We are proud to announce that Ralf Čeplak Mencin, Chair of ICME, has been awarded the Valvasor Lifetime Achievement Award—the highest national recognition for contributions to the museum profession in Slovenia.

This prestigious award honors his decades-long dedication to the development of museology, with a strong focus on non-European collections, ethical museum practice, and socially inclusive initiatives. As museum councillor and curator at the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, he has been instrumental in shaping Slovenian museum work through both his curatorial projects and his broader advocacy for intercultural understanding.

Throughout his career, Ralf Čeplak Mencin has combined scholarship, exhibition-making, and active engagement in professional networks to champion museums as spaces of dialogue, openness, and social responsibility. His work has emphasized the importance of presenting underrepresented cultures, fostering intercultural exchange, and addressing contemporary global issues such as migration and discrimination.

We warmly congratulate Ralf on this well-deserved recognition of his life’s work and his lasting impact on both national and international museum communities.