Scroll through to discover the conferences, panels, symposiums and other speaking engagements in which members of our team have taken part.
MACCH Conference 2023 | Provenance, Restitution and Return
This year’s conference by the Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH), held at the end of TEFAF Maastricht, is titled ‘Provenance, Restitution and Return’. Some of the themes that were discussed include provenance research and the restitution and return of looted artworks, as well as the development of legislative principles for looted art.
MACCH Conference 2019 | Bridging the Gap. Theory and Practice in the Conservation of Contemporary Art
Themed ‘Bridging the Gap’ this years MACCH conference, hosted in partnership with the Bonnefanten museum and the EU funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art (NACCA), takes a look at research on conservation and the implementation of research in the practices of conservators as well as how problems faced by conservators are addressed by researchers and research projects. The conference aims at strengthening the exchange between theory and practice in the conservation of contemporary art.
MACCH Conference 2018 | Crossing Borders in Arts and Heritage
MACCH’s annual, transdisciplinary conference, hosted together with Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht, was themed ‘Crossing Borders in Arts & Heritage’. The conference aimed to explore the challenges encountered when arts and heritage cross geographical borders today or which persist because of past cross-border movements.
MACCH Conference 2017 | Participatory Practices in Arts and Heritage
The Maastricht Centre of Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH) held its annual conference in March, with this years’ theme being ‘Participatory Practices in Arts and Heritage’. The event was organised in collaboration with the research centre Autonomy and the Public Sphere in the Arts, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, and the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. The conference aimed to offer a critical space to scrutinise participatory practices in arts and heritage and their economic and legal frameworks.
Deloitte Art & Finance Conference | 2016
On Thursday April 24th, 2016, Professor Rachel Pownall was part of the 9th Art & Finance Conference hosted in Amsterdam by Deloitte Luxembourg. This year’s conference was organised together with the Van Gogh museum and focused on Fine Art collectors’ needs and how they can add value to their art collections. Professor Pownall was invited to share her expertise during a panel discussion on the last subject. Together with, amongst others, the CEO of Athena Art Finance Group and the vice president of Falcon Fine Art ltd., she talked about how collectors can turn their fine art collection into a working asset. This is also known as art secured lending, where artworks are used as collateral for a loan. Other topics discussed at the conference ranged from collection visibility, to safe-guarding and transferring.
The complete programme of the conference can be found here
Consortium in Research on Emotional Finance | 2015
This event was organised by Rachel in collaboration with the Financial Management Association (FMA) and was held in New York in May 2015. The event centred around the theme ‘Emotional Finance’. The programme consisted of two sessions, one discussing several papers and the other hosting a panel, and a closing keynote. Three papers around the topic ‘Behavioural Finance’ were discussed, followed by a panel discussion on ‘New Frontiers in Portfolio Management’. The keynote address titled ‘Agency Costs: Imagined and Real’ was given by Martin Fridson of Fridson Advisors.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Luxembourg | 2014
The 8th Art Markets Symposium was the first one not hosted in conjunction with an art fair. It was held in Luxembourg as a collaboration between Maastricht University, TIAS Business School and Deloitte Luxembourg. This year’s symposium discussed all things related to ‘Understanding Art Value’. At the end of two sessions discussing different research papers, participants got the chance to visit the Luxembourg Freeport.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Maastricht | 2013
The 7th Art Markets Symposium returned to Maastricht and took place during TEFAF 2013. It was again hosted in collaboration with Maastricht University and Deloitte Luxembourg. The programme was centred around the theme ‘Art & Emotions’ with papers like ‘Inside the head of a collector: Emotions at Work’ by Shirley Mueller.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Basel | 2012
The 6th Art Markets Symposium was again hosted in collaboration with Maastricht University and Deloitte Luxembourg, this time during Art Basel in Basel. This year, the symposium lasted one day which was filled with prominent figures in the art finance / art economics field. Six papers were presented, all discussed by fellow researchers and participants.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Miami | 2011
The 2011 Art Markets Symposium was organised in collaboration with Maastricht University and Deloitte Luxembourg and was hosted simultaneously with Art Basel in Miami. Maastricht University took care of the programme for the first day, which was focused on academics, and Deloitte accounted for the second day which had a broader subject and mainly consisted of panel sessions with experts.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Paris | 2010
The 2010 Art Markets Symposium was organised in collaboration with Maastricht University and FIAC Paris. The programme consisted of one intensive day of discussing seven papers in the art markets field, again with a finance view. After the symposium, participants were welcome to visit FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) Paris.
For the full programme, please click here

Art Market Symposium London | 2009
The 2009 symposium was organised by Rachel in collaboration with FRIEZE Art Fair in London, Deloitte and Maastricht University. The symposium consisted of two academic sessions spread out over two days and a panel session following the academic programme. After the symposium, participants were able to visit the FRIEZE Art Fair.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Maastricht | 2008
The Art Market Symposium in 2008 was again hosted in collaboration with TEFAF and Maastricht University. The programme consisted of four days, starting with a welcome reception. The first day of the panel sessions was especially focused on academics and gave researchers the opportunity to present their papers in the field. Topics were of course related to the art market, but were very diverse nonetheless. While Rachel presented her paper on ‘Emotional Assets’, Iain Robertson from Sotheby’s institute discussed his research on the ‘Technical and Structural Elements of the Art Market’. The second day was devoted to TEFAF, with the presentation of the TEFAF report, or ‘A Survey of Europe in A Global Context’. Of course, all participants were also invited to visit the fair on the final day.
For the full programme, please click here
Art Market Symposium Maastricht | 2007
The first Art Market Symposium was hosted in collaboration with TEFAF and Maastricht University. It was a four day programme consisting of a welcome reception, two full days of panel sessions and one day visiting the TEFAF. Papers discussed were all related to the arts and finance, ranging from art investment funds to the dynamics of art prices.
For the full programme, please click here