As AI reshapes public discourse, trust and participation, democracies need institutions that help citizens navigate complexity and uncertainty. This strategic conversation brings together experts from psychological defence and the museum sector to explore how museums can move beyond being users of technology to become active civic infrastructures that strengthen trust, critical engagement and social cohesion. What unique contribution can museums make to democratic resilience, and how can they collaborate with civil society, public agencies and communities to help citizens navigate an AI-shaped society?

How might museums stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital society? In this interactive futures workshop, participants learn how to identify signals of change, interpret emerging trends, and explore four future scenarios for museums and audiences in 2036. Through hands-on exercises, scenario dialogue and collaborative reflection, participants will discover how futures thinking can support strategic decision-making, audience engagement and innovation in museum practice. No prior experience with foresight or scenario planning is needed.

Participants will work with a set of prepared scenarios; to support a deeper and more productive workshop experience, they will be asked to read these short scenarios in advance (approximately one week before the session).

Participants leave with practical tools, fresh perspectives, and concrete ideas they can apply within their own organisation.

How do cyberattacks work? And how can we prevent them? This live demonstration illustrates the operational workflow behind a phishing campaign. By understanding each phase and techniques of the attack chain, participants will be better equipped to anticipate threats and strengthen the protection of their online accounts and organisational systems.

Whether a museum has an AI strategy or not, it’s likely that most members of staff are using artificial intelligence in their work in some form or another. If a museum doesn’t have an AI strategy, it might be used in ways that are at odds with the values they build on.

This workshop explores how museums can take a constructively critical approach to artificial intelligence as a powerful tool – if used right. Participants will get inspired how to navigate the many options and aligning AI use with a sensible implementation that adheres to core institutional values.

This workshop explores the Museum Card model as a proven tool for boosting museum visitation and generating additional revenue for the cultural sector in a context of shrinking public budgets. It highlights how national museum card systems raise the visibility of museums among broad audiences, and how they provide data‑driven insights into audience reach.

The session includes a presentation and an open Q&A for participants who are seeking sustainable models to strengthen their museum ecosystem. 

How do emotions shape what we trust, believe and share? Taking place inside MO Museum’s exhibition How to Feel Real, this interactive workshop invites participants to explore how contemporary art can foster critical thinking in an age of AI, misinformation and algorithmic influence.

Through artwork-based inquiry, reflective exercises and facilitated dialogue conducted directly in the exhibition spaces, participants will experience educational methods developed by MO Museum to engage audiences with questions of trust, perception and digital culture. The workshop offers practical, transferable approaches that can be adapted by museums seeking to create meaningful conversations around technology, emotion and critical thinking.

Short Cuts brings the conference into practice with five‑minute insights – real challenges, concrete actions, and honest lessons from the field.

Introduction on museums in the age of cyber threats by Giulio Zucchini followed by a live cyberattack demonstration by Rémi Martin De Abiaon how emails get hacked.

The live hacking demonstration will be followed with a panel discussions to elaborate further on how museums and cultural institutions can build digital resilience.

What happens when AI generates history in real time? In this interactive live session, Christine Koblitz creates images on stage using audience prompts, revealing biases, distortions, and ethical dilemmas while exploring what this means for museums, authenticity, and trust.

As AI increasingly shapes how people access information, knowledge, images, and narratives, questions of trust have become just as important as questions of truth. Who decides what is true, trustworthy, and meaningful? This panel examines how museums can help audiences navigate algorithmic bias, misinformation, synthetic media, and shifting forms of authority in the digital age. Beyond questions of factual accuracy, it explores trust, empathy, and human mediation as essential components of learning and public engagement. The session highlights the role of museums as spaces for critical reflection, informed dialogue, and responsible AI literacy.

AI is not just changing what museums do, it’s transforming how they work. This panel explores the shift inside institutions, from evolving roles and workflows to the skills and mindsets needed to embed AI into everyday practice.

As AI moves from experimentation to strategy, leadership becomes critical. This panel explores how museum leaders can navigate uncertainty, take responsibility, and steer their institutions toward meaningful, mission-driven AI adoption. 

This interactive workshop introduces museum and cultural heritage institution professionals to practical and accessible uses of generative AI through hands-on experimentation. Beginning with a single image from a collection, archive, or exhibition context, participants will explore how AI tools can support storytelling, audience engagement, accessibility, interpretation, and digital communication. The session opens with a live example showing how a single historical image can evolve into multiple forms of content and visitor experiences. Participants will then experiment with their own materials in an open, exploratory format, while also discussing questions of authenticity, interpretation, authorship, and the role of AI in cultural heritage practice.

This workshop is organised by the NEMO Working Group LEM - the Learning Museum and will be introduced by its leader Margherita Sani (Italy), also NEMO Project Coordinator.

Museums’ environmental impact from their digital conduct is growing due to an increased digital presence and use of digital solutions. This ranges from storage to streaming, use of AI and digitisation to digital conservation of artefacts.

In this workshop, the Green Museum Academy (part of the Association of Danish Museums) will raise awareness on sustainability issues connected to museums’ digital presence and share experience working in this field. Participants will get to engage in discussions, group work, and mutual exchange to inspire solutions on this important matter. 

This workshop is organised by the NEMO Working Group SAC! Sustainability and Climate Action and will be introduced by its leader Chryssa Bourbou (Greece), Ministry of Culture Greece.

It feels surreal: as geopolitical AI debates and cyber threats dominate the world stage, museums must deal with the fallout in their everyday operations. As institutions, we become witnesses to an accelerating digital reality that often seems out of our collective control. What structural and practical toll does this take? This workshop shifts the focus from technical functionality to the organisational resilience and internal culture of museums. Instead of offering ready-made answers, this workshop provides a space to share institutional experiences, name these tensions, and explore how museum organisations can face these macro-level changes with human-centred, caring, and resilient strategies.

The workshop is organised by the NEMO Working Group Resilience and Care. The group’s leaders Olivia Braun and Elfi Carle will introduce the workshop as well as facilitate.

In this hands-on workshop, museum and cultural professionals will co-create a draft AI Manifesto to guide institutional use of AI, both internally and publicly. Through a dialogue-driven process, participants explore why such a manifesto matters and learn how to ask the key questions needed to shape it. Using a practical, replicable framework, they will align ethical principles with institutional goals to identify actionable solutions - from quick, low-resource steps to longer-term strategies. Participants will also build foundational AI literacy and gain tools to extend the co-creation process to colleagues, visitors, and communities.

This workshop is organised by the NEMO Working Group Digital Transformation and will be introduced by its leader Elīna Vikmane (Lativa), Latvian Museums Association, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Latvian Academy of Culture. 

Isabella Ducros is also commissioned by the Working Group to produce research and a report on AI in museums that will be published by NEMO later this year.

How can museums use the future in times of rapid change? This interactive workshop introduces futures thinking as a strategic tool for navigating uncertainty and transformation. Participants will get to explore futures-focused tools and methodologies to reflect on emerging challenges and opportunities – from technology to societal change. Through practical exercises and discussion, the session supports museum professionals in moving beyond short-term planning towards more proactive, resilient, and imaginative approaches, helping embed long-term thinking into museum practice, strategy, and organisational culture.

This workshop is organised by the NEMO Working Group Think Tank on Museum Futures. The group’s leader Sandro Debono will introduce the workshop as well as facilitate.

Rapid digital and AI acceleration pressures museum decision-makers, causing strategic anxiety and operational spasms. To move past reactive choices born of technological panic, this 90-minute workshop supports the shift from narrow techno-centric expertise to collective "digital courage" and values-led progress. We will analyse human-centric stressors and examine how clarity in governance, supportive scaffoldings and internal alignment enable more resilient leadership while relieving single leaders. The discussion will be tailored and informed by emerging insights from NEMO’s ongoing work and community input. Through structured peer exchange, we will map paths for honest transversal dialogue, offering a strategic booster shot to activate your team’s collective powers back home.