CALLING MEN TO PEACE

with Eva Dalak

Conversation / Ideas | Sat 19 Sept | 2-4 pm

Spaces are limited

* A live cultural forum exploring masculinity and healing

For too long, the inner work of healing and peace has moved forward without fully including men. Not because men don't care. But because we have rarely created spaces where emotional honesty, vulnerability, and tenderness are genuinely welcomed alongside strength.

This is not a conversation about what men have done wrong. It is an invitation into something different. Into emotional awareness. Into embodiment. Into showing up not as a role, but as a full human being. Peace cannot be built while any part of humanity remains disconnected from the work of inner transformation. 

What does peace actually ask of men? Join this live, in-person session with peace activator Eva Dalak, opening into real discussion. Come exactly as you are — curious, sceptical, tender, ready.

OPEN TO ALL

ABOUT THE HOST

Eva Dalak is an Israeli Palestinian peacebuilder and peace activator with over 25 years of experience in conflict transformation. She is the founder of Peace Activation and co-founder of One Whole Peace, both soul-centred peace movements in Palestine and Israel bringing citizens of different faiths together in conflict transformation. She is passionate about activating peace, promoting gender equality, interfaith dialogue, and empowering communities to build peace from within. As a skilled conflict transformation facilitator, peacebuilding trainer, and gender advisor, Eva has amassed experience in over 22 countries in conflict zones across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. She is committed to promoting individual soul-centred leadership and radical responsibility through innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives. 

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small >12	Available on request

Peace Forum Launch / Tue 22nd Sept / 5-7 pm

*Hosted event

The inaugural Brussels Peace Salon, with Alliance ELIANT as guest speaker is  a small, curated gathering of leaders from policy, education, healthcare, and civil society, built around one question: what human capacities does Europe need to build peaceful societies. If it speaks to you, come along.

For registrations: 
Register here

*Google form is hosted on another website

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The Brussels Peace Salon is a new convening platform for intercultural dialogue exploring how holistic education, healing, ecology, leadership, and community practice contribute to lasting peace. In addition to keynote presentations, the event will incorporate small-group workshops and experiential exercises.

The platform will also serve as a space for networking and relationship-building among peace-building allies in a convivial setting.

*Hosted events are events we are happy to support, but are not responsible for the content.

THE SOCIAL BRAIN, USE IT OR LOSE IT

A Salon with Sarah Stein Lubrano

Salon / Ideas | Tues 22 Sept | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Have you noticed yourself preferring to stay in more? Trusting people a little less? Finding small talk a little harder? You might not be imagining it — your brain might actually be changing shape.

Researcher Sarah Stein Lubrano calls it social atrophy: the quiet shrinking of our social brains as we withdraw from each other. The more time we spend alone behind screens, the harder social cues become to read, the more suspicion creeps in, and the more we convince ourselves — "I prefer to be alone," "people can't be trusted" — that isolation was our choice all along. It's a vicious cycle, and in a world growing more transactional and distrustful by the day, we may all be caught in it without realizing.

But Lubrano isn't here just to diagnose the problem, but to show us the way out. Because the brain that atrophies can also be retrained. Join Sarah as she unpacks the data, debunks the myths, and makes the case that regular, genuine social contact isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation of a shared life  and the only place from which we can actually begin to fix things together.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sarah Stein Lubrano is a researcher, author and broadcaster. Her academic research has focused on the role of emotion in political communication, and specifically cognitive dissonance. Lubrano is the head of research for the Future Narratives Lab. For many years she was the head of content at The School of Life, where she is still a content lead. She writes and speaks publicly on a variety of topics. In earlier lives, Lubrano made films and worked as a prison tutor and obituary writer.

GOOD READS

Don't Talk About Politics, How to Change 21st Century Minds (2025); 

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (30-50)	Available on request

WORK | Wed 23rd Sept | 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm

For professionals in political & communications strategy
Places are limited. Book for 1 or both sessions.

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Narrative Mapping for Political Strategy (morning)

In order to challenge harmful political ideas and systems, from carbon emitting industries to increasingly authoritarian governments, it’s crucial to shift public understanding and common sense. And to do that, NGOs, governmental bodies, and others need to first understand why prevailing narratives maintain their power and appeal. Only then does it become possible to strategically select and design interventions (from media-led campaigns to embedded community practices) that will be sufficiently powerful and appealing to change the political landscape for good.

In this session, we’ll share our expertise about how best to do this, building on years of experience working with coalitions and progressive institutions across the world. Together, we’ll map dominant societal narratives that keep our imagination and action trapped in a limited spectrum of possibilities, and tracing the institutions, practices, and policies that make narratives powerful. 

In this workshop, we will:

• Understand & analyse the landscape of prevailing assumptions and agendas around a topic.
• Apply this to a key political topic or area of focus, identifying opportunities to shift the conversation and alter common sense.
• Consider the role of narrative mapping in larger processes of social and political change

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Creative Storytelling in the Attention Age (afternoon) 

In this session, we’ll sharpen our storytelling skills, with the help of tools and frameworks that can guide and inspire us. And we’ll consider how to make the age-old power of a story work in the age of fragmented political soundbites and the shortest of short-form video. 

We will:

• Analyse what makes for an effective story, considering several different useful models and looking at what makes books and movies so compelling
• Practice telling an important social or political story in new ways
• Strategise for how to tell this story in the new mediascape, keeping people’s attention in a digitally fragmented world
  
  

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PARTICIPANTS

The workshops Narrative Mapping for Political Strategy and Creative Storytelling in the Attention Age are for all professionals working towards reframing a key social issue, or want to communicate more strategically or creatively about an important problem, on or offline.

If you are working in a governmental or nongovernmental organisation that is struggling to cut through the noise on a particular topic, this is designed with you in mind.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Future Narratives Lab is a democratically owned and controlled non-profit that exists to build the independent cultural and political power of civil society. Based in London, their team works across Europe and beyond, typically through partnerships with groups working on entrenched and complex social challenges. Future Narrative Lab equips campaigners, coalitions and communities with narrative as a tool for building their collective power. 

Sarah Stein Lubrano is a researcher, author and broadcaster. Her academic research has focused on the role of emotion in political communication, and specifically cognitive dissonance. Lubrano is the head of research for the Future Narratives Lab. For many years she was the head of content at The School of Life, where she is still a content lead. She writes and speaks publicly on a variety of topics. In earlier lives, Lubrano made films and worked as a prison tutor and obituary writer.  

Dan Stanley is Executive Director at non-profit research body the Future Narratives Lab, and Strategy Director at economic development co-operative Stir to Action. Daniel has worked with campaigns, coalitions, foundations and political parties in the UK and globally to develop strategies for broadening the appeal of alternative social and economic propositions, including seven years leading digital mobilisation agency Small Axe.

TICKETS

MEMBERS 
Sngle workshop (am or pm) €200
Double workshop (full day)   €400

NON-MEMBERS
Single workshop (am or pm) €225
Double workshop (full day)   €400

KEY LINKS

Future Narratives Lab

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Refreshments provided. Lunch available	Small (less than 20)	Available on request

And the cloud

A salon with CECILIA RIKAP

Ideas / Salon | Thurs 24th Sept | 6.30-8.30 pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Cecilia Rikap is an award winning economist and currently Head of Research and Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She is also a researcher at the CONICET, Argentina's national research council and a researcher at University of Technology of Compiègne. Her research is rooted in the international political economy of science and technology and the economics of innovation. She currently studies the rising concentration of intangible assets leading to the emergence of intellectual monopolies, among others from digital and pharma industries, the distribution of intellectual rents, resulting geopolitical tensions and the effects of knowledge assetisation on the knowledge commons and development. 

GOOD READS

The Rulers, Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud (2026); Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered (2021); The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualising the Emerging New World Order (2021).

WAF CAFF   Ideas I Tues 6th Oct I 12.15-1.15 pm **OPEN TO ALL**

We meet for one hour on the first Tuesday of every month at Rond-Point Schuman, outside the European Commission, to stand up for democracy.

Each gathering focuses on a different issue, highlighting where rights and freedoms are at risk.

This is about freedom and about us as engaged citizens. Coffee and conversation are part of the gathering.

Democracy & coffee ☕

Join us and exercise your democratic rights.

No need to book, just drop by. 

GEOPOLITICAL SHIFTS AT EUROPE'S EDGES

A SALON WITH Hannah Lucinda Smith

Salon / Ideas | Tues 6 Oct | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Long before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, conflict was simmering on Europe's borders. Why have Russian resorts sprung up on the coast of Northern Cyprus? What does Sarajevo's local politics reveal about the ambitions of Trump, Putin, and Erdoğan? these questions were already being written into the map, In overlooked territories in eastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus, where local disputes spiral into regional crises, global alliances are forged and broken, and power is brokered while the West looks elsewhere.

It is in these overlooked borderlands that empires end, new conflicts begin, and where Europe's future may be decided.

From the Balkans to the Caucasus, Cyprus to Nagorno-Karabakh, acclaimed correspondent and Pulitzer grantee Hannah Lucinda Smith has spent years in Eurasia's grey zones, meeting the politicians, spies, and ordinary people caught where local disputes quietly become global reckonings.

Join us for an intimate conversation with one of the most incisive voices writing on the borderlands today. Hannah brings the sharp reportage we need to understand contemporary Europe and its unfinished frontiers.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist and author. As foreign correspondent she has been reporting for major global publications including The Economist, The Times of London, BBC and Monocle, From 2013 to 2025 she has been based in Turkey, reporting across the Middle East and Europe for The Times of London, The Atlantic, WIRED, and others. Before Hinterlands she has also authored Erdogan Rising, an account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise to power, and Zarifa, the memoir of Afghan human rights activist Zarifa Ghafari.

GOOD READS

Hinterlands: Journey's through Europe's edges (2026); Zarifa, A woman's battle in a man's world (2022); Erdogan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey (2019).

DEMOCRACY ESCAPE ROOM

Fix the System or Replace it?
Political Imagination in Action

By Michael Damman & Maaike Berthoud

 Ideas / Action | Fri 9th Oct | 6 - 8.30 pm

We feel stuck. Representative democracy is failing to meet the challenges of our era. Is reform possible or is something more radical required?

Come spend your Friday evening in our unconventional Democracy Escape Room to discover what ways-out are available to us today to get unstuck from the impasse. This is an immersive and entertaining session of vision-building and strategising to repair and reinvigorate our democracy. It also involves fun and games because democracy resets come with energised citizens.

With the guidance of two experienced facilitators, Michaël and Maaike, we'll expose structural flaws in our political system and propose democratic innovations to address them. We'll identify what's most urgent, question proposals and assess their merits, determining what it would take - legally, politically, strategically - to implement any of the solutions. Together, we'll construct a viable way out and a credible path to enact the solutions.

Expect real talk and honest debate about turning frustration into action. Expect to find community and gain an invigorated spirit. You'll leave with the tools to imagine what's next, and concrete ways for committed action. 

DINNER OPTION AVAILABLE AFTER THE SESSION

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ABOUT THE HOSTS

Michaël Damman brings a rare combination of anthropological insight and hands-on organisational experience to the field of democratic innovation. Having spent many years working across the socio-cultural, educational, and psychosocial sectors, he has developed a deep, practice-based understanding of how groups think, decide, and act together. He is particularly drawn to questions of collective intelligence, citizen participation, and shared governance - not as abstract ideals, but as processes that can be designed, tested, and improved. At the Brussels Citizens' Assembly, he coordinates evaluations and designs interactive formats that give citizens real ownership of pluralist information. At Agora.brussels, he builds partnerships with associations advancing democratic renewal. He's also part of the Belgian democratic reform movement Démocratie XXL, advocating for expanding citizens' political rights through direct and deliberative democracy.

Maaike Berthoud boats an exceptional blend of theoretical insight and hands-on creative experience. As a theatre teacher and director with a background in participatory democracy, she embodies a unique approach to political engagement, bringing together academic rigor and the arts. Previously a political consultant at Dreamocracy, her talent for fostering collaboration and encouraging innovative thinking has helped to creatively integrate diverse perspectives in political contexts.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium <30	Available on request

WAF CAFF   Ideas I Tues 3rd Nov I 12.15 - 1.15pm **OPEN TO ALL**

We meet for one hour on the first Tuesday of every month at Rond-Point Schuman, outside the European Commission, to stand up for democracy.

Each gathering focuses on a different issue, highlighting where rights and freedoms are at risk.

This is about freedom and about us as engaged citizens. Coffee and conversation are part of the gathering.

Democracy & coffee ☕

Join us and exercise your democratic rights.

No need to book, just drop by. 

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

You already know us, you know what we do, and that by coming YOU make this a great event! 

Get your WEEKEND PASS today and treat yourself for the entire weekend!

RETHINking capitalism on a burning planet

A SALON WITH Alessandro Stanziani

Salon / Ideas | Tues 8 Dec | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Join us for a rare opportunity to hear historian Alessandro Stanziani discuss Earth Capital, his sweeping new history of capitalism - one that finally puts the planet itself at the centre of the story.

For eight centuries, Stanziani argues, capitalism has run on two engines of exploitation: coerced human labour and what he calls 'Earth capital' - the land, fossil fuels, and natural resources we've mined, farmed, and burned in pursuit of growth. As forced labour receded after 1870, our plunder of the planet accelerated at a breakneck pace, bringing us to the ecological reckoning we face today.

Stanziani's investigations journey from Russia to the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean to France, weaving calories, energy, labour, and law into one urgent, unified narrative. However, he doesn't just diagnose the crisis. He makes the case for a radical new social contract built on democracy, equality, and environmental sustainability. 

This new genre of 'total history' provides an essential viewpoint for anyone debating humanity's future. Come hear the ideas and join the conversation.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Alessandro Stanziani is a social and economic historian at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. He has written numerous books on the history of bonded labour, the history of capitalism, global history, food history.

GOOD READS

Earth Capital: The Long History of Capitalism and Its Aftermath (2025); Les Entrelacements Du Monde: Histoire globale, pensée globale (2024); Les Guerres Du Blé: Une éco-histoire écologique et géopolitique (2024) Labor on the Fringes of Empire: Voice, Exit and Law (2018); After Oriental Despotism, Eurasian Growth in a global perspective (2014); Sailors, Slaves, and Immigrants (2014).