Oceans Past Conference 2026

Posted: Wednesday 13th May 2026

Event date: 15-19 2026

Location: University of Victoria, Canada

The Oceans Past Initiative connects scholars and practitioners interested in documenting and understanding changes in marine systems and human-ocean interactions in past decades, centuries and millennia. The 11th Oceans Past Conference will be held at the University of Victoria June 15-19, 2026 with support from the Faculties of Social Science and Humanities, the School of Environmental Studies, the Departments of History and Anthropology, the Oceans Past Initiative, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, and the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology. 

Conference Themes: Ocean Connected Communities

• Trajectories of human influences on the seas: fisheries, pests, and pollution
• Indigenous ocean knowledges
• Connecting communities: blue memory, place, heritage, and justice
• Marine ecosystems past and future, from kelp forests to coral reefs
• Physical and biological change in marine systems
• Ocean stewardship and belonging
• The future past of marine paleobiology
• From collapse to recovery: Learning from our shared pasts to inform future policy and management

Find out more: Oceans Past XI: June 15-19, 2026