AIA Annual Conference, Bradford, 5th to 10th September 2025

AIA have realeased details of its annual conference which this year will be based in the historic Midland Hotel, Bradford, part of the rich railway heritage in the centre of this year’s host of the UK City of Culture. The conference returns to a more traditional format, of weekend talks and the AGM, followed by 3 days of tours, although the AIA are offering the oppportunity to book individual weekend days and online weekend access.

As usual, the weekend programme will include a number of lectures on the region’s industrial heritage and presentations by AIA’s award winners. On the Sunday morning, following a short AGM, the annual prestige lecture will be given by Dr Michael Bailey, marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway, on the subject of the Archaeology of Early Locomotives.

From Sunday afternoon to the morning of Wednesday 10 September there will be a varied programme of visits to important industrial sites in the area, including the Saltaire World Heritage Site. Delegates can opt to attend for just the weekend sessions or the whole five days, and online participation in the weekend programme is also possible.

There are free places available through the Patrick Nott bursary, which allows the AIA to offer some free places at Conference, including accommodation and tours.  

Visit the AIA website for full conference details and a conference booking form 

 Salt’s Mill, Saltaire, one of the destinations on offer at AIA’s annual conference (image courtesy saltaire-inspired-uk)

SERIAC 2024 Conference Now Booking

The 2024 South East Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference (SERIAC) is being held on the 12th October at Chichester College. SERIAC is an association of Industrial Archaeology and related societies based in the South East of England. Since 1983, a member society has organised an annual day conference.

This year’s event is being hosted by the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society. The one day conference will include talks on: railways to Chichester; Portsmouth Dockyard; and the Bursledon Brickworks. There will also be a post-conference walk around Chichester’s canal basin.

Book online here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/seriac2024

Further details about the day can be found here: www.sussexias.co.uk/seriac2024

Post Medieval Archaeology Congress 2024, University of Swansea 5-7 April: Call for Papers

The sixth annual Post-Medieval Archaeology Congress will be hosted by Swansea University in Wales. The meeting will be supported by CHART (Centre for Heritage Research and Training) and CRAM (Conflict, Reconstruction and Memory Research Group), both part of the History, Heritage, and Classics Department (School of Culture and Communication).

The annual Congress is open to all researchers to report current and recent research on any aspect of post-medieval/later-historical archaeology. There is no geographical focus and we welcome papers from around the world.  SPMA ask contributors to offer 15-minute papers, which the organisers will arrange into themed sessions, or poster displays. Organised sessions of papers set around a particular research interest or theme are also encouraged.  All papers at PMAC24 will be delivered in person.    

Please send paper or poster proposals with a title, abstract of up to 150 words, affiliation, and email address. Session proposals should include a title and abstract, as well as a list of speakers. Please send titles and abstracts to conference@spma.org.uk by 26 January.

More details on the conference here: https://spma.org.uk/pmac24