Registrations for Big Stuff 2025 are now open

Registrations for the International Big Stuff Conference are now officially open! The conference will take place from October 14th to 17th, 2025, at the Museum of Industry in the city of Ghent, Belgium. This triennial gathering brings together a global network of professionals, academics, and dedicated volunteers who are passionate about large-scale technical heritage, from early industrial machinery to modern space-age technology.

You can now register for the conference and connect with the vibrant Big Stuff Heritage community.

 

Skills and Machines

With the theme “Skills and Machines – A Living Partnership,” this year’s Big Stuff conference goes beyond the traditional academic format. Alongside thought-provoking lectures and engaging discussions, the program features excursions to sites showcasing Belgium’s rich industrial heritage—where you’ll witness monumental machinery in action.

Big Stuff 2025 creates a vibrant space for cross-disciplinary dialogue, innovation, and collaboration. This edition tackles a timely and critical issue: the safeguarding of endangered technical skills. Industrial heritage isn’t just about machines—it’s about the people who designed, built, operated, and maintained them.

As experienced professionals retire and fewer young people enter mechanical trades, the transfer of hands-on knowledge is at risk. This threatens our ability to preserve, understand, and advance the technologies of the past. That’s why this edition of Big Stuff confronts urgent, real-world questions head-on:

  • How can we preserve and transmit technical skills in a world increasingly dominated by automation and digital tools?
  • In what ways can traditional know-how contribute to sustainability, circular economy initiatives, and education?
  • Can industrial heritage serve as a bridge between historic pride and today’s ecological and social responsibilities?

 

The Program: A Range of Voices and Excursions

Over four immersive days, Big Stuff 2025 will explore these challenges through engaging presentations, globally connected discussions, and hands-on skill demonstrations. Ghent’s Museum of Industry, a former textile factory, has a vast tradition of organizing workshops to pass on skills and creating maker spaces within its walls, making it the perfect home base for four days of exchange, learning, and exploration. From the conference dinner in the former factory hall, guided tours by the museum’s staff and live demonstrations at the textile and printing floor during the ‘Night at the Museum,’ participants will definitely be immersed in this location’s context and traditions.

The conference starts with a keynote by Professor Rodney Harrison. He explores how industrial heritage and the transmission of technical skills intersect with broader societal issues such as health, sustainability, and education, setting the tone for a conference that is both academically rigorous and practically grounded.

Furthermore, each morning, the speaker program will offer multi-voiced contributions. By programming world-renowned museum professionals and academics alongside grassroots practitioners and community-led initiatives, the conference aims to foster meaningful dialogue across sectors and across the globe.

Each afternoon, participants will venture beyond the lecture hall to explore some of Belgium’s most fascinating industrial heritage sites—from community-run museums to innovative, volunteer-driven workshops. Highlights include a steam train center, a volunteer-operated brick factory, wartime heritage in Ostend, Antwerp’s maritime legacy, and a 19th-century cardboard factory and its surroundings. These guided field trips offer a chance to experience heritage in its real-world context, fostering meaningful dialogue and demonstrating how local initiatives contribute to and shape global conversations.

 

Three Ways to Join

To ensure access and inclusivity, Big Stuff 2025 is more than the main conference in Ghent but also offers a hybrid format for online-only participants, with livestreamed sessions, online discussions, and interactive digital content. Participants in the Southern Hemisphere can join the satellite hub in Perth, Australia, where concurrent events are hosted, facilitating meaningful North-South dialogue and enabling broader participation while minimizing the environmental impact of intercontinental travel.

Big Stuff 2025 is more than an invitation to gather—it’s a call to action. It seeks to forge new pathways toward a more resilient and sustainable future for technical heritage. Whether you’re a conservator, curator, technician, researcher, educator, engineer, policymaker, or volunteer, your knowledge and perspective are essential to shaping the future of our shared industrial legacy.

Join us in Ghent, in Perth, or online, and be part of a growing international movement dedicated to ensuring that “big stuff” continues to matter in a rapidly evolving world.

Learn more about the different hubs, explore the full program, or register now at www.bigstuff2025.info

 

Register by May 31 to enjoy our Early Bird promotion!