This page has been contributed and is curated by the Early Career Professionals Group. Universeum wishes to express its warmest thanks for this great addition to our website!
Welcome to Universeum!
Universeum is a European network established in 2000, dedicated to the preservation, study, access, and promotion of academic heritage. This includes university collections, museums, archives, libraries, botanical gardens, and astronomical observatories. The network is open to heritage and museum professionals, researchers, students, and anyone involved in university heritage.
Each year, Universeum organizes an annual conference that brings together members to share their research, projects, and experiences. The conference includes presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities, to inspire and foster a collaborative environment. For early career professionals, Universeum organizes a special pre-conference training workshop.
Universeum is governed by the Executive Committee or Board consisting of the President, two Vice-Presidents, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The active board will generally introduce themselves during the annual conference. A new board is chosen every three years during the annual General Assembly, which consists of all paying and some honorary members and takes place during the conference.
Universeum operates through various Working Groups that focus on different aspects of academic heritage. You can meet and join the working groups during the annual conference. The working groups present at the 2025 conference include:
- Art, Architecture and Design of Academic Institutions: encourages research on the value of art, architecture and design at our university buildings and campuses and develops tools for preserving this.
- Teaching with Objects: supports innovative Object-Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) methods and practices in higher education by collecting, evaluating, enhancing and sharing concepts, methods and tools for teaching with academic heritage objects.
- Technical Heritage in Universities: addresses issues encountered in technical heritage such as toxic materials and developing a suitable thesaurus.
In the 2025 conference Between opportunities and limitations: managing and curating university collections today for tomorrow hosted by the University of Graz, the working groups will meet on Tuesday afternoon and the General Assembly will take place on Wednesday. First time visitors and early career professionals (and all others) are encouraged to visit the Speed Date on Monday at 15.00. Here, you will have the opportunities to meet your more experienced, fellow Universeum members in an informal setting. For more experienced professionals, the speed date is an opportunity to share valuable insights and engage in discussions about the future of field.
If you have any questions about the network or the conference, do not hesitate to reach out to Eline Bos. We are excited to meet you and welcome you into our network of academic heritage enthusiasts!