ICOM (The International Council of Museums) UK has announced that its Core Bursary Scheme is now open for its second round of 2026, with applications welcome from 5 to 31 October.
The Core Bursary provides ICOM UK members with up to £1,250 to support international activity. It funds projects that advance ICOM UK’s strategic priorities of heritage protection, decolonisation and environmental sustainability.
For more than a decade, the scheme has enabled members to carry out valuable international work while creating opportunities to share and celebrate their learning across the wider membership and sector.
The scheme is open to all individual and institutional members of ICOM UK, including those based in the British Overseas Territories.
Applications open now
Applications are assessed by the ICOM UK Bursary Committee. Each member of the bursary committee scores applications, and the committee then approves a suggested fund allocation and communicates it to applicants.Recipients of ICOM UK Bursaries are required to write a report on the international conference or event they have attended
Full guidance, eligibility criteria and the application form are available on the ICOM UK website. For more information and to apply, please click here.
The International Council of Museums has also announced the first details for the ICOM UK 2027 Annual Conference. It will take place from 29 to 30 April 2027 at National Museum Cardiff in Wales.
The event will explore the theme Gwydnwch/Resilience: Museums Adapting to Change in a Complex World, asking how museums globally can deliver on their missions and maintain public trust while evolving and innovating in response to new, unpredictable challenges.
Arranged around four interrelated sub-themes, the conference will highlight museums' resilience, rooted in their ability to anticipate, absorb, recover from, and adapt to change. ICOM UK is calling for proposals for presentations, workshops or poster sessions.
Charlotte Blanco Coates is blooloop's editor. She is from Brighton, UK and previously worked as a librarian. She has a strong interest in arts, culture and information and graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in English Literature. Charlotte can usually be found either with her head in a book or planning her next travel adventure.
