The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’, inspired by the event being located in Birmingham within the Heart of England geographical area, and the ongoing importance of human empathy and real intelligence in book indexing.
For our first residential conference since 2019, we will be based in the purpose-built conference centre at Edgbaston Park Hotel, situated in a leafy, semi-suburban setting at the edge of the University of Birmingham campus. Only two miles from the city centre, it is easily accessible by bus from Birmingham New Street station, and there is ample free on-site parking for those arriving by car. The well-appointed building was completed in 2018 and has a modern and contemporary feel, with excellent facilities and plenty of space for networking during breaks between conference sessions.
Conference sessions will be held in the Writers’ Suite – a flexible space with a light and airy feel. Comprising three rooms named after writers with connections to the University of Birmingham (poet Louis MacNeice, author David Lodge and Victorian novelist Marie Corelli), it will be reconfigured for both plenary and breakout sessions. Dinner will be served in the adjacent Pevsner Room, named after Sir Nikolaus Pevsner – a University of Birmingham research fellow and the author of the ground-breaking series of architectural guides to the UK. More venue information can be found at www.edgbastonparkhotel.com/meetings-and-events.
We will have a full programme over the three days, comprising plenary (full conference) presentations and smaller breakout sessions. The programme aims to engage indexers at all stages in their careers, from students and newly qualified to those with many years of experience, and plenty of time has been built in for the networking that is such a vital part of an in-person conference. The draft programme is available here, with more detailed information about individual sessions here.
Accommodation will be in en-suite rooms with free Wi-Fi and coffee/tea-making facilities in either
- the three-star Peter Scott House, a twentieth-century building located just across the road about 200 metres away from the main conference centre, named in honour of Sir Peter Scott, the naturalist, artist and conservationist, who was University Chancellor or
- the four-star Edgbaston Park Hotel itself.
There is a limited number of rooms in Peter Scott House and these will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. More information about the accommodation options can be seen at www.edgbastonparkhotel.com/rooms
Booking is now open here. Members of all the indexing societies affiliated through ICRIS (the International Committee of Representatives of Indexing Societies), as well as members of CIEP and CILIP, are entitled to book at SI members’ rates and should contact the office to book. Please also contact the office to enquire about day delegate rates, accompanying persons, etc.
