Thursday, 30 October, will bring the International Archives Congress – ICA Barcelona 2025 to a close with a programme that looks ahead to the future of the profession. It will be a day for sharing lessons learned, discussing global challenges and closing the meeting with an eye on everything that remains to be built.
The morning will feature the final parallel sessions, with topics ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to improve accessibility and automate processes, to new methodologies for promoting public transparency, preserving digital documents and strengthening institutional management. Key issues such as accessibility, records management in corporate environments and the response of archival science to the climate crisis will also be addressed.
The keynote speaker for this session is Trudy Huskamp Peterson, an internationally renowned American archivist, a leader in government records management and a promoter of human rights archives, who will share her extensive professional experience in defending archives as tools for memory, justice and transparency.
Rethinking the future of archives
One of the main themes of the day will be the need to rethink the role of archives and those who manage them in an increasingly complex world. There will be discussions on ethical and sustainable leadership, emerging professional profiles, the new skills required in the digital environment, and the role that archives can play in building more inclusive public policies.
There will also be a space dedicated to recognising the ICA Fellows, the highest award given by the Council, in tribute to their extraordinary contributions to the field of archives and records management, which will serve as inspiration for future generations in this sector.
The closing ceremony will symbolically bring the congress to a close, but will leave the door open to what is to come, because archives not only preserve memory, they also drive change.
You can consult each of the presentations and events planned for this day in the preliminary programme, now available on the official website of the International Archives Congress – ICA Barcelona 2025.
