The 8th International Conference on Public History — IFPH 2026 Lisbon, dedicated to the theme ‘The Public History of Difficult Pasts’, begins next Monday, 7 September. Until the 11th, Colégio Almada Negreiros (NOVA FCSH, Campolide Campus) will bring together researchers, museum and archive professionals, academics, artists and communities from dozens of countries.

7–11 September 2026

Colégio Almada Negreiros — NOVA FCSH, Campolide Campus, Lisbon

Organised by the International Federation for Public History (IFPH) and hosted by IN2PAST — the Associated Laboratory for Research and Innovation in Heritage, Arts, Sustainability and Territory, of which CRIA is an integral part — the conference explores the ways in which societies confront, interpret and contest their difficult pasts: colonialism, slavery, dictatorships, armed conflicts, institutional violence and silencing.

The programme includes around fifty parallel sessions and working groups, the opening lecture by Noor Nieftagodien (University of the Witwatersrand), book launches, a poster session, a screening of the documentary “We Carry It Within” attended by the director Helle Stenum, a closing round-table discussion on the musealisation of difficult pasts, and a visit to the National Museum of Resistance and Freedom – Peniche Fortress.

CRIA is represented on the organising committee by Joana Miguel Almeida, Marta Prista and Sónia Vespeira de Almeida, and on the scientific committee, which also includes João Mineiro. Throughout the week, André Soares, Inês Lourenço and Joana Miguel de Almeida will moderate panels on contested heritage, the diaspora and Europe’s colonial past, whilst Angélica Vedana, together with Carlos Píriz González, will present a paper on the Chaimite.

FULL PROGRAMME: