International Institute for Conservation (IIC)

We are delighted to welcome the following organisations as our local partners for the 2026 IIC Congress in Ghent.

Our local partners include both organising partners and supporting partners, each contributing to the congress through their institutional expertise, collections, research, or connection with the city’s cultural heritage landscape.

Organising partners:

Universiteit Gent Ghent University, founded in 1817, is a top 100 global university and one of Belgium’s largest, with over 50,000 students and 9,000 staff. With 11 faculties and more than 200 study programmes, it conducts world-class research across a wide range of scientific domains. The university’s motto, 'Dare to Think,' reflects its commitment to critical inquiry, diversity, and societal engagement.

Ghent University Library supports open knowledge creation and preserves one of Flanders’ most significant heritage collections. Its iconic Book Tower houses over 3 million items, with major investments in conservation and digitisation. Recent large-scale restoration projects have ensured long-term access to both the collection and the modernist architecture of the tower.

SMAK Gent Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K) is Ghent’s museum for contemporary art, with a dynamic international collection and a reputation for critical and experimental programming. It presents thought-provoking exhibitions and events that engage with today’s societal challenges, offering a space where artists, researchers, and audiences explore the role of contemporary art.

GUM - Gents Universiteitsmuseum The Ghent University Museum (GUM) and Botanical Garden is a science museum exploring the process of scientific thinking — its creativity, doubt, and evolution. With a rich collection spanning disciplines from biology to archaeology, GUM links the history of science with contemporary research and art. Through exhibitions and events, it encourages visitors to reflect on how science shapes our worldview.

This open access article is part of the IIC Ghent Congress Proceedings featuring articles being presented at the 2026 IIC Congress in Ghent, September 8-11. To learn more or to register to attend, please visit: https://buff.ly/b56RxOj

Read the full article for Feedback in the Conservation Ensemble here: https://buff.ly/TYI6reN

Today, we are sharing a preview from research that will be presented at IIC's 2026 Congress in Ghent on September 8-11.

Simon Lambert, one of the authors of 'ClimaSpec: Reimagining Climate Control Guidance at CCI from the Users’ Perspective,' is Manager of the Preventive Conservation Division at the Canadian Conservation Institute, where he leads a multidisciplinary team developing tools, training, and services to help heritage institutions manage collection risks. Since joining CCI in 2012, Simon has provided preventive conservation advice, delivered facility advisory services, developed and taught training programs, and coordinated CCI’s RE-ORG: Canada initiative to improve collection storage. He is an accredited member of the Canadian Association of Professional Conservators and previously worked at ICCROM from 2009 to 2012.

This is just one of many presenters at our 2026 Congress in Ghent. For more information or to register, visit: https://buff.ly/3Fq5rcX

Image 1: Final stages of a 3-day storage reorganization (RE-ORG) workshop in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada, 2018 Credit: © Government of Canada, Canadian Conservation Institute. 130398-0016

This article is part of the IIC Ghent Congress Proceedings featuring articles being presented at the 2026 IIC Congress in Ghent, September 8-11. To learn more or to register to attend, please visit: https://buff.ly/RhEe125

Read the full article for Celebrating a Forgotten Woman Artist: Reflections on the Conservation of Clarice Beckett’s Work here: https://buff.ly/akMOD5w

We are delighted to welcome Tru Vue, CHARP and Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K) as our Global Partners for the 2026 IIC Congress in Ghent.

Tru Vue is a manufacturer of high-performance glazing solutions for a variety of applications used in the custom picture framing, museum and photography markets. They are a global leader in anti-reflective, conservation-grade and electrostatic dissipative coatings, delivering exceptional clarity, protection, and long-lasting durability.

CHARP Art Care CHARP provides environmental monitoring systems for objects and collections in museums, archives and heritage libraries, whether in storage, on display, or on loan. The system continuously records temperature, relative humidity, and light, providing the
documentation required for collection care and reporting.

SMAK.Gent Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K) is Ghent’s museum for contemporary art, with a dynamic international collection and a reputation for critical and experimental programming. It presents thought-provoking exhibitions and events that engage with today’s societal challenges, offering a space where artists, researchers, and audiences explore the role of contemporary art.

Today, we are sharing a preview from research that will be presented at IIC's 2026 Congress in Ghent on September 8-11.

Fiorella Lavado Chiarella, the author of 'Towards a Conservation Framework for Space-Based Cultural Heritage Ensembles,' shares this quote:

"What happens to conservation when cultural heritage is no longer on Earth? As lunar activity, commercial spaceflight, and orbital infrastructure expand, the history of human activity beyond Earth is becoming more vulnerable. Tranquillity Base, the International Space Station, mission records, and cultural payloads each raise questions that existing heritage frameworks have not yet fully addressed. Drawing on interviews across conservation, museums, engineering, art, and space law, this paper proposes a conservation framework for making accountable decisions when physical preservation may not be possible."

Fiorella Lavado Chiarella is a London-based objects conservator and researcher. She trained in Conservation of Stone, Wood and Decorative Surfaces at City & Guilds of London Art School. Her
work combines practical conservation and material investigation with an interest in how objects and sites are understood, valued, and cared for. She brings a background in art, design, and film to her
conservation practice. Her art/science collaboration
'Weaving the Universe: From Atoms to Stars' was presented by the Schering Stiftung in cooperation with the British Council and shown
internationally. Her current research explores conservation decision-making for space-based cultural heritage.

Interested in this research? This is just one of many papers that will be presented at our 2026 Congress in Ghent. For more information or to register, visit: https://buff.ly/CwddDly

Image credit: Fiorella installing Weaving the Universe from Atoms to Stars (2009–2010), an art-and-science collaboration with physicist and historian of science Arthur I. Miller, developed with the support of the British Council Germany and the Ernst Schering Foundation. The project explored how scientific ideas about atoms and the universe could be translated into material and visual form. Image by: F. Lavado

This article is part of the IIC Ghent Congress Proceedings featuring articles being presented at the 2026 IIC Congress in Ghent, September 8-11. To learn more or to register to attend, please visit: https://buff.ly/RhEe125

Read the full article for Liturgical Calendar and Climate: Methodology for the Registration of Functionality in Ecclesiastical Heritage and its Interaction with Environmental Variables here: https://buff.ly/9gaCN3G

This article is only available for IIC Members. Membership includes full access to all Studies in Conservation articles and FREE online registration for the IIC Congress in Ghent. For information on becoming a member or to renew your membership, visit https://buff.ly/7iUh5eo

The future of conservation is green, both as a driver of sustainability and as a field that must itself become greener through safer materials, cleaner technologies, responsible practices, and new professional attitudes and mindsets. Earlier this year, the Strategic Policy Meeting on Advancing Sustainability in Cultural Heritage Conservation was held in Brussels, and Tomas Markevičius framed heritage as the cultural dimension of the environment, providing identity, memory, meaning, and cohesion. This was arguably one of the meeting’s most important conceptual moves. Read the whole article to learn why.

Read the full article in the June-July 2026 “News in Conservation” Issue 114, p. 68-77 here: https://buff.ly/SxlH4fX

Image credit: MOXY and GoGreen PhD students at the Green Cluster Policy Meeting reception. Left to right: Sander van Lith, Nan Yang, Catarina Rochas Pires, Marta Cremonesi. Image courtesy of Nina Olsson.

We are four weeks into the 2026 IIC Book Club and thoroughly enjoying this year’s chosen text, 'Climate Action in the Art World: Towards a Greener Future' by Annabel Keenan.

Fortnightly emails are keeping Club members engaged with key themes and insights from each chapter, alongside additional reading materials and resources to explore.

Our first online event, an introduction and dialogue session with Annabel Keenan, will take place on the 13th of October at 18:00 UK time, with still two more events to look forward to as the programme continues.

It’s not too late to join! We warmly welcome late-comers – we are only a few weeks into the programme, and there is still plenty of time to catch up with the reading and take part in the discussions and events ahead.

Learn more and apply to join here: https://buff.ly/7SWfT7a

Every other year, IIC holds its Keck Award, which celebrates the best in public outreach, sharing and widening understanding of the work of conservators, and we are asking the public to cast their votes for their favourite project.

For 2026, the judges have selected ten impressive projects for our shortlist, with a noticeable recurring theme of involving the public and community in the work of conservation - whether that's a child-led museum conserving the everyday or transforming a specialist site into an open learning environment.

Despite challenging circumstances globally, others found new ways to connect with the public by expanding exhibitions into the community, sharing research in multiple languages and community workshops and open studios.

The winner of our £2,500 prize will be chosen 50% by public vote and 50% by our judging team. Two honourable mentions will also be selected by our judges. The winner will be announced on the final day of the Congress, Friday 11 September.

You can cast your vote here: https://buff.ly/H6OWTF0

Image Credits: (final image) Top to bottom, left to right: Alberto Sánchez Sánchez; Anne Bancroft; © Alhena Caicedo – Supported by ALIPH, © Luis Fernando Suescun – Supported by ALIPH; Ding Wen; Guillermo Rosalio Pérez Muñoz, Paulina Anabel Pérez Muñoz and Karla Alicia Jáuregui Arreola; Luiz Fernando Gonzaga; May Chui-in LONG; Floortje Clerix; Michaela Novotna; Nabukalu Solomy Nansubuga.

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