Heritage Conservation Symposium

Call for Projects 

Senses of Heritage: Accessibility, Experience & Memory 

Heritage sites, spaces, and collections are often approached visually – as traces of the past to be viewed, documented and displayed. Yet heritage sites and practices are also fundamentally encountered by the body, and shaped by experiences such as smell, sound, taste, vibration, and warmth. This symposium foregrounds more expansive ways of thinking about the senses of heritage, understood both as sensory experiences and modes of meaning-making. Opening the door to augmented and multi-sensory heritage practice is also a question of accessibility and increased quality of life for diverse populations. This call for projects asks: how do heritage professionals share, study and conserve heritage places and practices in ways that appreciate the role of sensory memory in effective and accessible interpretation and education? Symposium participants may propose short conference papers, performances, and collaborative workshops. Possible further questions to consider include: 

How might sensory experiences open new forms of community participation, care, and interpretation? 

• How are heritage experiences shaped by shared encounters with others? 

• How do heritage spaces perform as multi-sensory environments? 

• How might ‘non-traditional’ senses, such as interoception, mediate between emotion and experience? 

How might expanded, multi-sensory engagement make heritage more inclusive and accessible? 

• How can cultural heritage sites become more accessible through multi-sensory experiences and multi-sensory conservation practices? 

• Whose sensory experiences are prioritized in heritage institutions, and whose have been excluded historically or continue to be excluded? 

• How have new technologies, such as digital heritage recording, as well as intersectional theoretical approaches in heritage, allowed for more inclusive, augmented heritage interpretation? 

How can multi-dimensional and multi-directional memories be documented, archived, and transmitted across generations? 

• How do migration and displacement reshape oral heritage? How do diasporic identities hyphenate these experiences? 

• How do Indigenous oral traditions challenge conventional archival practices through the senses? 

• Can heritage practices contribute to new, transdisciplinary ways of understanding the processes of remembering and forgetting?  

• What role do the senses play in the creation of rich collective experiences and memories? 

We invite contributions from graduate students, community activists, professionals, and academics engaged in heritage conservation and related fields. 

Please submit a 300-word abstract in English or French, accompanied by a title and a 100-word biography to heritageconservationsymposium@cunet.carleton.ca. Submissions are due on July 15, 2026 at 5:00pm. For more information, please visit our website: https://carleton.ca/heritage-conservation-symposium/. 

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The Carleton University Heritage Conservation Symposium is a one-day event organized by graduate students, alumni, and faculty at the School of Canadian Studies. The event brings together students, academics, activists, and professionals in critical practice.

The annual event began in 2004 under the direction of the late Herb Stovel, who was at that time Associate Professor at the School and coordinator of the Heritage Conservation Program. Since then, the Symposium has been held on topics such as heritage designation, multivocal heritage practices, heritage and technology, borders in heritage conservation, and most recently, heritage and social justice. 

The Herb Stovel Memorial Lecture is often organized in conjunction with the Symposium. More information on the annual lecture is available here.

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We look forward to seeing you in the Fall!