EFA26 Programme
The programme and list of speakers will be updated continuously. We look forward to seeing you in Alpbach!
EFA26: 24 August - 4 September 2026
Europe faces fundamental questions: Is Europe currently on the road to victory? Can Europe still win on the decisive issues? EFA26 will explore these questions, with voices from politics, science, business and culture, with young thinkers and experienced decision-makers.
Speakers Selection
Thomas Byrne
Markus Aspelmeyer
Mairéad McGuinness
Maria Kalesnikava
Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer
Clara Raposo
Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook
Ferit Hoxha
Othmar Karas
Arancha González Laya
Lea Ypi
Peter Bosek
Magnus Brunner
Ignacy Niemczycki
Norbert Totschnig
Olivia Lazard
Hamish Falconer
Siegfried Mureșan
Alexander Van der Bellen
Iara Lee
Andreas Treichl
Ivan Krastev
Michael Faulend
Martin Kocher
Mario Nava
Carl Bildt
Alberto Alemanno
Armin Laschet
Burkhard Balz
Modules
Programme
All times in CEST
Academy Days
Evening
Evening
Scavenger Hunt
Discover Alpbach together! Join a scavenger hunt in groups of up to ten and take on a shared challenge along the way. Creative and humorous answers are highly encouraged – the most original contributions will be showcased during the International Evening. //INFO: The scavenger hunt should not take more than an hour. It will start after the welcome drinks reception at the Otto-Molden-Foyer.
20:00
-
21:00
Scavenger Hunt
Network
Welcome to EFA26!
Letting go after the formalities! You’ve gotten to know a bit of Alpbach and made some new friends; now it’s time to break the ice with hundreds of new friends from around the world. Music, drinks, and food will liven up the occasion.
21:00
-
22:00
Welcome to EFA26!
Network
Welcome of Scholarship Holders
The European Forum Alpbach 2026 kick-off for scholarship holders and participants of the Alpbach Academy Days: Meet your peers, and inform yourself about everything you need to know to successfully navigate through the days ahead.
18:00
-
19:30
Welcome of Scholarship Holders
+1
ART
CLI
DEM
FIN
SEC
Content
Early morning
Early morning
Morning
Morning
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
Europe's security landscape is changing rapidly, existing strategies no longer reflect today's geopolitical realities. In this Studio, participants will analyse what is needed for Europe to remain relevant, develop their priorities as future leaders as an input for a renewed EU Security Strategy in formulating concrete policy proposals. If you are ready to think outside the box, you have found your event.
09:30
-
12:30
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
+1
STU
Content
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
The world is on track to exceed 1.5 °C of warming. Climate stabilisation depends on both rapidly cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. Removals are therefore an essential climate action, yet often poorly understood. This seminar explores what carbon dioxide removal is and examines the legal challenges and opportunities of net-negative emissions in the EU and beyond. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
AI is reshaping health systems, environments, and societies, bringing opportunities and risks – but who decides how? Who benefits and who gets left behind? How do we plan for the sustainable use of AI? This interactive seminar equips participants to navigate the key debates around AI governance. Discussing foundational concepts, real-world risks, and governance frameworks, we build towards a shared vision of sustainable, equitable AI futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
Financial technologies are reshaping how markets work and citizens access services – while redrawing the balance between public and private power, transforming how money is created, and opening new arenas of competition among states and between states and corporations. How can we ensure sovereignty, data control, and self-determination in this new world? Designed for non-experts, this seminar unpacks what is at stake for society and the world economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
New forms of great power competition are reshaping the dependency calculus of every region. How can the EU and its global partners reconfigure such dependencies in a world shaped by US-China rivalry, Russian aggression, and the transactional dismantling of multilateralism?The seminar will tackle this question conceptually but also strategically, asking which dependencies to shed and which to deepen, and explore how to pursue genuine interdependence rather than the illusion of full independence.
09:30
-
12:30
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
The rules-based international order is under pressure: protectionism and the strategic use of economic policy instruments are reshaping global politics and trade. This seminar explores the rise of geo-economics and examines how states use economic tools to pursue political objectives. Participants will discuss the implications for Europe’s open and interconnected economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
Our systems are failing future generations, by design, not accident. This seminar confronts uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and short-termism, asking what it means to act with intergenerational justice in mind. Rooted in scholarship on provoking consciousness and action, the seminar challenges assumptions that keep unjust systems in place. You will leave with a concrete plan to advance justice where you have the greatest influence.
09:30
-
12:30
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
What does it mean to win? At what costs may victory be achieved? Are the antagonistic and violent practices and narratives of war and victory reconcilable with a sustainable peace? This seminar critically explores the concept of victory from Antiquity to today and specifically looks at the idea of victory in war. By incorporating moral, political, and cultural considerations, victory in the 21st century is reimagined.
09:30
-
12:30
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
If digital sovereignty is about the ability to say ‘yes’ to a digital future that aligns with one’s interests and values – and ‘no’ to a future that doesn’t – Europe currently lacks it. In this workshop, we examine why this is the case and why it matters, what can and what should be done about it, and which policies and politics can get Europe there.
09:30
-
12:30
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
How do we find the will to act when things seem hopeless? Because we are agents who care, our relationship to the future is driven by emotions like hope, anxiety, and despair – not mere feelings, but evaluative states that orient us toward action. Drawing on philosophy and the science of emotion, this interactive seminar invites you to explore how to harness these emotions, individually and collectively, to bring about the futures you value.
09:30
-
12:30
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
+1
SEM
Content
Science and Ethics
Can we separate science and ethics? Where do we draw the boundaries?? In Artificial Intelligence, fairness and accountability are inseparable from how systems learn and how they justify knowledge. Scientific choices are moral choices, and ethics depend on scientific assumptions. The seminar explores good scientific practice and scientific misconduct, including falsification and fraud in academic research.
09:30
-
12:30
Science and Ethics
+1
SEM
Content
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
How can Europe’s cities become the places where transition is governed and the future is built? Europe has entered a new phase: climate collapse is no longer a distant risk, but a reality to be governed. This studio builds systems literacy, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and democratic imagination among young professionals. Participants leave with a deeper understanding to act as bridge-builders across sectors, borders, and generations. //INFO: Clothing and shoes for outdoor activities are recommended.
09:30
-
12:30
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
+1
STU
Content
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
Global (One) Health demands more than incremental fixes. This studio shifts from reactive problem-solving to future-oriented innovation. Using sensing and reframing techniques, participants explore emerging potentials and questions in One Health. We challenge existing paradigms to co-create radical new questions and innovation pathways, equipping participants to proactively shape a resilient future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
+1
STU
Content
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
In this studio, participants explore the political dramaturgy of emotions – where theatre meets sociology. Emotions are movements, words, and gestures that shape how we live together. The ways we stand, speak, and relate enact democratic order. Conversely, emotions we suppress in public to sustain control can quietly erode democracy itself. //INFO: This project has received funding from the European Commission under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Grant, No 101132327.
09:30
-
12:30
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
+1
STU
Content
Noon
Afternoon
Afternoon
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
Europe's security landscape is changing rapidly, existing strategies no longer reflect today's geopolitical realities. In this Studio, participants will analyse what is needed for Europe to remain relevant, develop their priorities as future leaders as an input for a renewed EU Security Strategy in formulating concrete policy proposals. If you are ready to think outside the box, you have found your event.
15:00
-
18:00
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
+1
STU
Content
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
Leading people is the ultimate core competence of the military. The action-oriented outdoor peer-to-peer seminar, led by cadets from the Theresian Military Academy Austria, seeks to find answers to the general theme of EFA26, “How Europe wins”, under the seminar title “OPCON”. In this context, OPCON stands for operational control and is intended to express that a common approach will be needed – while still respecting the sovereignty of the individual actors. //INFO: The seminar takes place outdoors in all weather conditions. Sportswear and sneakers are recommended.
15:00
-
18:00
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
+1
SEM
Content
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
Most people who want to change the world start from a cause they love and a set solution in mind. Policy entrepreneurs ask first: which problem actually needs me and how can I make the most impact? Over five days you learn cause selection, counterfactual thinking, and coalition building, using real cases. You leave with your own theory of change and first steps to make the most impact possible. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
DEM
SEM
Content
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
In this studio, participants explore the political dramaturgy of emotions – where theatre meets sociology. Emotions are movements, words, and gestures that shape how we live together. The ways we stand, speak, and relate enact democratic order. Conversely, emotions we suppress in public to sustain control can quietly erode democracy itself. //INFO: This project has received funding from the European Commission under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Grant, No 101132327
15:00
-
18:00
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
+1
STU
Content
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
Global (One) Health demands more than incremental fixes. This studio shifts from reactive problem-solving to future-oriented innovation. Using sensing and reframing techniques, participants explore emerging potentials and questions in One Health. We challenge existing paradigms to co-create radical new questions and innovation pathways, equipping participants to proactively shape a resilient future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
+1
STU
Content
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
How can Europe’s cities become the places where transition is governed and the future is built? Europe has entered a new phase: climate collapse is no longer a distant risk, but a reality to be governed. This studio builds systems literacy, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and democratic imagination among young professionals. Participants leave with a deeper understanding to act as bridge-builders across sectors, borders, and generations.
15:00
-
18:00
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
+1
STU
Content
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
Globally, polarisation is rising, yet confrontation isn’t inevitable. Constructive dialogue, curiosity over conflict, and finding common ground are choices we can make. This seminar explores the state of division and what it means for society. Through case studies, workshops, and interactive activities, we’'ll examine the forces shaping political disagreement, and how we can bridge divides to have more productive political conversations. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
Europe is often treated as geographical entity rather than a community shaped by shared values, such as cooperation, leadership, and empathy. This seminar uses story, poetry, memoir, reflective essays, and collaborative projects to explore ideas of solidarity, responsibility, and belonging across cultures and generations. Participants develop original texts and new perspectives that support dialogue and understanding across borders.
15:00
-
18:00
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
This seminar makes capital markets tangible. Participants act as investors, make decisions under uncertainty, and explore how capital shapes companies and Europe’s future. Simulation, expert insights, and discussion connect theory with real-world application. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
Ecological and social crises dominate the newsfeeds, pushing many people into apathy. How can artistic practices offer a way out? In the seminar, stories of resistance will be explored: Participants will learn about activist filmmaking, engage in dialogue about the narratives we are surrounded by, and create their own piece of hope to empower themselves and others.
15:00
-
18:00
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
+1
ART
SEM
Content
How Europe Winds
Air is essential yet often taken for granted, despite shaping movement, interaction, and perception. The posed question is not How Europe Wins but Winds — like a wind that opens spaces, brings together different voices, and creates new possibilities. Through movement, sound, and collective improvisation, participants are invited to explore ways of expressing themselves artistically. The session culminates in a shared performance, weaving together movement, sound, and expression.
15:00
-
18:00
How Europe Winds
+2
ART
SEM
Content
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
This seminar will explore the ways in which many individuals can end up working as a cohesive team. Creating an effective and dynamic piece of theatre requires every actor to work seamlessly with the rest of the ensemble regardless of whether their part is major or minor. Acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London will share those parts of their training that enable this important connection.
15:00
-
18:00
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
Many actors are introduced to theatre when their parents send them to theatre workshops to overcome their shyness and gain confidence; they end up going on stage in front of hundreds of people. The stage is their place of safety. So, what is it about working together to create a piece of theatre that produces this feeling? This seminar, led by students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will explore this question.
15:00
-
18:00
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Rewilding Environmental Practices
What if the future could be otherwise? This seminar explores imaginative agency through lateral thinking: taking detours, embracing surprise, and making the familiar strange. We will read and discuss texts, walkthrough the forest, observe, photograph, draw, write, cut, paste, and map. Together, we will create a collective utopian map of futures that do not yet exist - but perhaps could.
15:00
-
18:00
Rewilding Environmental Practices
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Evening
Evening
Speed Friending
Welcome to Alpbach: This is your chance to meet new people and make lifelong friends! This event offers the perfect opportunity to engage in a series of short, exciting conversations. Each round lasts just a few minutes, giving you the chance to make a memorable first impression and discover common interests. //INFO: Bring your own snack or lunch – and perhaps something to share with new friends.
18:15
-
19:15
Speed Friending
Network
Exhibition Opening: Wonders in the Shadows
Even in the darkest moments, there is light. “Wonders in the Shadows” by humanitarian worker and photographer Mattia Bidoli explores humanity and hope amid wars, conflicts, and crises. Join Club Alpbach Tyrol and the Forum Alpbach Network for the exhibition opening before Mattia joins us in Alpbach from 27 August onwards. The exhibit will be open throughout the entire Forum.
18:30
-
19:30
Exhibition Opening: Wonders in the Shadows
ART
Network
Filmscreening: The Sami Song of Survival by Cultures of Resistance Films
Join filmmaker Iara Lee for a screening of The Sami Song of Survival: Indigenous Activism on the Northern Frontier, preceded by an introduction from the artist herself. The film explores Sámi resistance, cultural identity, and Indigenous activism in the northernmost regions of Europe.//INFO: Following the film (duration: 50 minutes) there will be a Q&A.
20:00
-
21:30
Filmscreening: The Sami Song of Survival by Cultures of Resistance Films
ART
Network
Early morning
Early morning
Morning
Morning
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
Europe's security landscape is changing rapidly, existing strategies no longer reflect today's geopolitical realities. In this Studio, participants will analyse what is needed for Europe to remain relevant, develop their priorities as future leaders as an input for a renewed EU Security Strategy in formulating concrete policy proposals. If you are ready to think outside the box, you have found your event.
09:30
-
12:30
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
+1
STU
Content
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
Financial technologies are reshaping how markets work and citizens access services – while redrawing the balance between public and private power, transforming how money is created, and opening new arenas of competition among states and between states and corporations. How can we ensure sovereignty, data control, and self-determination in this new world? Designed for non-experts, this seminar unpacks what is at stake for society and the world economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
New forms of great power competition are reshaping the dependency calculus of every region. How can the EU and its global partners reconfigure such dependencies in a world shaped by US-China rivalry, Russian aggression, and the transactional dismantling of multilateralism?The seminar will tackle this question conceptually but also strategically, asking which dependencies to shed and which to deepen, and explore how to pursue genuine interdependence rather than the illusion of full independence.
09:30
-
12:30
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
The rules-based international order is under pressure: protectionism and the strategic use of economic policy instruments are reshaping global politics and trade. This seminar explores the rise of geo-economics and examines how states use economic tools to pursue political objectives. Participants will discuss the implications for Europe’s open and interconnected economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
Our systems are failing future generations, by design, not accident. This seminar confronts uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and short-termism, asking what it means to act with intergenerational justice in mind. Rooted in scholarship on provoking consciousness and action, the seminar challenges assumptions that keep unjust systems in place. You will leave with a concrete plan to advance justice where you have the greatest influence.
09:30
-
12:30
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
If digital sovereignty is about the ability to say ‘yes’ to a digital future that aligns with one’s interests and values – and ‘no’ to a future that doesn’t – Europe currently lacks it. In this workshop, we examine why this is the case and why it matters, what can and what should be done about it, and which policies and politics can get Europe there.
09:30
-
12:30
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
How can Europe’s cities become the places where transition is governed and the future is built? Europe has entered a new phase: climate collapse is no longer a distant risk, but a reality to be governed. This studio builds systems literacy, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and democratic imagination among young professionals. Participants leave with a deeper understanding to act as bridge-builders across sectors, borders, and generations. //INFO: Clothing and shoes for outdoor activities are recommended.
09:30
-
12:30
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
+1
STU
Content
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
In this studio, participants explore the political dramaturgy of emotions – where theatre meets sociology. Emotions are movements, words, and gestures that shape how we live together. The ways we stand, speak, and relate enact democratic order. Conversely, emotions we suppress in public to sustain control can quietly erode democracy itself. //INFO: This project has received funding from the European Commission under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Grant, No 101132327.
09:30
-
12:30
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
+1
STU
Content
Science and Ethics
Can we separate science and ethics? Where do we draw the boundaries?? In Artificial Intelligence, fairness and accountability are inseparable from how systems learn and how they justify knowledge. Scientific choices are moral choices, and ethics depend on scientific assumptions. The seminar explores good scientific practice and scientific misconduct, including falsification and fraud in academic research.
09:30
-
12:30
Science and Ethics
+1
SEM
Content
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
Global (One) Health demands more than incremental fixes. This studio shifts from reactive problem-solving to future-oriented innovation. Using sensing and reframing techniques, participants explore emerging potentials and questions in One Health. We challenge existing paradigms to co-create radical new questions and innovation pathways, equipping participants to proactively shape a resilient future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
+1
STU
Content
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
AI is reshaping health systems, environments, and societies, bringing opportunities and risks – but who decides how? Who benefits and who gets left behind? How do we plan for the sustainable use of AI? This interactive seminar equips participants to navigate the key debates around AI governance. Discussing foundational concepts, real-world risks, and governance frameworks, we build towards a shared vision of sustainable, equitable AI futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
The world is on track to exceed 1.5 °C of warming. Climate stabilisation depends on both rapidly cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. Removals are therefore an essential climate action, yet often poorly understood. This seminar explores what carbon dioxide removal is and examines the legal challenges and opportunities of net-negative emissions in the EU and beyond. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
How do we find the will to act when things seem hopeless? Because we are agents who care, our relationship to the future is driven by emotions like hope, anxiety, and despair – not mere feelings, but evaluative states that orient us toward action. Drawing on philosophy and the science of emotion, this interactive seminar invites you to explore how to harness these emotions, individually and collectively, to bring about the futures you value.
09:30
-
12:30
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
+1
SEM
Content
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
What does it mean to win? At what costs may victory be achieved? Are the antagonistic and violent practices and narratives of war and victory reconcilable with a sustainable peace? This seminar critically explores the concept of victory from Antiquity to today and specifically looks at the idea of victory in war. By incorporating moral, political, and cultural considerations, victory in the 21st century is reimagined.
09:30
-
12:30
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Noon
Noon
Strangers in a Gondola
You are warmly invited to take a delightful 20-minute journey on a gondola up to the majestic Alpbach’s mountain. Here’s the twist: You will be sharing the gondola with fellow participants who you haven’t crossed paths with before. To add an element of fun during your gondola trip, an engaging quiz awaits you, challenging your knowledge without relying on Google, and incorporating time-based questions. Upon reaching the mountain’s summit, you can enjoy a delightful coffee and lunch break with the scenic panorama in the restaurant or opt for a refreshing hike. This view is absolutely worth experiencing! //INFO: Bring hiking shoes or comfortable shoes, water, and sun protection. Remember, you will be in the nature! Please note that you need to bring your Alpbach Card to use the Gondola.
13:00
-
14:30
Strangers in a Gondola
Network
Food for Thought
MittelschuleJulian SEIDENBUSCHLegislative Theatre: Performing Arts as a means of/to Political AgencyMittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 1Tonderayi Prosper MAGEZAHow Europe Wins, and Who Wakes Up to the Bill: Africa’s Depletion LedgerMittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 2Nina BARABÁSOVÁReaching out to those who do not participate - activating youth in civil societyMittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 3Evelyn FEISTMANTL-SCHWEIGLBecome a WinnOER: How can Europe leverage Open Educational Resources to advance its strategy?Mittelschule, First Floor - Conference Room Dino OSMANAGIĆ & Andreas PATUZZIAI LITERACY: Insights from young AI leaders Linz on fostering future skills, critical thinking, and responsible AIMittelschule, First Floor - Handarbeitsraum Samuel KLINGERShrinking the State from Both Ends: Rethinking Territorial Governance Between Supranationalism and LocalismMittelschule, First Floor - Physikraum Sara GRAMBSWhen Climate Disasters Hit: The Role of Loss and Damage in International Climate DiplomacyMittelschule, Ground Floor - Gym
13:30
-
14:30
Food for Thought
Content
Afternoon
Afternoon
Rewilding Environmental Practices
What if the future could be otherwise? This seminar explores imaginative agency through lateral thinking: taking detours, embracing surprise, and making the familiar strange. We will read and discuss texts, walkthrough the forest, observe, photograph, draw, write, cut, paste, and map. Together, we will create a collective utopian map of futures that do not yet exist - but perhaps could.
15:00
-
18:00
Rewilding Environmental Practices
+1
ART
SEM
Content
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
Global (One) Health demands more than incremental fixes. This studio shifts from reactive problem-solving to future-oriented innovation. Using sensing and reframing techniques, participants explore emerging potentials and questions in One Health. We challenge existing paradigms to co-create radical new questions and innovation pathways, equipping participants to proactively shape a resilient future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
+1
STU
Content
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
Globally, polarisation is rising, yet confrontation isn’t inevitable. Constructive dialogue, curiosity over conflict, and finding common ground are choices we can make. This seminar explores the state of division and what it means for society. Through case studies, workshops, and interactive activities, we’'ll examine the forces shaping political disagreement, and how we can bridge divides to have more productive political conversations. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
Leading people is the ultimate core competence of the military. The action-oriented outdoor peer-to-peer seminar, led by cadets from the Theresian Military Academy Austria, seeks to find answers to the general theme of EFA26, “How Europe wins”, under the seminar title “OPCON”. In this context, OPCON stands for operational control and is intended to express that a common approach will be needed – while still respecting the sovereignty of the individual actors. //INFO: The seminar takes place outdoors in all weather conditions. Sportswear and sneakers are recommended.
15:00
-
18:00
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
+1
SEM
Content
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
Europe's security landscape is changing rapidly, existing strategies no longer reflect today's geopolitical realities. In this Studio, participants will analyse what is needed for Europe to remain relevant, develop their priorities as future leaders as an input for a renewed EU Security Strategy in formulating concrete policy proposals. If you are ready to think outside the box, you have found your event.
15:00
-
18:00
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
+1
STU
Content
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
Most people who want to change the world start from a cause they love and a set solution in mind. Policy entrepreneurs ask first: which problem actually needs me and how can I make the most impact? Over five days you learn cause selection, counterfactual thinking, and coalition building, using real cases. You leave with your own theory of change and first steps to make the most impact possible. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
DEM
SEM
Content
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
Many actors are introduced to theatre when their parents send them to theatre workshops to overcome their shyness and gain confidence; they end up going on stage in front of hundreds of people. The stage is their place of safety. So, what is it about working together to create a piece of theatre that produces this feeling? This seminar, led by students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will explore this question.
15:00
-
18:00
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
This seminar will explore the ways in which many individuals can end up working as a cohesive team. Creating an effective and dynamic piece of theatre requires every actor to work seamlessly with the rest of the ensemble regardless of whether their part is major or minor. Acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London will share those parts of their training that enable this important connection.
15:00
-
18:00
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
This seminar makes capital markets tangible. Participants act as investors, make decisions under uncertainty, and explore how capital shapes companies and Europe’s future. Simulation, expert insights, and discussion connect theory with real-world application. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
Ecological and social crises dominate the newsfeeds, pushing many people into apathy. How can artistic practices offer a way out? In the seminar, stories of resistance will be explored: Participants will learn about activist filmmaking, engage in dialogue about the narratives we are surrounded by, and create their own piece of hope to empower themselves and others.
15:00
-
18:00
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
+1
ART
SEM
Content
How Europe Winds
Air is essential yet often taken for granted, despite shaping movement, interaction, and perception. The posed question is not How Europe Wins but Winds — like a wind that opens spaces, brings together different voices, and creates new possibilities. Through movement, sound, and collective improvisation, participants are invited to explore ways of expressing themselves artistically. The session culminates in a shared performance, weaving together movement, sound, and expression.
15:00
-
18:00
How Europe Winds
+2
ART
SEM
Content
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
In this studio, participants explore the political dramaturgy of emotions – where theatre meets sociology. Emotions are movements, words, and gestures that shape how we live together. The ways we stand, speak, and relate enact democratic order. Conversely, emotions we suppress in public to sustain control can quietly erode democracy itself. //INFO: This project has received funding from the European Commission under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Grant, No 101132327
15:00
-
18:00
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
+1
STU
Content
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
Europe is often treated as geographical entity rather than a community shaped by shared values, such as cooperation, leadership, and empathy. This seminar uses story, poetry, memoir, reflective essays, and collaborative projects to explore ideas of solidarity, responsibility, and belonging across cultures and generations. Participants develop original texts and new perspectives that support dialogue and understanding across borders.
15:00
-
18:00
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
How can Europe’s cities become the places where transition is governed and the future is built? Europe has entered a new phase: climate collapse is no longer a distant risk, but a reality to be governed. This studio builds systems literacy, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and democratic imagination among young professionals. Participants leave with a deeper understanding to act as bridge-builders across sectors, borders, and generations.
15:00
-
18:00
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
+1
STU
Content
Evening
Evening
Sip and Paint
Participants paint on canvas while enjoying the sunset.
19:00
-
21:00
Sip and Paint
Network
Cheers to Our Shared Journey
Celebrate the EFA Academy Days with us! Reconnect with familiar faces, meet new people from our studio and seminar formats, and enjoy a relaxed chat over a drink. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
20:00
-
22:00
Cheers to Our Shared Journey
LAB
Network
Early morning
Early morning
Morning
Morning
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
Europe's security landscape is changing rapidly, existing strategies no longer reflect today's geopolitical realities. In this Studio, participants will analyse what is needed for Europe to remain relevant, develop their priorities as future leaders as an input for a renewed EU Security Strategy in formulating concrete policy proposals. If you are ready to think outside the box, you have found your event.
09:30
-
12:30
Examining EU Security: Shaping Europe’s Next Security Strategy
+1
STU
Content
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
Financial technologies are reshaping how markets work and citizens access services – while redrawing the balance between public and private power, transforming how money is created, and opening new arenas of competition among states and between states and corporations. How can we ensure sovereignty, data control, and self-determination in this new world? Designed for non-experts, this seminar unpacks what is at stake for society and the world economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
AI is reshaping health systems, environments, and societies, bringing opportunities and risks – but who decides how? Who benefits and who gets left behind? How do we plan for the sustainable use of AI? This interactive seminar equips participants to navigate the key debates around AI governance. Discussing foundational concepts, real-world risks, and governance frameworks, we build towards a shared vision of sustainable, equitable AI futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
The world is on track to exceed 1.5 °C of warming. Climate stabilisation depends on both rapidly cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. Removals are therefore an essential climate action, yet often poorly understood. This seminar explores what carbon dioxide removal is and examines the legal challenges and opportunities of net-negative emissions in the EU and beyond. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
New forms of great power competition are reshaping the dependency calculus of every region. How can the EU and its global partners reconfigure such dependencies in a world shaped by US-China rivalry, Russian aggression, and the transactional dismantling of multilateralism?The seminar will tackle this question conceptually but also strategically, asking which dependencies to shed and which to deepen, and explore how to pursue genuine interdependence rather than the illusion of full independence.
09:30
-
12:30
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
Our systems are failing future generations, by design, not accident. This seminar confronts uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and short-termism, asking what it means to act with intergenerational justice in mind. Rooted in scholarship on provoking consciousness and action, the seminar challenges assumptions that keep unjust systems in place. You will leave with a concrete plan to advance justice where you have the greatest influence.
09:30
-
12:30
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
The rules-based international order is under pressure: protectionism and the strategic use of economic policy instruments are reshaping global politics and trade. This seminar explores the rise of geo-economics and examines how states use economic tools to pursue political objectives. Participants will discuss the implications for Europe’s open and interconnected economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
How can Europe’s cities become the places where transition is governed and the future is built? Europe has entered a new phase: climate collapse is no longer a distant risk, but a reality to be governed. This studio builds systems literacy, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and democratic imagination among young professionals. Participants leave with a deeper understanding to act as bridge-builders across sectors, borders, and generations. //INFO: Clothing and shoes for outdoor activities are recommended.
09:30
-
12:30
Envisioning Europe’s Future Cities
+1
STU
Content
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
If digital sovereignty is about the ability to say ‘yes’ to a digital future that aligns with one’s interests and values – and ‘no’ to a future that doesn’t – Europe currently lacks it. In this workshop, we examine why this is the case and why it matters, what can and what should be done about it, and which policies and politics can get Europe there.
09:30
-
12:30
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
In this studio, participants explore the political dramaturgy of emotions – where theatre meets sociology. Emotions are movements, words, and gestures that shape how we live together. The ways we stand, speak, and relate enact democratic order. Conversely, emotions we suppress in public to sustain control can quietly erode democracy itself. //INFO: This project has received funding from the European Commission under the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Grant, No 101132327.
09:30
-
12:30
Embodied Experiences of Democracy
+1
STU
Content
Science and Ethics
Can we separate science and ethics? Where do we draw the boundaries?? In Artificial Intelligence, fairness and accountability are inseparable from how systems learn and how they justify knowledge. Scientific choices are moral choices, and ethics depend on scientific assumptions. The seminar explores good scientific practice and scientific misconduct, including falsification and fraud in academic research.
09:30
-
12:30
Science and Ethics
+1
SEM
Content
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
What does it mean to win? At what costs may victory be achieved? Are the antagonistic and violent practices and narratives of war and victory reconcilable with a sustainable peace? This seminar critically explores the concept of victory from Antiquity to today and specifically looks at the idea of victory in war. By incorporating moral, political, and cultural considerations, victory in the 21st century is reimagined.
09:30
-
12:30
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
Global (One) Health demands more than incremental fixes. This studio shifts from reactive problem-solving to future-oriented innovation. Using sensing and reframing techniques, participants explore emerging potentials and questions in One Health. We challenge existing paradigms to co-create radical new questions and innovation pathways, equipping participants to proactively shape a resilient future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
One Health Studio: Sensing Future Potential and Identifying New Questions
+1
STU
Content
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
How do we find the will to act when things seem hopeless? Because we are agents who care, our relationship to the future is driven by emotions like hope, anxiety, and despair – not mere feelings, but evaluative states that orient us toward action. Drawing on philosophy and the science of emotion, this interactive seminar invites you to explore how to harness these emotions, individually and collectively, to bring about the futures you value.
09:30
-
12:30
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
+1
SEM
Content
Noon
Noon
Becoming a Co-Author of the EFA Academy Days Book
In this session, scholarship holders and other participants of the Academy Days are invited to collaborate on a book about the topics and themes of EFA26. They will be guided through writing their stories about the Academy Days, energizing encounters, and other reflections. For more information, click here.
13:30
-
14:30
Becoming a Co-Author of the EFA Academy Days Book
+1
Content
Food for Thought
Mittelschule1Dmytro HREBENIUKThe War of the Cities: Iraq 1980 and Ukraine 2026Mittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 2 2Pauline KNIBB-KLIMTFrom Director to Dishwasher and beyond: Rethinking success, careers creativity - and what we become along the wayMittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 3 3Luis BRUCHEFA through the years: how a theme represents the change in Europe - conceptualising a muralMittelschule, Ground Floor - Gym(continued tomorrow on the terrace) 4Aziz HRELJIĆThe Challenge of Urban FuturesMittelschule, Ground Floor - Classroom 4 5Milena FALLAHABut what about the kids?! - Educating children on valuesMittelschule, First Floor - Conference Room 6Alexandra SADAKASpotlight on Lebanon: In the Shadow of the US-Iran WarMittelschule, First Floor - EDV Room 7Marcell KOVÁCS, Márk MATUSZ & Alexander NÉMETHHungary: A Mandate for Change?Mittelschule, First Floor - Handarbeitsraum 8Pete WOLFFRAMMFinding your people (and making room for more)Mittelschule, First Floor - Physikraum 9Ying-Hsuan LEEDoing Good Making Compromises? The Daily Life of a Small NGOMittelschule, Ground Floor - Portacabin No3
13:30
-
14:30
Food for Thought
SEM
STU
Content
Afternoon
Afternoon
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
Globally, polarisation is rising, yet confrontation isn’t inevitable. Constructive dialogue, curiosity over conflict, and finding common ground are choices we can make. This seminar explores the state of division and what it means for society. Through case studies, workshops, and interactive activities, we’'ll examine the forces shaping political disagreement, and how we can bridge divides to have more productive political conversations. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
This seminar will explore the ways in which many individuals can end up working as a cohesive team. Creating an effective and dynamic piece of theatre requires every actor to work seamlessly with the rest of the ensemble regardless of whether their part is major or minor. Acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London will share those parts of their training that enable this important connection.
15:00
-
18:00
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
This seminar makes capital markets tangible. Participants act as investors, make decisions under uncertainty, and explore how capital shapes companies and Europe’s future. Simulation, expert insights, and discussion connect theory with real-world application. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
Many actors are introduced to theatre when their parents send them to theatre workshops to overcome their shyness and gain confidence; they end up going on stage in front of hundreds of people. The stage is their place of safety. So, what is it about working together to create a piece of theatre that produces this feeling? This seminar, led by students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will explore this question.
15:00
-
18:00
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
Ecological and social crises dominate the newsfeeds, pushing many people into apathy. How can artistic practices offer a way out? In the seminar, stories of resistance will be explored: Participants will learn about activist filmmaking, engage in dialogue about the narratives we are surrounded by, and create their own piece of hope to empower themselves and others.
15:00
-
18:00
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
+1
ART
SEM
Content
How Europe Winds
Air is essential yet often taken for granted, despite shaping movement, interaction, and perception. The posed question is not How Europe Wins but Winds — like a wind that opens spaces, brings together different voices, and creates new possibilities. Through movement, sound, and collective improvisation, participants are invited to explore ways of expressing themselves artistically. The session culminates in a shared performance, weaving together movement, sound, and expression.
15:00
-
18:00
How Europe Winds
+2
ART
SEM
Content
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
Europe is often treated as geographical entity rather than a community shaped by shared values, such as cooperation, leadership, and empathy. This seminar uses story, poetry, memoir, reflective essays, and collaborative projects to explore ideas of solidarity, responsibility, and belonging across cultures and generations. Participants develop original texts and new perspectives that support dialogue and understanding across borders.
15:00
-
18:00
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
A pioneering Citizens’ Assembly brings together young participants to discuss wealth inequality across Europe and beyond. Drawing on high-level expert input and facilitated discussions, participants explore the causes and consequences of extreme wealth concentration and co-create bold, evidence-based solutions for a fairer distribution of wealth, strengthening democracy, social cohesion, and Europe’s future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
+1
STU
Content
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
Leading people is the ultimate core competence of the military. The action-oriented outdoor peer-to-peer seminar, led by cadets from the Theresian Military Academy Austria, seeks to find answers to the general theme of EFA26, “How Europe wins”, under the seminar title “OPCON”. In this context, OPCON stands for operational control and is intended to express that a common approach will be needed – while still respecting the sovereignty of the individual actors. //INFO: The seminar takes place outdoors in all weather conditions. Sportswear and sneakers are recommended.
15:00
-
18:00
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
+1
SEM
Content
Rewilding Environmental Practices
What if the future could be otherwise? This seminar explores imaginative agency through lateral thinking: taking detours, embracing surprise, and making the familiar strange. We will read and discuss texts, walkthrough the forest, observe, photograph, draw, write, cut, paste, and map. Together, we will create a collective utopian map of futures that do not yet exist - but perhaps could.
15:00
-
18:00
Rewilding Environmental Practices
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
Most people who want to change the world start from a cause they love and a set solution in mind. Policy entrepreneurs ask first: which problem actually needs me and how can I make the most impact? Over five days you learn cause selection, counterfactual thinking, and coalition building, using real cases. You leave with your own theory of change and first steps to make the most impact possible. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
DEM
SEM
Content
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
European memory is shaped by diverse, contradictory perspectives. How can personal memories help connect perspectives and our lives without reducing them to a single story? In this Studio, we will interpret and connect objects/family stories linked to Europe’s past to gain new perspectives, link past and present, and co-create narratives that make European memory tangible and relevant for our futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
+1
STU
Content
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
Volksschule – Backyard – Classroom 1 How can public decisions remain accountable when the conditions around them keep shifting? This Studio brings together complexity science, data, models, and concrete EU policy cases. Participants engage with cases from the European Parliament and prototype approaches to test assumptions, uncertainties, and systemic effects before decisions become difficult and costly to revise. This Studio is organised by nextlearning e. V. and the Complexity Science Hub, in cooperation with the European Parliament.
15:00
-
18:00
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
+4
STU
Content
Evening
Early morning
Early morning
Sunrise Bonding
Finding a bit of peace and quiet before EFA’s vibrant vibes take over.
08:15
-
09:00
Sunrise Bonding
Rituals
Practice Breakfast
Industry experts outline what is already possible today and where the journey will lead in the near future. Participants will receive numerous insights into expected developments in the near and medium term. In addition, they will gain an overview of solutions that simplify everyday work and make production processes more efficient.
08:30
-
10:00
Practice Breakfast
FIN
Network
Morning
Morning
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
Financial technologies are reshaping how markets work and citizens access services – while redrawing the balance between public and private power, transforming how money is created, and opening new arenas of competition among states and between states and corporations. How can we ensure sovereignty, data control, and self-determination in this new world? Designed for non-experts, this seminar unpacks what is at stake for society and the world economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
The world is on track to exceed 1.5 °C of warming. Climate stabilisation depends on both rapidly cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. Removals are therefore an essential climate action, yet often poorly understood. This seminar explores what carbon dioxide removal is and examines the legal challenges and opportunities of net-negative emissions in the EU and beyond. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
AI is reshaping health systems, environments, and societies, bringing opportunities and risks – but who decides how? Who benefits and who gets left behind? How do we plan for the sustainable use of AI? This interactive seminar equips participants to navigate the key debates around AI governance. Discussing foundational concepts, real-world risks, and governance frameworks, we build towards a shared vision of sustainable, equitable AI futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
New forms of great power competition are reshaping the dependency calculus of every region. How can the EU and its global partners reconfigure such dependencies in a world shaped by US-China rivalry, Russian aggression, and the transactional dismantling of multilateralism?The seminar will tackle this question conceptually but also strategically, asking which dependencies to shed and which to deepen, and explore how to pursue genuine interdependence rather than the illusion of full independence.
09:30
-
12:30
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
A pioneering Citizens’ Assembly brings together young participants to discuss wealth inequality across Europe and beyond. Drawing on high-level expert input and facilitated discussions, participants explore the causes and consequences of extreme wealth concentration and co-create bold, evidence-based solutions for a fairer distribution of wealth, strengthening democracy, social cohesion, and Europe’s future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
+1
STU
Content
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
Our systems are failing future generations, by design, not accident. This seminar confronts uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and short-termism, asking what it means to act with intergenerational justice in mind. Rooted in scholarship on provoking consciousness and action, the seminar challenges assumptions that keep unjust systems in place. You will leave with a concrete plan to advance justice where you have the greatest influence.
09:30
-
12:30
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
The rules-based international order is under pressure: protectionism and the strategic use of economic policy instruments are reshaping global politics and trade. This seminar explores the rise of geo-economics and examines how states use economic tools to pursue political objectives. Participants will discuss the implications for Europe’s open and interconnected economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
What does it mean to win? At what costs may victory be achieved? Are the antagonistic and violent practices and narratives of war and victory reconcilable with a sustainable peace? This seminar critically explores the concept of victory from Antiquity to today and specifically looks at the idea of victory in war. By incorporating moral, political, and cultural considerations, victory in the 21st century is reimagined.
09:30
-
12:30
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Science and Ethics
Can we separate science and ethics? Where do we draw the boundaries?? In Artificial Intelligence, fairness and accountability are inseparable from how systems learn and how they justify knowledge. Scientific choices are moral choices, and ethics depend on scientific assumptions. The seminar explores good scientific practice and scientific misconduct, including falsification and fraud in academic research.
09:30
-
12:30
Science and Ethics
+1
SEM
Content
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
If digital sovereignty is about the ability to say ‘yes’ to a digital future that aligns with one’s interests and values – and ‘no’ to a future that doesn’t – Europe currently lacks it. In this workshop, we examine why this is the case and why it matters, what can and what should be done about it, and which policies and politics can get Europe there.
09:30
-
12:30
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
How do we find the will to act when things seem hopeless? Because we are agents who care, our relationship to the future is driven by emotions like hope, anxiety, and despair – not mere feelings, but evaluative states that orient us toward action. Drawing on philosophy and the science of emotion, this interactive seminar invites you to explore how to harness these emotions, individually and collectively, to bring about the futures you value.
09:30
-
12:30
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
+1
SEM
Content
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
European memory is shaped by diverse, contradictory perspectives. How can personal memories help connect perspectives and our lives without reducing them to a single story? In this Studio, we will interpret and connect objects/family stories linked to Europe’s past to gain new perspectives, link past and present, and co-create narratives that make European memory tangible and relevant for our futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
+1
STU
Content
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
Volksschule – Backyard – Classroom 1 How can public decisions remain accountable when the conditions around them keep shifting? This Sstudio brings together complexity science, data, models, and concrete EU policy cases. Participants engage with cases from the European Parliament and prototype approaches to test assumptions, uncertainties, and systemic effects before decisions become difficult and costly to revise. This Studio is organised by nextlearning e. V. and the Complexity Science Hub, in cooperation with the European Parliament.
09:30
-
12:30
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
+4
STU
Content
Tyrolean Technology Brunch
An exclusive networking event as part of the Euregio Days 2026: take the opportunity to exchange ideas with representatives from business, academia, politics, and regional development on technology and digitalisation in Tyrol and Europe.
10:30
-
12:00
Tyrolean Technology Brunch
FIN
Network
Noon
Afternoon
Afternoon
How Europe Winds
Air is essential yet often taken for granted, despite shaping movement, interaction, and perception. The posed question is not How Europe Wins but Winds — like a wind that opens spaces, brings together different voices, and creates new possibilities. Through movement, sound, and collective improvisation, participants are invited to explore ways of expressing themselves artistically. The session culminates in a shared performance, weaving together movement, sound, and expression.
15:00
-
18:00
How Europe Winds
+2
ART
SEM
Content
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
Ecological and social crises dominate the newsfeeds, pushing many people into apathy. How can artistic practices offer a way out? In the seminar, stories of resistance will be explored: Participants will learn about activist filmmaking, engage in dialogue about the narratives we are surrounded by, and create their own piece of hope to empower themselves and others.
15:00
-
18:00
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
Many actors are introduced to theatre when their parents send them to theatre workshops to overcome their shyness and gain confidence; they end up going on stage in front of hundreds of people. The stage is their place of safety. So, what is it about working together to create a piece of theatre that produces this feeling? This seminar, led by students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will explore this question.
15:00
-
18:00
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
+1
ART
SEM
Content
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
Volksschule – Backyard – Classroom 1 How can public decisions remain accountable when the conditions around them keep shifting? This Studio brings together complexity science, data, models, and concrete EU policy cases. Participants engage with cases from the European Parliament and prototype approaches to test assumptions, uncertainties, and systemic effects before decisions become difficult and costly to revise. This Studio is organised by nextlearning e. V. and the Complexity Science Hub, in cooperation with the European Parliament.
15:00
-
18:00
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
+4
STU
Content
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
European memory is shaped by diverse, contradictory perspectives. How can personal memories help connect perspectives and our lives without reducing them to a single story? In this Studio, we will interpret and connect objects/family stories linked to Europe’s past to gain new perspectives, link past and present, and co-create narratives that make European memory tangible and relevant for our futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
+1
STU
Content
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
Most people who want to change the world start from a cause they love and a set solution in mind. Policy entrepreneurs ask first: which problem actually needs me and how can I make the most impact? Over five days you learn cause selection, counterfactual thinking, and coalition building, using real cases. You leave with your own theory of change and first steps to make the most impact possible. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
DEM
SEM
Content
Rewilding Environmental Practices
What if the future could be otherwise? This seminar explores imaginative agency through lateral thinking: taking detours, embracing surprise, and making the familiar strange. We will read and discuss texts, walkthrough the forest, observe, photograph, draw, write, cut, paste, and map. Together, we will create a collective utopian map of futures that do not yet exist - but perhaps could.
15:00
-
18:00
Rewilding Environmental Practices
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
A pioneering Citizens’ Assembly brings together young participants to discuss wealth inequality across Europe and beyond. Drawing on high-level expert input and facilitated discussions, participants explore the causes and consequences of extreme wealth concentration and co-create bold, evidence-based solutions for a fairer distribution of wealth, strengthening democracy, social cohesion, and Europe’s future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
+1
STU
Content
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
Leading people is the ultimate core competence of the military. The action-oriented outdoor peer-to-peer seminar, led by cadets from the Theresian Military Academy Austria, seeks to find answers to the general theme of EFA26, “How Europe wins”, under the seminar title “OPCON”. In this context, OPCON stands for operational control and is intended to express that a common approach will be needed – while still respecting the sovereignty of the individual actors. //INFO: The seminar takes place outdoors in all weather conditions. Sportswear and sneakers are recommended.
15:00
-
18:00
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
+1
SEM
Content
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
Globally, polarisation is rising, yet confrontation isn’t inevitable. Constructive dialogue, curiosity over conflict, and finding common ground are choices we can make. This seminar explores the state of division and what it means for society. Through case studies, workshops, and interactive activities, we’'ll examine the forces shaping political disagreement, and how we can bridge divides to have more productive political conversations. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
Europe is often treated as geographical entity rather than a community shaped by shared values, such as cooperation, leadership, and empathy. This seminar uses story, poetry, memoir, reflective essays, and collaborative projects to explore ideas of solidarity, responsibility, and belonging across cultures and generations. Participants develop original texts and new perspectives that support dialogue and understanding across borders.
15:00
-
18:00
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
This seminar will explore the ways in which many individuals can end up working as a cohesive team. Creating an effective and dynamic piece of theatre requires every actor to work seamlessly with the rest of the ensemble regardless of whether their part is major or minor. Acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London will share those parts of their training that enable this important connection.
15:00
-
18:00
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
This seminar makes capital markets tangible. Participants act as investors, make decisions under uncertainty, and explore how capital shapes companies and Europe’s future. Simulation, expert insights, and discussion connect theory with real-world application. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Evening
Evening
Career Development: Future Skills in the Euregio Labour Market
The labour market in the Euregio Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino is changing rapidly due to new skill demands. This session brings together perspectives from higher education, vocational education and practice to discuss Future Skills in an open dialogue. The exchange highlights regional qualification needs and outlines pathways for cross-border career development.
18:30
-
20:00
Career Development: Future Skills in the Euregio Labour Market
FIN
Network
Into the Silence
A place of calm: Spiritual impulses from various religious and philosophical backgrounds invite you to contemplate and reflect. Inspiring initiators tell their stories, take you on a journey of the mind and initiate moments of genuine stillness.
18:30
-
19:00
Into the Silence
Rituals
Open Air Concert: Alpbach Brass Band
On Fridays during the summer months, the Alpbach brass band gives an open-air concert in the village square. All Alpbach residents as well as national and international guests are warmly invited!
20:00
-
21:00
Open Air Concert: Alpbach Brass Band
Rituals
Cheers to Our Shared Journey
Celebrate the EFA Academy Days with us! Reconnect with familiar faces, meet new people from our studio and seminar formats, and enjoy a relaxed chat over a drink. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
20:00
-
22:00
Cheers to Our Shared Journey
LAB
Network
Early morning
Early morning
Into the Silence
A place of calm: Spiritual impulses from various religious and philosophical backgrounds invite you to contemplate and reflect. Inspiring initiators tell their stories, take you on a journey of the mind, and initiate moments of genuine stillness.
08:00
-
09:00
Into the Silence
Rituals
Sunrise Bonding
Finding a bit of peace and quiet before EFA’s vibrant vibes take over.
08:15
-
09:00
Sunrise Bonding
Rituals
Morning
Morning
Between Security and Rights: Minority Governance in the Baltic States and Ukraine
Security concerns since 2022 have reshaped how minority issues are governed in the Baltic States and Ukraine. The session brings together regional perspectives to examine these shifts and their policy effects. It identifies risks of securitisation and outlines approaches to balance security and minority rights.
09:00
-
12:00
Between Security and Rights: Minority Governance in the Baltic States and Ukraine
+12
DEM
SEC
Content
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
Volksschule – Backyard – Classroom 1 How can public decisions remain accountable when the conditions around them keep shifting? This Sstudio brings together complexity science, data, models, and concrete EU policy cases. Participants engage with cases from the European Parliament and prototype approaches to test assumptions, uncertainties, and systemic effects before decisions become difficult and costly to revise. This Studio is organised by nextlearning e. V. and the Complexity Science Hub, in cooperation with the European Parliament.
09:30
-
12:30
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
+4
STU
Content
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
Our systems are failing future generations, by design, not accident. This seminar confronts uncomfortable truths about power, privilege, and short-termism, asking what it means to act with intergenerational justice in mind. Rooted in scholarship on provoking consciousness and action, the seminar challenges assumptions that keep unjust systems in place. You will leave with a concrete plan to advance justice where you have the greatest influence.
09:30
-
12:30
A New Intergenerational Contract: Whose Future Is It Anyway?
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
The rules-based international order is under pressure: protectionism and the strategic use of economic policy instruments are reshaping global politics and trade. This seminar explores the rise of geo-economics and examines how states use economic tools to pursue political objectives. Participants will discuss the implications for Europe’s open and interconnected economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Geoeconomics and International Trade Policy
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
How do we find the will to act when things seem hopeless? Because we are agents who care, our relationship to the future is driven by emotions like hope, anxiety, and despair – not mere feelings, but evaluative states that orient us toward action. Drawing on philosophy and the science of emotion, this interactive seminar invites you to explore how to harness these emotions, individually and collectively, to bring about the futures you value.
09:30
-
12:30
Hope and the Power to Shape our Future
+1
SEM
Content
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
What does it mean to win? At what costs may victory be achieved? Are the antagonistic and violent practices and narratives of war and victory reconcilable with a sustainable peace? This seminar critically explores the concept of victory from Antiquity to today and specifically looks at the idea of victory in war. By incorporating moral, political, and cultural considerations, victory in the 21st century is reimagined.
09:30
-
12:30
Is Victory Possible in the 21st Century?
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Science and Ethics
Can we separate science and ethics? Where do we draw the boundaries?? In Artificial Intelligence, fairness and accountability are inseparable from how systems learn and how they justify knowledge. Scientific choices are moral choices, and ethics depend on scientific assumptions. The seminar explores good scientific practice and scientific misconduct, including falsification and fraud in academic research.
09:30
-
12:30
Science and Ethics
+1
SEM
Content
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
If digital sovereignty is about the ability to say ‘yes’ to a digital future that aligns with one’s interests and values – and ‘no’ to a future that doesn’t – Europe currently lacks it. In this workshop, we examine why this is the case and why it matters, what can and what should be done about it, and which policies and politics can get Europe there.
09:30
-
12:30
Digital Sovereignty: Why Europe Needs It and How It Can Get It
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
Financial technologies are reshaping how markets work and citizens access services – while redrawing the balance between public and private power, transforming how money is created, and opening new arenas of competition among states and between states and corporations. How can we ensure sovereignty, data control, and self-determination in this new world? Designed for non-experts, this seminar unpacks what is at stake for society and the world economy.
09:30
-
12:30
Financial Technology, Geopolitics, and Digital Sovereignty
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
New forms of great power competition are reshaping the dependency calculus of every region. How can the EU and its global partners reconfigure such dependencies in a world shaped by US-China rivalry, Russian aggression, and the transactional dismantling of multilateralism?The seminar will tackle this question conceptually but also strategically, asking which dependencies to shed and which to deepen, and explore how to pursue genuine interdependence rather than the illusion of full independence.
09:30
-
12:30
Europe Breaks Free: Reconfiguring Dependencies
+1
SEC
SEM
Content
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
A pioneering Citizens’ Assembly brings together young participants to discuss wealth inequality across Europe and beyond. Drawing on high-level expert input and facilitated discussions, participants explore the causes and consequences of extreme wealth concentration and co-create bold, evidence-based solutions for a fairer distribution of wealth, strengthening democracy, social cohesion, and Europe’s future. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
+1
STU
Content
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
The world is on track to exceed 1.5 °C of warming. Climate stabilisation depends on both rapidly cutting emissions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at scale. Removals are therefore an essential climate action, yet often poorly understood. This seminar explores what carbon dioxide removal is and examines the legal challenges and opportunities of net-negative emissions in the EU and beyond. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Carbon Dioxide Removal from the Atmosphere: A Legal Perspective Beyond Net Zero
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
AI is reshaping health systems, environments, and societies, bringing opportunities and risks – but who decides how? Who benefits and who gets left behind? How do we plan for the sustainable use of AI? This interactive seminar equips participants to navigate the key debates around AI governance. Discussing foundational concepts, real-world risks, and governance frameworks, we build towards a shared vision of sustainable, equitable AI futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
09:30
-
12:30
Rethinking AI in Context: Health, Environmental Change and Sustainable Futures
+1
CLI
SEM
Content
Noon
Noon
Brown Bag Lunch | Opportunities for Concrete Cross-Border Cooperation
The European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino was established as a way of reconnecting with the historical roots of the Princely County of Tyrol, which existed from 1504 to 1918. Today, identity-building initiatives remain an important part of its work. Increasingly, however, the focus is on the question of whether, beyond mere symbolism, cross-border projects can be implemented that provide tangible benefits to the nearly 1.9 million people living in the three regions across two EU member states.
12:45
-
13:45
Brown Bag Lunch | Opportunities for Concrete Cross-Border Cooperation
+1
Content
Strengthening Cross-Border Cooperation: Perspectives for Europe
Border regions require reliable frameworks and effective funding instruments to address shared challenges. This session brings together local and regional perspectives with European experience in an interactive exchange. The discussion will provide orientation for the next European Union funding period and explore ways to strengthen the representation of cross-border interests at the European level.
13:30
-
15:00
Strengthening Cross-Border Cooperation: Perspectives for Europe
+3
DEM
FIN
Content
Afternoon
Afternoon
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
A pioneering Citizens’ Assembly brings together young participants to discuss wealth inequality across Europe and beyond. Drawing on high-level expert input and facilitated discussions, participants explore the causes and consequences of extreme wealth concentration and co-create bold, evidence-based solutions for a fairer distribution of wealth, strengthening democracy, social cohesion, and Europe’s future.
15:00
-
18:00
Your Voice on Wealth: A Citizens’ Assembly
+1
STU
Content
Rewilding Environmental Practices
What if the future could be otherwise? This seminar explores imaginative agency through lateral thinking: taking detours, embracing surprise, and making the familiar strange. We will read and discuss texts, walkthrough the forest, observe, photograph, draw, write, cut, paste, and map. Together, we will create a collective utopian map of futures that do not yet exist - but perhaps could.
15:00
-
18:00
Rewilding Environmental Practices
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
Ecological and social crises dominate the newsfeeds, pushing many people into apathy. How can artistic practices offer a way out? In the seminar, stories of resistance will be explored: Participants will learn about activist filmmaking, engage in dialogue about the narratives we are surrounded by, and create their own piece of hope to empower themselves and others.
15:00
-
18:00
Activist Filmmaking: Telling Stories of Resistance and Hope
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
Many actors are introduced to theatre when their parents send them to theatre workshops to overcome their shyness and gain confidence; they end up going on stage in front of hundreds of people. The stage is their place of safety. So, what is it about working together to create a piece of theatre that produces this feeling? This seminar, led by students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, will explore this question.
15:00
-
18:00
Theatre as a Sanctuary: How Theatre Builds Confidence and Connection
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
This seminar makes capital markets tangible. Participants act as investors, make decisions under uncertainty, and explore how capital shapes companies and Europe’s future. Simulation, expert insights, and discussion connect theory with real-world application. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Capital in Motion: Understanding How Capital Moves the World
+1
FIN
SEM
Content
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
This seminar will explore the ways in which many individuals can end up working as a cohesive team. Creating an effective and dynamic piece of theatre requires every actor to work seamlessly with the rest of the ensemble regardless of whether their part is major or minor. Acting students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London will share those parts of their training that enable this important connection.
15:00
-
18:00
Stronger Together: The Power of the Ensemble.
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
Most people who want to change the world start from a cause they love and a set solution in mind. Policy entrepreneurs ask first: which problem actually needs me and how can I make the most impact? Over five days you learn cause selection, counterfactual thinking, and coalition building, using real cases. You leave with your own theory of change and first steps to make the most impact possible. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Work Like a Policy Entrepreneur: Turn Moral Ambition into Large Societal Change
DEM
SEM
Content
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
Leading people is the ultimate core competence of the military. The action-oriented outdoor peer-to-peer seminar, led by cadets from the Theresian Military Academy Austria, seeks to find answers to the general theme of EFA26, “How Europe wins”, under the seminar title “OPCON”. In this context, OPCON stands for operational control and is intended to express that a common approach will be needed – while still respecting the sovereignty of the individual actors. //INFO: The seminar takes place outdoors in all weather conditions. Sportswear and sneakers are recommended.
15:00
-
18:00
OPCON: An Outdoor-based Leadership Seminar
+1
SEM
Content
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
Volksschule – Backyard – Classroom 1 How can public decisions remain accountable when the conditions around them keep shifting? This Studio brings together complexity science, data, models, and concrete EU policy cases. Participants engage with cases from the European Parliament and prototype approaches to test assumptions, uncertainties, and systemic effects before decisions become difficult and costly to revise. This Studio is organised by nextlearning e. V. and the Complexity Science Hub, in cooperation with the European Parliament.
15:00
-
18:00
From Complexity to Capacity: Policy Design under Volatility and Interdependence
+4
STU
Content
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
European memory is shaped by diverse, contradictory perspectives. How can personal memories help connect perspectives and our lives without reducing them to a single story? In this Studio, we will interpret and connect objects/family stories linked to Europe’s past to gain new perspectives, link past and present, and co-create narratives that make European memory tangible and relevant for our futures. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Perspectives on European Memory: Objects, Stories and Shared Futures
+1
STU
Content
How Europe Winds
Air is essential yet often taken for granted, despite shaping movement, interaction, and perception. The posed question is not How Europe Wins but Winds — like a wind that opens spaces, brings together different voices, and creates new possibilities. Through movement, sound, and collective improvisation, participants are invited to explore ways of expressing themselves artistically. The session culminates in a shared performance, weaving together movement, sound, and expression.
15:00
-
18:00
How Europe Winds
+2
ART
SEM
Content
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
Globally, polarisation is rising, yet confrontation isn’t inevitable. Constructive dialogue, curiosity over conflict, and finding common ground are choices we can make. This seminar explores the state of division and what it means for society. Through case studies, workshops, and interactive activities, we’'ll examine the forces shaping political disagreement, and how we can bridge divides to have more productive political conversations. //INFO: Please make sure to bring your own laptop. If you do not have one, please contact the EFA-Team at seminars@alpbach.org
15:00
-
18:00
Dialogue across Divides: Designing Better Conversations for a Polarised World
+1
DEM
SEM
Content
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
Europe is often treated as geographical entity rather than a community shaped by shared values, such as cooperation, leadership, and empathy. This seminar uses story, poetry, memoir, reflective essays, and collaborative projects to explore ideas of solidarity, responsibility, and belonging across cultures and generations. Participants develop original texts and new perspectives that support dialogue and understanding across borders.
15:00
-
18:00
Creative Writing: Co-operation, Leadership and Empathy
+1
ART
SEM
Content
Evening
Evening
European Echoes – Celebrate Europe Together
After a week of ideas and debate, it is time to celebrate Europe. The evening begins with an artistic performance leading to the Loggia, followed by remarks, a sunset concert and a curated DJ line-up. Together, we will unfurl a large EU flag and send a message for an open and connected Europe. //In case of bad weather, the programme will take place in the SPAR Garage.
20:00
-
21:45
European Echoes – Celebrate Europe Together
+1
Network
European Echoes - Academy Days Closing Party
As the Academy Days come to a close, the SPAR Garage opens for a night of music and connection. With an EU-inspired setting, a DJ line-up, and guests from across Europe, celebrate new friendships and everything that connects us. //Join the Concert at 20:30 at CCA Loggia.//Bring enough cash to pay for drinks. No card payment possible.
22:00
-
01:00
European Echoes - Academy Days Closing Party
Network
Academy Days Closing
Join the European Forum Alpbach 2026 Academy Days Closing! Participants from around the world come together to reflect on an inspiring week of Seminars and Studios and to share ideas, insights, and creative outcomes shaped through collaboration across disciplines. Expect a dynamic mix of presentations, performances, and glimpses into the conversations shaping tomorrow’s Europe.
19:00
-
20:00
Academy Days Closing
ART
CLI
DEM
FIN
SEC
Content
Early morning
Early morning
Noon
Afternoon
Get your personalised programme
Create your own EFA26 schedule – tailored to your availability, interests, and preferred experience.