LivesthroughFriends Summer Institute 2026 – Dublin, Ireland

📄 Please see the brochure:

Travel & Accommodation Guide (PDF):

Theme: Thinking and Acting as a Movement

Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th July 2026

Hosted by LivesThroughFriends, PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network), and Citizen Network

Location: Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre, Plas Pharthalan, Tallaght, Dublin, D24 KV8N

For the first time, the Summer Institute is coming to Ireland.

Join us in Dublin for a three-day gathering of people who believe that care, belonging, and connection are everyone’s responsibility.

The Summer Institute isn’t a traditional conference.
It is a relational space, a place for reflection, imagination, and conversation.
Participants come together to share stories, challenge assumptions, and explore how real change grows from movements, not systems.

Since 2023, the Summer Institute has been held annually in Cheltenham, bringing people from around the world together to explore how communities can rethink care, belonging, and connection. Across these three years, a shared message has emerged and strengthened:

“Care is a societal issue.”

Last year’s gathering deepened this further through storytelling, lived example, and quiet, honest reflection.

▶️ Watch a short film capturing the spirit of the 2025 Institute below.

🌐 Explore more background and stories on the LivesThroughFriends

Over three days, expect:

• Inspiring stories of courage, creativity, and community
• Challenging ideas that open new possibilities
• Collaborative spaces for design, reflection, and imagination
• Cross-sector conversations linking disability, community development, health, education, and social justice
• Fellowship and renewal within a global network of allies

You’ll see examples of people already working “against the grain”, creating change through trust, reciprocity, and common sense rather than bureaucracy.

Expect moments of laughter, depth, connection, and quiet reflection, the kind that stays with you long after you return home.

Movements begin when people:
see what must change → imagine something better → act together to make it real.

At the Summer Institute, we explore:

• Working relationally instead of transactionally
• Aligning intellect with empathy
• Building networks of belonging
• Replacing control with trust
• Growing more local, humane, resilient ways of supporting one another

This is a space to re-imagine what’s possible, together.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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