Young Members Network
Focus: To bring together students and young museum professionals (up to 36 years old) in the museum sector, to share thoughts, experiences and knowledge among peers about museum education and participation – theory and practices.
Language: English.
Open to: Students and ICOM and ICOM-CECA members up to 36 years old – join via registration form.
Calendar: Schedule 2026–2027
Coordinators: Angela Manders; Tuuli Uusikukka
About the coordinators
Angela Manders is an experienced educator with more than 25 years of experience in the museum sector. She also served as a CECA board member for 6 years. She has led the CECA Young Members Network meetings since 2023 and was responsible for the CECA Young Member Award.
Tuuli Uusikukka is an experienced museum professional and the senior educator curator at The Finnish Museum of Play. She served on the board of the Finnish Association for Museum Education Pedaali for 7 years, including 5 years as chairperson. From the end of 2025 she has been CECA board member, co-coordinates the CECA Young Members Network, and oversees the CECA Young Member Award.
Description
Are you under 36 and keen to expand your international network? Join the CECA Young Members Network!
The aim of this Special Interest Group – Young Members Network is to bring together students and young professionals up to 36 years old, who are engaged in museum education, visitor services and public participation in the museum sector. With this, we want to provide a platform to share thoughts, experiences and knowledge among peers, so that we can learn from each other and explore new possibilities together. Each month we discuss a specific topic and there will be room for discussion about a project you are working on for peer review.
We organize online meetings on Zoom once a month on a Saturday. Due to the international nature, we have to take into account the different time zones, therefore the meetings will take place at 15:00 – 16:15 (Amsterdam Time). In the week before the meetings, you will again receive a reminder by email and WhatsApp.
The format of the meetings requires either group discussions in the Zoom rooms and using interactive tools to share thoughts or meeting the guest to get a deeper view on a specific topic. The modus operandi is:
- Introduction of the topic or project
- A personal reflection on the subject
- Q&A or an informal group discussion
- Conclusion: answers or more questions
This SIG has a “Chat in the house” role so no video recordings are shared after the meetings. The presentations can be shared if the presenter agrees on it.
Meeting schedule 2026–2027
We are using a registration form for our meetings this season: https://forms.gle/WtCCW5y6cHa815Ab8. This will help me to prepare in advance, know the number of participants, register new colleagues and send reminders of the meeting link.
| # | Date | Time | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saturday 19 Sept. 2026 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Sharing our ongoing projects for peer review: share a new idea, a project outcome, or any challenges or difficulties you have encountered during a process |
| 2 | Saturday 17 Oct. 2026 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Building healthy, inclusive museum careers |
| 3 | Nov. 2026 | On-site Annual Conference Jakarta | Feeling Safe in the Museum: Creating Physical & Mental Safe Spaces for Critical Dialogue |
| 4 | Saturday 19 Dec. 2026 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Sharing our ongoing projects for peer review: share a new idea, a project outcome, or any challenges or difficulties you have encountered during a process |
| 5 | Saturday 16 Jan. 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Re-thinking museum practice |
| 6 | Saturday 20 Feb. 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | How AI is transforming museums |
| 7 | Saturday 20 March 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Sharing our ongoing projects for peer review: share a new idea, a project outcome, or any challenges or difficulties you have encountered during a process |
| 8 | Saturday 17 April 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Designing meaningful digital experiences |
| 9 | Saturday 15 May 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Museum education in a changing climate |
| 10 | Saturday 19 June 2027 | 15:00 (Amsterdam time) | Sharing our ongoing projects for peer review: share a new idea, a project outcome, or any challenges or difficulties you have encountered during a process |
Annual reports
2025, 2024, 2023.
Young Member Award 2026
Criteria and guidelines for submitting the Young Member Award Video.
Who can submit for the Young Members Award:
- Young ICOM–CECA members under 36
- Who have attended at least 2 Young Members Network meetings
Deadline: 4 May 2026
One month after being informed that you are an award winner, send a photocopy of a travel document
(plane, train or bus ticket) to cecaymawards[at]gmail.com.
What to submit:
- A video on museum education you have worked on.
- The video should focus on one museum education programme or initiative.
- The programme contributes to sustainable development practice in museum education
and visitor participation.
How to submit the video:
Send via WeTransfer or e-mail to cecaymawards[at]gmail.com.
Conditions for presentation:
- MP4 format, horizontal 16:9
- Maximum duration: 5 minutes
- Clear sound, without distracting background noise
- The presentation must be presented and subtitled in at least one of the official ICOM languages.
If presented in another language, subtitles must be in English, French or Spanish.
If presented in one ICOM language, subtitles must be in one of the other two. - Images or video excerpts may be used to support the presentation
Topic: Sustainable development practice in museum education and visitor participation
The project contributes sustainably to one of the following three categories:
- Social connection and personal development
- Environment and local surroundings
- Conservation and management of our heritage
Video content:
Background information on the museum:
- Type of museum, type of collection(s), vision and mission
- Rationale for developing the programme
- Target audience
Project relevance:
- Institutional relevance (mission, strategies, plans)
- Scientific relevance (collections and stories)
- Social relevance and public value
Project content: What is the project about?
Challenges: What challenges arose during the project and how will the project be sustained?
Personal role: Explain your personal role in developing or running the programme.
If you have questions about these guidelines, bring them to the next Young Members Network meeting.
►► Winner 2026:
Daryl Lorence P. Abarca, AIMS Museo Maritimo, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. His project shows how AIMS Museo Maritimo redesigned its approach after finding that visitors were not engaging deeply despite steady foot traffic. Analysis of dwelling time revealed that object-focused exhibits were not enough for meaningful learning, leading to a shift toward education-driven, interactive, and story-based experiences like the Mystery Game Room. The project highlights that museums become more sustainable by prioritizing meaningful visitor experiences over collections alone.
►► Winner 2025:
Arthur Jørgensen, project “Minority: Visibility and Insight”. Aarhus University, Denmark.
“This project is an educational course for students aged 12 to 16, which explores the history and lived experiences of three minority groups: people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people and ethnic minorities. Our goal is to strengthen students’ historical awareness while promoting reflection, recognition and self-understanding during their formative years.”
Other participants 2025
- Ana Carolina Vicente (Brazil)
- Binderiya Munkhbat (Mongolia)
- Elena Carta (Italy)
- Juhi Sadiya (India)
- Justine Grethen (France)
Winner 2024:
Adriana Palafox from Mexico has won the CECA Young Members Award 2024. 
Why did she win?
The video shows us how important personal development is for achieving shared goals. The workshop helps to ensure certain processes within the organization for the preservation of the collection and thus knowledge for future generations.
The 3 award winners 2023:
-
First place: Muminur Rashid, National Museum of Science and Technology (NMST), Bangladesh.
- Second Place: Clare Murray, cARTie, art museum bus, USA.
- Third place: Johanna Palmeyro, museum professional (Argentina) in co-creation with the Singapore Art Museum.
►► Video of the first prize: Winner Muminur Rashid
National Museum of Science and Technology (NMST), Bangladesh.