Conference Registration Now OPEN!

Registration closes on Monday, 14th April 2025.

The 2025 MEG Conference and AGM, hosted by the National Museums Liverpool’s Global Cultures team, will be held at the Museum of Liverpool on the 24th and 25th of April. For early arrivals, there will be informal guided tours of the Global Cultures Gallery in the World Museum on the afternoon of the 23rd April.

Conference Schedule

Pre-Conference (23rd April)

• 14:00 onwards — Informal tours of the World Cultures gallery at World Museum will take place approximately every 45 minutes. Curators will meet attendees just outside the gallery entrance, near the Daliso Chaponda screen. This will also be a chance to connect with other conference goers and learn a bit about what occurs at a MEG conference.

Day 1 (24th April)

• 8:45 — Registration and coffee
• Conference sessions in the Lecture Theatre of Museum of Liverpool
• 17:30–18:30 — Complimentary drinks reception in the People’s Republic gallery at Museum of Liverpool, celebrating MEG’s 50th anniversary
• 18:45 — OPTIONAL conference dinner at Maray on Albert Dock (separate booking required)

Day 2 (25th April)

• 9:00 — Registration and coffee
• Conference sessions including the MEG Annual General Meeting
• 17:00 — Conference close

Conference Dinner

The optional conference dinner will be held at Maray on Albert Dock at approximately 18:45 on April 24th. The price includes a family style meal with lamb or vegan options and dessert. Drinks are not included. Only 30 places are available, so early booking is recommended. Dietary requirements can be catered for, but we need to know in advance. Menu information will be sent closer to the event.

Registration Includes

• Access to all conference sessions
• Tea and coffee breaks
• Two lunches
• Drinks reception on the first day

Please include any dietary restrictions when registering.

Accommodation

There are numerous hotels and Air BnBs in and around Liverpool city centre. The Museum of Liverpool is on the Waterfront next to the Albert Dock. There are numerous Travelodges, Premier Inns, and Ibis Styles hotels in the vicinity of Liverpool Lime Street train station and the World Museum (approximately 20-30 minute walk to the Waterfront). There is also an EasyHotel closer to the Waterfront on Castle Street. There is slightly more expensive accommodation as you get closer to the Waterfront and in the vicinity of Liverpool 1 (10-15 minute walk to the Waterfront).

Call for Papers

MEG invites colleagues, researchers, partners, community representatives, critical friends, and caretakers of all forms to explore and share their understandings, experiences, and reflections on the role of help in museums, by museums, and for museums and the people who work with and in them.

In 1965 Liverpool band the Beatles released their fifth album, Help! In 1975 MEG was founded as a type of self-help group. The importance of this role was highlighted by MEG member Ken Teague in his reflection on ten years of MEG. Now, fifty years after our founding, the sector has moved on in many ways, and the need for help and support has become even more central to museum practice. Beneficiary models of help and need have also been radically reframed as we consider who museums are for, and why.

This is a unique opportunity to not only reflect on 50 years of MEG, a major achievement for a Subject Specialist Network, but also to reflect upon how the collections, communities, and colleagues involved have consistently challenged the sector to change and consider what care means. But challenges and changes come with costs – costs to buildings, structures, and ways of working; they can also be personal and emotional. How do we respond to those costs and what support do we need and should be offered to try and mitigate them?

Some of the themes that could be explored could relate to or build upon the following:

• Defining the term – What does help mean in the context of museums, particularly in the context of Global Cultures or ethnographic collections? Why is help something we should or shouldn’t consider in the museum context? Is ‘help’ the right word?
• Who needs help? What needs help? Who is helping whom? Staff, community partners, ourselves…
• How, when, and where should help happen? Where can museums look to for help today? How can we ensure that ‘help’ does not become an extractive, performative, or colonial exercise?
• Practice and Help – Can methodologies and approaches to education, exhibitions, curation and collections care provide help? Or create spaces for providing help?
• Process and Help – How can guidelines, protocols, processes, and ethical guidelines be leveraged to ensure help is central to the work of museums?
• Programs and Help – Can offerings beyond exhibitions and displays become opportunities for care, support, and exchange?

This year, in addition to submissions for 15–20 minute papers or 5–10 minute Work In Progress updates, we would like to introduce the possibility of holding Panel Discussions as a way to allow for more organic conversations. A panel discussion might include 3–4 speakers giving very brief introductions to themselves/their work followed by discussions led by a facilitator for approximately 30–40 mins. A panel could be based around a theme or provocation. Self-selected groups can apply as a panel with a topic. Alternatively, individuals can submit a proposal for a panel or their interest in participating on a panel related to one of the themes above.

We encourage submissions from anyone working with, in or researching any aspect of museums and at any point in their career or studies. Participants wanting to contribute should send a proposal of 250 words, in Word or equivalent, indicating whether you are proposing a paper or participating on a panel. The document should detail how your work or experience will speak to one or more of the conference themes. Please include a short biography and send both to GlobalCultures@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk by 24th January 2025. (NB. If providing a Google Doc, please export your document rather than sharing a link to the document.)

For reference, abstracts from the 2024 conference can be found on the MEG website.

Conference Bursaries:

Two UK bursaries are aimed at people working (paid or voluntary) or wanting to work in UK museums, without institutional support to attend the Conference, with up to £300 each for Conference fee, membership, travel, accommodation, and food. Applications are especially welcome from people who have been historically marginalised, including scholars who are women, BAME, LGBTQI+, disabled or have a long-term health condition, first generation scholars, carers, unemployed etc.

We ask that individuals in receipt of the MEG bursary write up their recollections of the conference in a blog for the MEG website by the end of June 2025.

If you are interested in applying for a bursary, please complete the application form using the link below, and including a statement of up to 500 words by 24th January 2025. Please state why you want to attend the MEG Conference, the title of your paper or panel (if applicable), how attendance will benefit your study/work, and how you will share your learning. Applications will be assessed on the perceived benefits of attending and the fit with MEG’s aspirations.

If you applied for a bursary with us but were unsuccessful, we have compiled a list of bursaries offered by other organisations, societies, and institutions for which you can apply to support your attendance at our conference.

Contact Information

• For any access requirements or questions, please contact our Access Officer.
• For all other queries, please email GlobalCultures@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.