Project Title: The 4th International Conference on Museum Big Data (MBD2026)
Acronym: MBD2026
Coordinator / Supervisor: Professor Georgios Papaioannou (Member of the International Scientific Committee)
Type of Funding: Institutional / Academic Funding
Funding Source: Conference Organizing Institutions & Partners
Dates: 12–14 November 2026
Project Website
Project Overview
The 4th International Conference on Museum Big Data (MBD2026) will take place on 12–14 November 2026 in Sofia, Bulgaria, continuing the established international conference series on Museum Big Data initiated in 2019.
The Museum Big Data (MBD) conferences constitute the first international research forum dedicated to the study of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and data-driven methodologies in museums and cultural heritage. Since their inception at University College London (Qatar), the conferences have evolved into a leading platform for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of museology, digital cultural heritage, data science, and information studies.
The Museum Big Data (MBD) conferences constitute the first international research forum dedicated to the study of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and data-driven methodologies in museums and cultural heritage. Since their inception at University College London (Qatar), the conferences have evolved into a leading platform for interdisciplinary research at the intersection of museology, digital cultural heritage, data science, and information studies
MBD2026 is organized under the academic leadership of Professor Georgios Papaioannou, Professor of Museology and Digital Cultural Heritage at the Ionian University and founder of the Museum Big Data conference series. Following the organization of MBD2024 in Athens, the conference continues its international trajectory, bringing the discussion to Southeast Europe.
The conference aims to attract academics, practitioners, and technologists engaged in contemporary research on Museum Big Data, while also showcasing experimental and innovative approaches to data-intensive cultural heritage research.
The conference is hosted in Sofia under the auspices of the ERA FOCUS Chair in “Fostering Digital Cultural Heritage via Open Innovation and Open Science”, in collaboration with the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Impact & Publications
Proceedings will be published with CEUR-WS.org (indexed by DBLP, Scopus, GoogleScholar etc.), and extended versions of selected papers will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal.