social responsibility through collaboration between archives and society.

Click here to read the full description.

Digital and Accessible

Within digital society, archives are digitising the past, present, and future. As a result, both digital humanities and artificial intelligence projects focus on documents, from all time periods. However, these strategies differ significantly from traditional models of knowledge transfer, often involving the direct construction of knowledge from information. This universal access to documents, data and information significantly changes the role of professionals.

Click here to read the full description.

Archival Futures

The training of archive professionals is crucial in shaping the future of the profession. With new societal challenges and developments in the field, it is time for an in-depth debate on the functions of professionals, their expertise, professional skills, and areas of specialisation. We must assess the state of the profession and evaluate new realities and experiences to determine the professional hazards and opportunities faced by archivists and document managers.

Click here to read the full description.

Types of Sessions

Paper Presentation

15-minute presentation of one or more speakers presenting a topic. Papers will be scheduled with other papers on a related theme. Questions and comments may be handled after each paper or at the end of the session at the discretion of the moderator and speakers.

Co-Lab Session

20-minute presentation including 10 minutes for description of a project, research, or collaboration initiatives in their developing or formative stages, and 10 minutes for interactive discussion and feedback from the audience. This session is intended to either solicit comments from peers or to advertise the release of a new project, dataset, or tool.

Lightning Talks

5-minute session for presenting a single project, demonstrating technology or pitching ideas, and connecting with other delegates.

Panel Discussion

45-minute session consisting of three to five individuals discussing theories or perspectives on a given topic. Panels should be coherent in presenting a substantial body of research or a research question. Chair duties may be performed by one of the speakers. Panels that include speakers from multiple ICA regions are strongly encouraged. There will be time for only a limited number of panels on the programme.

Poster

Presentation of research, a project, an idea or other type of work in the form of a paper poster that conference participants may view in a dedicated space at the conference venue. Presenters will be required to be present during the poster session in order to provide explanations and answer questions in relation to the poster presented.

Submission Guidelines

Languages: Papers may be submitted in Catalan, Spanish, English, or French.

Deadline: Complete your application by Thursday, 16 January 2025 (23:59:59 CET). Presenters will be notified of acceptance by the end of April 2025. All submissions must be made via ConfTool.

Click here to access the submission form

Stay Updated

In the coming months, the Congress website will be regularly updated with more information on the programme, keynote speakers, registration fees, social events, and travel logistics. To stay informed, we encourage everyone interested in attending or presenting at the Congress, to subscribe to our newsletter and follow the latest updates on the website.

Important Notes

Speakers must register and pay a reduced fee to attend the congress, covering their travel and accommodation costs. Limited bursaries may be available; please indicate your need in your proposal.

Membership in ICA is not required to attend or present, but members benefit from reduced registration fees. Click here to find out more about becoming an ICA member.

We encourage submissions from professionals outside the archives and records management fields to enrich our discussions.
Members of the ICA Barcelona 2025 Professional Programme Committee are not eligible to submit proposals.

Click here to learn more about the Call for Papers

For assistance or to share workshop ideas, please contact us at programme@ica.org.

Let’s come together to shape the future of archives!