The field of public history is expanding rapidly. The links between “history” and “publics” can take many forms including different audiences, contributors, spaces, projects, and uses of the past. In line with previous IFPH conferences, the 2024 event has an open call that invites proposals and discussions on history for, with, by, of, in, or among different publics. 

Guide for Submitting a Proposal

• Create a User Account

To submit or review a proposal you must create a user account on SciencesConf and log in as a registered user.

It is possible to create an account either directly on the SciencesConf portal or by clicking on the Login button on top right of the conference website. 

If necessary, please consult more detailed information on how to create a user account.

• Submit your proposal  

Once connected, please access My submissions and then select New submission > Submit an abstract.

You can also use the dedicated page of our website Submit a Proposal.  

Application Guidelines 

For each submission you will have to fill a form with basic metadata about the proposal, the authors, and attach an abstract. Below you will find detailed information about how to submit. 

• Provide a Title of Proposal

Please fill in the title field with a concise and clear title. 

• Provide an Abstract

Your abstract should be from 300 to 500 words long for all types of proposals except for posters, which should be 250 words long (for types of proposals accepted please see the following section of the instructions). Please identify the core issues or questions that your proposal addresses. Explain your approach, use, and/or practice of public history. Briefly present, if applicable, the different presentations and how they connect with your main themes and questions.  

• Choose a Type of Proposal
  • Panel (up to 4 presenters): traditional panel that deals with one topic. (90 min)
  • Working Group (up to 10 discussants): working groups are conversations of 6-10 people who discuss a subject before and during the conference to explore it more in depth. Participants are working towards the creation of an end outcome (white paper, publications, reports, guidelines, projects). At the time of submission, the list of working group participants may be incomplete - to be completed by the facilitators when the proposal is accepted. (90 min)
  • Workshop: a workshop is a more intensive and skills-based session that includes concrete practical tools and lessons for a smaller group of attendees. Workshops are usually led by 1 or 2 conveners and attended by up to 20 people. (90 min)
  • Paper: 15-minute presentation on a specific topic, issue, or project. The scientific committee will form panels with accepted individual papers.
  • Poster: concise, visual representation of research findings, projects, or studies.
• Choose a Topic

 Proposals may include the following topics but are not limited to:

• Museums, archives, collections
• Displaying, exhibiting, curating the past
• Cultural heritage (historic sites, monuments, historic preservation)
• (Video) games, audiovisual production, podcasts
• Oral history, memories, family and community histories
• Historical fiction, graphic novels, storytelling
• Reenactments, pageants, festivals, performances
• Digital public history (user-generated, crowdsourcing, social and transmedia)
• Shared authority, coproduction, community-based practices
• Commemoration, public policy, government, business, consulting, applied history
• Teaching, ethics, theories of public history
• Trauma, conflict, and reconciliation
• Human rights, inequalities and discrimination, social justice
• Migration, colonialism, decolonisation
• Environment, landscape, natural resources, climate change

You may choose more than one topics for your proposal but please do not go beyond two.

If your proposal does not fit one of the topics listed above, please choose "Other topic". In this case, please take care to mention the broader topic of your proposal in the abstract.

• Provide Information on the Author(s) 

As you have already a user account, your name appears automatically in the field for authors. You must add all the authors (speakers) of your proposal. If they have SciencesConf user accounts, you can pick them from a list (the form will guide you); otherwise, you must manually fill in their first and last name (mandatory).  

• Provide Supplementary Data 

You can attach files with supplementary data. For example you can attach a file of your abstract and add supplementary information about the authors and/or the participants depending the type of the proposal. 

We ask you to provide in any case an additional document with:

• a short biography (max 150 words) for each participant to your proposal (panel, working group or workshop)
• a preliminary preference for on-site or online presentation for each participant

This is mandatory information as it will help us to anticipate the logistics of the conference. 

Deadline: All proposals are due by 15^th of November 2023.

Organizing Local C²DH Committee

All members of the organizing committee are staff of the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. 

• Thomas Cauvin - Chair
• Vanessa Napolitano - Co-Chair
• Sofia Papastamkou - Co-Chair
• Petros Apostolopoulos 
• Sandra Camarda 
• Cyrille Cataudella
• Myriam Dalal 
• Tessy Delledera 
• Cécile Duval 
• Rhianne Morgan 
• Audrey Sapet 
• Laura Steil 

Website Customization: Kirill Mitsurov - interface designer 

Scientific Committee

Tanya Evans - Chair, President of the IFPH (Macquarie University, Australia)

Thomas Cauvin - Co-Chair (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)

• Petros Apostolopoulos (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
• Lucas Avelar (Clemson University, USA/Brazil)
• Sandra Camarda (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
• Joëlla van Donkersgoed (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg)
• Na Li (Zhejiang University, China)
• Krista McCracken (Algoma University, Arthur A. Wishart Library, Canada)
• Serge Noiret (Italian Association for Public History, Italy)
• Jimena Perry (IFPH) (Iona University, USA)
• Greg Smoak, (University of Utah, USA, representative of the National Council on Public History)
• Joana Dias Pereira (IHC NOVA FCSH, NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities, IN2PAST)
• Marta Prista (CRIA NOVA FCSH, NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities, IN2PAST)
• Joanna Wojdon (IFPH) (University of Wrocław, Poland)
• Irmgard Zundorf (IFPH) (Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam, Germany)