Elizabeth Merritt

Elizabeth is the American Alliance of Museums’ Vice President for Strategic Foresight and Founding Director of the Center for the Future of Museums – a think-tank and research & development lab for the museum field. She studied ecology and evolution as an undergraduate at Yale, received her masters in cell and molecular biology from Duke University, and has worked in children’s, natural history, and history museums. She is the author of Standards and Best Practices for US Museums as well as AAM’s annual TrendsWatch report and works with museums around the world to help them build a better tomorrow

At NEMO’s European Museum Conference 2025, Elizabeth Merritt will deliver the keynote speech on Monday, 27 October. 

Presentation abstract:

Envisioning the future of health and wellbeing​

A small but growing number of museums are integrating themselves into local systems of care, deploying their resources to support the health and wellbeing of their communities. In the US, this role is more important than ever as government systems of support are defunded and dismantled. What futures might be created by the growing need for services and the emergence of successful templates for partnerships between the health and cultural sectors?

Futurist Elizabeth Merritt will explore the trends reshaping health and wellbeing in the US and explore futures in which the museum sector plays a critical role in a new infrastructure of care.

Elfi Carle
Elfi Carle

Estelle De Bruyn 
Estelle De Bruyn