The 2014 Annual Conference of ICOM's International Committee for the Training of Personnel (ICTOP) will be held in Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, on 21-25 October.

Entitled 'Rethinking Museums & Sustainable Development for the Global Profession - Postcolonial Museology, Appropriate Capacity Building and Regional Engagement', the event takes place in the broader framework of recent debates which challenge hegemonic notions of museology and the conventional approaches to capacity building in museums. It also aims to provide an intensive professional development programme for museum staff in Asia and the Pacific. The conference programme includes, among others, keynote speeches, state of the art presentations and a range of thematic workshops, addressing issues such as the following:

• Museums and Gender Mainstreaming;
• Planning for Growth - City Museums;
• Ecomuseology and Sustainable Development;
• Ethnology Museums in Southeast Asia;
• Interpreting Legacies;
• Art Museums and Aesthetics;
• Professional Development: Community and Global Capacity Building.

Recent ICOM resolutions on gender mainstreaming in museums, sustainability of museums and diversity provide an inspiration for the event. A call for papers is open until 29 August 2014. Conference partners include ICOM Vietnam, the Vietnam Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum, with support from the ICOM Asia Pacific Alliance.