UMAC Award

Letter from the UMAC Award Chair

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

On behalf of the UMAC Award Evaluation Panel, it is my great pleasure to announce the three finalists for the 2026 UMAC Award of Excellence.

 

The Award recognises outstanding and innovative projects in university museums and collections worldwide, judged on innovation and creativity, excellence, transferability, and impact on the host university, the community, or society at large. This year’s nominations were of exceptional quality, and I am grateful to everyone who took the time to put forward the work of colleagues in our sector. The jury’s task was a genuinely difficult one.

 

The finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

 

CEMENT: MOMENT – Every Moment of Cement
Hanyang University Museum, Seoul, Korea

What can a university museum do with the most ordinary material on earth? CEMENT: MOMENT, by Hanyang University Museum (Seoul, Korea), turned cement into a curatorial method: one everyday material unfolded into a century of Korean history – colonial extraction, postwar reconstruction, urbanisation – and into contemporary art, engineering research, inclusive community tours, and international programs. Partnering with industry, local government, artists, and social enterprises, the project drew 41,572 visitors, built a permanent student-designed pavilion, published a 241-page archive catalogue, and won Korea’s ‘University Museum of the Year’ award. Its community tours continue today under a lasting partnership.

 

Prototyping
Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong, China

Prototyping: transforms the university gallery into an interactive “Living Lab.” Mapping 30 years of academic research, the exhibition translates 23 complex scientific innovations into immersive, participatory scenarios. Co-curated with the Academy of Innovation, the project departs from traditional museology, inviting visitors to experience the iterative journey from a nascent idea to real-world societal application. Prototyping: offers a highly transferable pedagogical framework, demonstrating how university museums globally can democratise science, drive cross-disciplinary exchange, and foster civic engagement across schools, industries, and the public within a humble, collaborative “sandbox” space.

 

Reflection, Melody, Rhythm: Museums as Classrooms
Institute of Design and Visual Arts (IDVA) at Lahore College for Women University and Fakir Khana Museum, Lahore, Pakistan

On 18 May 2026, Fakir Khana Museum, Lahore partnered with LCWU’s Institute of Design and Visual Art and Naqsh School of Art to bridge a critical gap: most university museums in Pakistan hold no art and design collections. Three 18th-century Raga Mala Pahari miniatures were activated through live classical music, dance, and poetic narration. This SDG 17 partnership gave degree and diploma miniature students direct access to original heritage in a historic house museum, transforming it into a living classroom. The project models how university-private museum collaboration can address gaps in heritage education and advocate for central museum policies in Pakistani universities.

 

The winner of the 2026 UMAC Award of Excellence will be announced at the UMAC Annual General Meeting at the University of Patras, Greece, on Wednesday 14 October 2026. We hope to see many of you there to celebrate the achievements of all three finalists.

 

My congratulations to the nominated projects and to the teams behind them, and my thanks to the members of the Evaluation Panel for their careful and considered deliberations.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Joshua Gorman

Chair, UMAC Award Committee

 

 

 

 

 

The UMAC Award of Excellence recognises outstanding and innovative projects in university museums and collections worldwide, celebrating their impact on universities, communities, and society.

 

The application deadline has been extended until 30 July 2026

 

 

Eligibility

Projects and initiatives eligible to the UMAC AWARD must be less than 3 years old at the time of the nomination. They may cover all areas of museums and collections theory and practice, including exhibition, education, conservation, teaching, research, management and business models, design and architecture, ethics, service to the university and the public, strategic planning, and advances in museology.

All university museums and collections are eligible regardless of their location, type or size. Nominees do not have to be UMAC members. However, they must be nominated by two financial ICOM members. On a nominee’s application, the two nominators cannot use the same institutional membership number. UMAC Board members are unable to act as nominators for any entries. 

Criteria

Projects or initiatives nominated must demonstrate:
i) innovation/creativity;
ii) excellence;
iii) transferability of ideas that can be adopted by other university museums and collections regardless of geography, size or location; and
iv) impact on the host university, the community or society at large.

Nominations must be submitted by two UMAC members in good standing. Nominators can nominate themselves. If you are thinking of making a nomination, please read the UMAC Award Rules.

Nominations for the UMAC Award 2026

The nomination form can be accessed here 

UMAC-AWARD-2026-30July

 

See examples of UMAC Award winners here:

Do you have questions about the UMAC Award?

Contact the Chair of the UMAC Award Committee: Joshua Gorman