The Visual Resources Association invites proposals for our 2026 Annual Conference, to be held virtually October 5–9th.

The submission deadline is March 29, 2026.

Submit a proposal.

We encourage you to reflect on your experiences, ideas, and expertise! We welcome submissions from VRA members and non-members, seasoned attendees and first-timers, as well as from students, independent scholars, professionals in any stage of their career, and retirees.

Please direct any questions about the submission process to VRA’s Directors for Events & Initiatives at initiatives@vraweb.org.

Important Dates

February 18: Call for Proposals opens
March 29: Call for Proposals closes
On or around May 15: Notification of final decisions
On or around June 8: Tentative programs released

Proposal Types
Individual Papers: Individual presentations that may highlight new research, a case study, or an innovative idea relevant to the VRA community. Papers should aim to provide attendees with fresh tools, strategies, or inspiration they can apply in their own practice. Grouped thematically with other individual papers into moderated sessions with a total run time of 60 to 90 minutes, including a Q&A. Maximum of 2 presenters per paper.

Lightning Talks: Short (5–7 minute) individual presentations. Lightning talks provide attendees the opportunity to hear about a range of innovative projects or ideas from a broad group of colleagues in a short amount of time. Grouped into sessions that may or may not be themed. Maximum of 1 presenter per lightning talk.

Pre-coordinated Panels: Moderated sessions typically consisting of 3–4 presenters speaking for 15 minutes each, followed by a Q&A. Panels provide attendees with diverse perspectives on a single topic, a comparison of tools or methods, or a number of case studies on related subjects. If proposing a panel, it is your responsibility to fill the time with presenters. It is not necessary to identify all potential presenters before submitting your proposal, but conference planners will need names of presenters several months prior to the conference.

Workshops: An opportunity to teach and explore a specific tool, technique, workflow, or concept relevant to the VRA community. Workshops are generally 90 minutes to 3 hours, but can be longer if needed. Maximum of 2 instructors.

Meetings: Committees, chapters, and special interest group meetings, typically an hour in length.

Tours: A virtual tour of your institution or other place of interest. This might include a collections show and tell; a demonstration of your digital asset management, website, or other platform; or a meet and greet with your workplace colleagues.

Social event / other: Be creative! We welcome new ideas in this virtual format. Think along the lines of virtual yoga lessons, arts & crafts time, trivia session, lunch talks, happy hour, etc.

VRA 2026 Virtual Whiteboard
Interested in engaging with the VRA community to develop or refine a proposal or suggest ideas? VRA’s Programming Committee (formerly known as the Education Committee) has set up a Virtual Whiteboard where you can brainstorm collaboratively about potential papers, panels, special interest/user groups, workshops, meetings, and poster sessions.

Reach out to the Programming Committee co-chairs at programming@vraweb.org if you have any questions about the whiteboard.

Suggested Topics
We welcome proposals on a wide range of topics related to visual resources, including case studies, lessons learned (both successes and challenges), practical applications, innovative methods, ongoing projects, ethical considerations, research, and pedagogical practices.

Suggested topics include:

• Coding
• Community outreach
• Copyright/intellectual property
• Digital asset management, digital curation, digital preservation, etc.
• Digitization (workflows, digital capture and imaging technologies)
• Digital scholarship and digital humanities
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural competencies, social justice
• Project management (communication, grant writing, prioritization, leadership, etc.)
• Linked data
• Materials/objects collections
• Metadata/cataloging ethics (decolonizing vocabularies, radical cataloging)
• Storytelling and oral history
• Technologies (GIS and mapping, 3D imaging, etc.)
• Tools: open source, evolution, future trends
• Workplace cultures and professional transitions (academic departments, libraries, cultural heritage institutions, archives, corporate, etc.)

This is not an exhaustive list. Do not hesitate to propose something new or highlight an area of concern that you feel has not been adequately addressed in the past!

Past conference schedules can give you an idea of the range of topics presented in previous years.