STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

UNIVERSEUM - Call for Membership

Since it was created, in April 2000, UNIVERSEUM - The European Academic
Heritage Network - has enjoyed an informal structure.

During the 2010 annual meeting last June, at the University of Uppsala,
UNIVERSEUM was formally established as an European association aimed at the
preservation of European academic heritage.

This means UNIVERSEUM has now its own Statutes and everyone - individuals and
institutions - with an interest on European academic heritage can BECOME
MEMBERS. We invite you to do that. You can find the Statutes (in English and
French), as well as membership forms at UNIVERSEUM's website:

http://www.universeum.it/
Membership fees are waived for 2010.

We also invite you to participate in the next UNIVERSEUM Network Meeting,to be
held May 26-29, 2011, at the University of Padova. This Meeting will include a
joint UNIVERSEUM-Coimbra Group Session. The Call for papers and more details
will be announced soon.

Across the world, there are several national and international organisations
concerned with university heritage. 20 years ago there were only two or three.
This is good as university heritage is highly vulnerable and needs
collaborative partnerships, recognition and advocacy.

In the international constellation of organisations, UNIVERSEUM fills a void
that is visible at least since Recommendation 13 (2005) of the Council of
Europe (http://www.universeum.it/council.html).
- It aims at academic heritage in the broad sense - not only university
museums and collections, but also monuments, buildings, archives, and
libraries.
- Its geographical scope is European academic heritage (although anyone from
outside Europe can become a UNIVERSEUM member).
- In terms of recognition, it targets the European political and academic
community, particularly the European University Association (EUA), the Coimbra
Group, other European university organisations, the European Union, the Council
of Europe, etc.

We hope UNIVERSEUM can contribute to an increased recognition of academic
heritage in Europe, as well as to many collaborative heritage
projects among universities across Europe. We also hope to count on you as one
of the first UNIVERSEUM members.

Any queries regarding memberships should be directed to:
Sébastien Soubiran University of Strasbourg
sebastien.soubiran@unistra.fr

Best wishes,

THE UNIVERSEUM INTERIM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Thomas Bremer, University of Halle-Wittenberg
Marta Lourenço, University of Lisbon
Laetitia Maison, University of Bordeaux, France
Sébastien Soubiran, University of Strasbourg
Klaus Staubermann, National Museums Scotland
Sofia Talas, University of Padua
Roland Wittje, University of Regensburg