Call for Papers: Back to the Future – Lessons Learned a Decade Later

Date: 8–10 September 2025

Venue: KU Leuven, Leuven (Belgium)

Abstract submission deadline: 15 December 2024

Submit here: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iada2025

Email: IADA2025@keuleuven.be 

The International Association of Book and Paper Conservators  (IADA) is excited to announce its upcoming symposium, “Back to the Future – Lessons Learned a Decade Later.” This event will revisit themes explored at IADA’s 2014 symposium, "If Only I Would Have Known: Looking Back – Moving Forward," held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

https://iada-home.org/events/iada-symposium-2014-amsterdam/

Inspired by Marty McFly's journey through time in the iconic film Back to the Future, this symposium will explore how reflecting on past experiences can inform and enhance future processes and goals. Just as McFly navigates and adapts to different time periods, we aim to uncover how lessons from the past can be leveraged to shape a more effective future.

We invite presentations that:

• Reflect on past experiences, achievements, and challenges within the field of book and paper conservation and preservation, including the preservation and conservation of photos and other related objects.
• Explore how past research and practices can inform future strategies and innovations in conservation.
• Highlight the evolution of conservation techniques and methodologies over the past decade, addressing current and future challenges faced by conservators.
• Provide insights into the experiences and contributions of students and emerging conservators, including their roles in shaping the field.
• Examine how cross-disciplinary professionals have influenced or transformed conservation approaches.

We are particularly interested in contributions that highlight the latest research, innovative conservation techniques, and perspectives from emerging conservators and students. This symposium aims to bridge the past and future, drawing on our collective experiences to advance the fields of conservation and preservation. While we encourage submissions that engage with the symposium's theme, contributions on any aspect of book and paper conservation, preservation, or related fields are also welcome.

Join us as we build on the lessons of yesterday to foster the success of tomorrow. We look forward to a vibrant exchange of ideas.

For more information, visit https://iada-home.org/conference/about-the-conference/ or contact IADA2025@kuleuven.be.

Submissions

Authors interested in presenting a paper should submit an abstract in English (300-500 words – including references) by 15 December 2024. 

We invite authors to submit papers for the following formats: 

• 20-minute presentations
• 10-minute presentations suited to work-in-progress or practical matters
• 5-minute tips and tricks talks where you are invited to articulate a topic of interest in a concise presentation to grab the attention of the audience and convey critical information that can then be picked-up informally during the conference
• Posters

Please submit abstracts at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=iada2025. Upon registration to the EasyChair website, authors will be prompted to submit their abstracts through an online form. Authors will be asked for: 

• a correspondance address;
• Name, email, country, and affiliation for each author (with the indication of the corresponding author/s) - Each author marked as a corresponding author will receive email messages from the system about this submission. There must be at least one corresponding author;
• Title and abstract (max 500 words including references);
• Keywords (at least 3);
• Submission category (20 min, 10 min, 5 min, poster);
• Author bios (max 100 words per author);
• Figure captions;
• Upload one mandatory figure (300 dpi);
• Upload a secondary figure (300 dpi) - optional;
• Upload a mandatory portrait photo of the primary author (or, if desired, for multiple authors, upload a combined image or a zipped folder with the portraits - 300 dpi);
• Upload any additional material (e.g., videos, datasets, Zotero reference files, etc.). 

An International Technical Committee will guide and oversee the peer-review of all abstracts. Please ensure the submitted paper adheres to the chosen format and length. Papers presenting a specific method or product should include an unbiased description and discuss both the pros and cons. 

Please note: 

• Only one author per presentation will receive a presenter discount on the symposium fee.
• Due to capacity limitations, we can accept up to 60 submissions for peer review. The final number of presentations selected for the symposium will be determined after the review process.

If you have any questions regarding the call for papers, email abstracts@iada-home.org. 

For questions regarding the organization of the congress, write to: IADA2025@kuleuven.be.

Publication on the Journal of Paper Conservation

Presenters whose submission is accepted for the congress are encouraged to submit their paper to the Journal of Paper Conservation (see https://tandfonline.com/toc/yjpc20/current). Authors who submit a publishable research paper ready to be peer-reviewed by the 1st of September 2025 (one week before the symposium) will receive full reimbursement of the conference fee. Reimbursement will be granted only after the paper has successfully completed peer review and is published online. In the case of multiple authors, the reimbursement will be valid for one author only. 

Please refer to JPC’s submission guidelines at https://iada-home.org/journal-of-paper-conservation/submit-papers/. 

To submit your paper, follow the instructions at the following link: https://rp.tandfonline.com/submission/create?journalCode=yjpc (state IADA2025 as the special issue tag). Enquiries should be emailed to jpc.submission@iada-home.org.