CALL FOR PAPERS

Tūwhiti te hopo – Heritage Bites

 

PĀNUI

Nau mai haere mai

Piki mai kake mai

 

A Hybrid Short-form Presentation Competition on Critical Heritage for Early Career Researchers and Practitioners

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ACHS 2026 TŪHONO invites us to explore how heritage connects us with each other, with the past, and with the land. How does your research or project engage with this theme of relationality? Does your work interweave theory and practice, or connect heritage to wider social, political, and environmental issues? Can you share your ideas in just a couple of minutes?

In te reo Māori, Tūwhiti te hopo means ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. We invite students and early-career practitioners to take part in Tūwhiti te hopo – Heritage Bites, a dynamic challenge to communicate your research or practice clearly and creatively, in the spirit of ACHS 2026’s theme of TŪHONO (connection) and RELATIONALITY.

 

How do I take part?

Apply by submitting a 1-minute video exploring a research, project, idea, issue, or question related to critical heritage and its connections to the ACHS 2026 themes of TŪHONO (relationality, connection, and the interweaving of theory and practice). Think of it as a provocation: make us curious, make us want to know more.

 

A curated selection of submitted videos will be compiled and screened throughout the conference. Then, what could you do with double the time? From the curated selection, 15 applicants will be invited to deliver a live 2-minute “limitless” presentation to showcase, demonstrate, or further explore the idea they pitched.

• Selected presenters have 2 minutes in a “limitless” format: performance, spoken word, art, demonstration, and more are all welcome. The only rule: if you opt for a conventional presentation, a maximum of one slide is allowed.

• This is a hybrid session: selected presenters may join in person or online and the session will be freely accessible and live-streamed for all.

• After each presentation, there will be a 3 minute question and answer period with an expert panel and fellow practitioners to spark conversation about your presentation

 

Your presentation will be discussed by an expert panel of academics and heritage practitioners, focusing on clarity, engagement, and impact. The best presentation will be awarded during the conference.

 

Who can enter?

• Students from any discipline or within 5 years of completing a Post Graduate degree (not presenting in any other session of the conference).

• Early-career practitioners who are within 5 years of starting work in the field and are younger than 35 years old (not presenting in any other session of the conference).

• If you aren’t sure that you fit, apply anyway! We want a range of ideas and presentations to showcase the innovative world of critical heritage.

 

Why participate?

• Have a dynamic conversation about your project or idea in a space that encourages new relational practices and connections beyond academia

• Participate in a network of like-minded people from more than 80 countries working in the broad and interdisciplinary field of heritage studies and practice.

• Receive feedback from an expert panel of academics and heritage practitioners

 

Key Dates:

• Submission Deadline: 15 July 2026

• Outcomes notified: end of August 2026

• Conference Registration opens: June 2026

• Conference: Nov 29 - Dec 2, 2026

How to submit:

Download and complete the form found below. Send the completed form, along with a link to your 1-minute video (horizontal format) introducing your project and its connection to the ACHS 2026 theme of TŪHONO, to info@achs2026.nz with the subject line “ECR Call for Papers – [First Name] [Last Name] ”.

 

NOTE

By submitting your video, you give consent to it being compiled with other submissions and screened publicly during ACHS 2026 TŪHONO (29 November – 2 December 2026, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand).