Aviation Cultures’ next conference, Mk.VIII, is a collaboration with the Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) at the KF Centre for Excellence at Kelowna, BC, in Canada and online 17-20 June 2026! The Aviation Cultures Mk.VIII Conference team is led by co-organisers Edward Soye, in Canada, and James Kightly, in Australia, as well as the Aviation Cultures team. The highly-experienced Canadian Aviation Historical Society will continue their Convention process, with both teams working jointly to bring the best of both worlds, ably hosted by the KF Centre for Excellence team, with the full value Aviation Cultures online experience.

The Call for Papers is now open!

We invite you to submit a proposal to speak at Aviation Cultures Mk.VIII. The combined event is open to all: CAHS members, Aviation Cultures participants, university students, aerospace and aviation industry professionals, academics, professionals in aviation or heritage associations, and aviation enthusiasts of every kind. The focus will be on history, but we will consider proposals addressing current aviation or aerospace issues. Past CAHS conventions have included online attendance; the partnership with Aviation Cultures allows a greater online component and worldwide participation.

All presentations will be available to both the in-person audience and online. Presentations can be made in person at the event, or live online. CAHS regulars will find the familiar format for presentations, with presentations of around 45 minutes using PowerPoint or Google Slides formats.

There will also be these session formats, familiar to Aviation Cultures attendees:

  • ‘Blitz’ talks of five minutes to share short, unusual ideas or current research
  • Moderated panel sessions featuring 3 to 5 presenters on a single topic.

Note all sessions will include time for audience questions, and will be accessible for in-person attendees and online.

We encourage proposals on every aspect of Canadian aviation history, including general aviation, the aviation industry, space exploration, and of course, military and commercial topics. Drawing on the Aviation Cultures theme of ‘Spanning the Globe’, we also encourage proposals which are not directly related to Canadian history, but which will be of interest to Canadians.

Questions may be addressed to info@aviationcultures.org

And, most important! Please stay tuned across the usual social media channels, particularly this website, Facebook, LinkedIn and BlueSky, or go to the ‘Contact’ page at the header and we’ll get back to you! Because of the wider, global attendees, we’ve announced the a call for papers in October 2025, but there’ll be more detail added as we build the exceptional event!