Date: August 19 - 22, 2026
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Host: NSM Thailand
Official website: https://www.aspacnet.org
The ASPAC Conference 2026 will be held from August 19 to 22.The conference proper has been compressed into two days, August 19 and 20, with August 21 and 22 set aside as "bonding time" for optional tours.There will be a night for national costume.
There will be 12 main tracks, referred to as SCIENCE EXCHANGE TRACKS (SETs), each lasting 3.5 hours.Please note that reading of a presentation within a SET is limited to only 10 minutes - the rest should be for interactivity (Q and A, games, workshops etc).
SET 1: How are our members embracing tech futures?
Possible subtopics:
what are the tech futures?
presentations from tech leaders in ASPAC members like SK, Japan, Australia, Singapore);
presentations from other ASPAC members who use tech in innovative ways for impact in programs, exhibitions etc?
SET 2: How do we design for futures?
Possible subtopics:
“futures” exhibitions
“futures” explorations with the public
Co-designing “futures” with communities
SET 3: How could museums imagine the futures of cities, coastlines, music, futures or side by side?
Possible topics:
Music and the science of well-being
Museums in cities and sustainability
Museums in coastlines
SET 4: What is the future of digital media in or among science centers/museums?
Possible topics:
What could collaborative digital media look like?
Give a challenge on what a media campaign would be like knowing the costs of digital media on the brain and on costs of AI to the planet?
SET 5: How do we ensure that our science centers/museums remain human-centered in the age of AI?
Possible topics:
Negative examples (humans at the periphery and not the center)
How do we evaluate if indeed our AI-powered stuff in our museum is human-centered?
SET 6: What are the impactful cases of robotics programs by science centers?
Possible topics:
Robots helping rural folk
Robots as “attractions” to visitors to get them in the mood for science exploration
SET 7: What does leadership look like in science museum futures?
Possible topics:
What are the skills that we have discovered no longer hold?
What are the skills or traits that we now think should be considered?
What is unique about ASPAC leadership?
(An intergenerational dialogue here may be useful with the impact of leadership coming NOT from the leaders)
SET 8: What are the possible futures of science museum/center ecosystems?
This will need a facilitator and necessarily take on a 3.5 hour workshop with breakout groups that will include the futures of:
in staffing/finance/
exhibitions/programs and
collaborations and partnerships
And then a presentation of each group with Q and A.
SET 9: What are the ways of science engagement that should be dead, buried, worth resurrecting or to keep alive (a cross-section of many cases across member institutions to see if there are patterns or commonalities)
Possible topics:
Exhibitions that should be dead, buried, worth resurrecting or to keep alive
Programs that should be dead, buried, worth resurrecting or to keep alive
Shows that should be dead, buried, worth resurrecting or to keep alive
Science museum perspectives that should be dead, buried, worth resurrecting or to keep alive
SET 10: What other uncommon cultural purposes should our facilities serve to reinforce science engagement. This could be breakout groups to come up with a detailed plan of how to carry out this reimagined purposes and each group will present, (e.g. a reserved time for people to come “unplugged” from their devices and to have genuine conversations or this can be imagined or re-imagined cultural purposes that the participants can come up with together in a workshop).
SET 11: Each participant could choose a “persona” of certain futures (they will wear a tag of that persona) and they will approach each other to converse and see what kind of future scenarios are created.
SET 12: How can museums design for indigenous futures?
Possible topics:
What low tech have been found impactful in science engagement?
What does decolonization of science museums and centers mean to former colonies?
The above information is from the official website of Asia Pacific Network of Science & Technology Centres.
