APHE Annual Conference 2026

CONFERENCE

JULY 8-10TH 2026

A CRITICAL TOOLKIT: Strategies for pedagogy and practice.

Birmingham City University, Curzon Building, Birmingham, and online.

Conference Updates

Keynote announced: Sophy Rickett.

Sophy Rickett is an artist, writer and educator whose work spans photography, moving image and text. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1999, her work has been exhibited widely. Major projects include To The River (Venice Biennale, 2011), Objects in the Field (2012), The Death of a Beautiful Subject (2015), The Curious Moaning of Kenfig Burrows (2019), shortlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award, and Riverings (2026), supported by a 2026 Realisation Award from the Centre for British Photography. 

Alongside her creative practice, Rickett is Reader in Photography, Heritage and Place at University of the Arts London. Rickett is working in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Nunes on the current AHRC-funded project, Winning the Clay (2026-2027), an interdisciplinary research project that combines creative practice, archival investigation and community engagement to explore the environmental, social and industrial histories of the ball clay industry in South Devon and Stoke-on-Trent. 

Image: Sophy Rickett

We have a lot of content planned to make your time at the conference worthwhile. One such highlight will be guided tours of the Pete James Collection from the Birmingham Art & Design Archive, as well as photographic elements from other collections, such as the glass plate negatives from the School of Art circa 1900, photography of BCU’s fashion and textile student shows from the 1980s’. 

A look at our curriculum panel: 

Pathways into Photography: the ecology of photo education. 

On Thursday morning, speakers from AQA, Cambridge-OCR, and NSEAD will explore “pathways into photography”. With curriculum reform under consultation, creative subjects under strain, and A.I. raising new questions about assessment, authorship, evidence, and visual literacy, this is a crucial time to ask how schools, colleges, universities, awarding bodies, and subject associations can support each other in sustaining photography as a critical, creative, and socially engaged field.

What are you working on? We are inviting expressions of interest to present at the 2026 APHE Conference. 

1) Present a paper sharing an aspect of your research or practice in our Open Call session. 

2) Share an example of your teaching practice; a case study, workshop or other example of ways that we are engaging our students with photography. These presentations will be made in the PechaKucha style (20xslides/20xseconds) and will be shortlisted for our People’s Choice APHIE award on the night. 

Submit an abstract for either or both opportunities, to admin@aphe.ac.uk 

Deadline: June 20th 2026. 

The APHIES trophy

Our conference schedule

July 8th:
	3:00 onwards	Arrival, registration, welcome drinks
	3:00-4:00	Opportunity to view the Pete James Collection and associated archival material (Sign-ups limited to x10)
	5:30	Keynote speaker: Sophy Rickett
July 9th:
	9:30	Registration/coffee
	10:00-11:30	Morning session 1
		Tech Talk
		Presentations and panel discussion with members of the CHEAD technical alliance
	11:30-11:45	Comfort break
	11.45-1.00	Morning session 2
		Pathways into Photography: the ecology of photo education
		Presentations and a panel discussion with speakers from AQA, OCR & NSEAD
	1:00-2:00	Lunch
	2:00-3:00	Afternoon session 1
		Open call presentations x 2
	3:00-3:40	Afternoon session 2
		Performing Strength: Exchanges between Feminist Art and Bodybuilding
		Rebecca Drolen (Associate Professor of Art / Photography/Co-Program Director of Studio Art, School of Art // University of Arkansas.)
	3:40-4:00	Comfort break
	4.00-5.00	Afternoon session 3
		Fit For Purpose Industry panel discussion OR
		Opportunity to view the Pete James Collection and associated archival material (Sign-ups limited to x10)
	5.00-5.15	Comfort break
	5:15-6:15	Keynote Speaker 2:Nicola Shipley/GRAIN
	7:30	Conference Meal
July 10th:
	9:30	Registration/Coffee
	10.00-11.30	APHIES - 5 x pecha-kucha presentations from members on their teaching practice
		Voting for APHIE winner
	11.30-11.45	Break (coffee/tea and snacks)
	11.45-12.45	APHE AGM
	1:00	Conference Closes

The conference call for registration and contributions is live! 

Our event is both in-person and streamed online.

Follow the link below or go to our website to register. Teams links will be supplied for online delegates before the event.

Annual memberships will also be due for renewal on July 1st. You can book a place at the conference, a seat at the conference dinner and renew your membership all in one package, via our event on TicketTailor, or on the website.

Hotel information

The Clayton Hotel is offering a 15% discount to conference attendees.

The code is CHBDIRECT and please reference the APHE conference. You must book directly to get the discount.

However, you may find better deals online.