Join the Digital Repository of Ireland, Queen’s University Belfast and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland next June 2026 for a ‘playful’ conference experience focused on stories of experimentation, creativity—and even failure! 

Our 2026 conference theme Ready, Set, Preserve! Making Space for Play in Digital Preservation asks us to reflect on how we collaborate across teams and organisations given the range of skills required to deliver effective digital preservation services. Our theme also invites consideration of challenges inherent in certain media types that need to be ‘played’ to be useful (like games, VR, AV, etc.) and the importance of collaboration and inclusivity to successful gameplay (e.g. multi-player games & team sports). 

We invite the submission of posters, presentations, and workshops or games on any topic related to the theme of play, such as:

• Collaborative approaches to digital preservation

• Issues in media and videogame preservation

• Taking a chance with new tools or workflows

• Making connections in unexpected places

• Creative reuse of digital collections

...and more! 

The call for proposals is open until January 7, 2026 on the DPASSH website

About DPASSH: The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) hosts the DPASSH (Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) Conference to bring together our members, colleagues and the larger digital preservation community around topics of particular interest to those working in cultural heritage, research, higher education, professional arts practice, IT and software development with a Humanities and Social Science focus. Held every second year, the conference is co-hosted with another organisation (or two) with an interest in expanding the conversation around digital preservation on meaningful contemporary themes.