Across the world, universities hold vast intellectual and creative resources, yet often stand apart from the spaces where transformative change is taking place.
Meanwhile, changemakers in civil society, activism, and innovation are tackling the world’s most pressing challenges: defending human rights, rethinking climate action, improving labour conditions, reshaping finance, and reimagining knowledge in the digital age.
This initiative invites academics and changemakers to come together and ask: How can universities reconnect with the movements and ideas shaping our collective future?
Rather than reinventing universities, the project aims to build on their existing strengths: independence, interdisciplinarity, and a long-term vision, while strengthening their social engagement and capacity for collaboration. It will culminate in a collaborative manifesto outlining how universities can reclaim their role as spaces of reflection, creativity, and social imagination.
The first EUI workshop will bring together about twenty changemakers and members of an EUI working group dedicated to the role of universities. They will co-develop the draft manifesto through dialogue and hands-on sessions. The final version will be refined and shared in December 2025.
Participation in the event is upon invitation only.