Deep Thought

A Series with Andreea Petre-Goncalves

SOFTLY REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINE

 Ideas / Conversations  | Sat 27th Jun | 5-7 pm

Post WWII reality in Europe and North America was built on an unholy tandem between feminine ideas of solidarity (of building back, with safety nets, after a cataclysmic event) and the masculine rapaciousness of the profit seeking machine (within which the military industrial complex is an element). The idea that the machine is the engine that enables the caring softness metamorphosised over the course of time, to make the pursuit of lucre a societal end in its own right.

After decades of fetishising masculine ideas of technology-enabled progress rewarded with limitless profit, we stand on the precipice of being swallowed up by the machine, our own flesh expendable, our collective home about to be set alight. Regaining the confidence of feminine softness, leading with love rather than dominating with greed, will take courage that is hopefully still engrained in our muscle memory. 

A radically different narrative of what is true and of who we are is urgently needed.

Telling a story of human oneness and soft solidarity is therefore existential - but we’ve been trained to see it as unserious. Can we still lovingly revolt against the machine we’ve come to idolise? Join us for a – feminine, if you like - conversation.

Open to everyone

__________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE HOST

Andreea Petre-Goncalves was 8 years old when totalitarian Communism collapsed overnight in her native Romania. She saw then how quickly yesterday’s absolute truth can become tomorrow reviled atrocity. She knows that societal narratives can shift fast, and when they do, they make deep system re-set possible. For two decades she worked for international development, human rights, health and sustainability in the EU institutions and international NGOs. In 2019 she set up Flare, a Brussels-based think-and-do tank that experiments with practical ways of shifting the collective ideas we hold of what is normal and desirable. This work builds on 15 years of her researching and writing about societal narrative shifts. She is a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and a member of Global Diplomacy Lab.

----

ADDITIONAL INFO 

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Small (10-15)	Available on request

CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS ON
CONFLICT & PEACE

The New Map of Europe:
Decoding the EU-Ukraine Integration and What it Means for Us

with Sandra Melone & Diego de Ojeda

 Conversations | Sat 27th Jun | 5-7pm 

For our last session before the summer break, we talk about the tangible, current institutional relationship between the EU and Ukraine, and what that structural reality transforms for everyday Europeans. 

Right now, the relationship has moved past emergency solidarity into a highly technical, high-stakes phase: the formal opening of the first negotiation clusters for Ukraine's EU accession. Meanwhile, the massive Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) in Gdańsk takes place on June 25–26, the day before our session. 

We are no longer just talking about a neighbour in crisis, but also about the future borders, economy, and identity of the European Union itself. With Ukraine's accession negotiations moving into the rigorous "Fundamentals" phase and major recovery frameworks shifting from emergency aid to deep economic coupling, integration is actively happening.

For EU citizens, this is not a distant foreign policy file, it is a domestic reality. It challenges the Union's very architecture: how decisions are made, how agricultural and regional funds are distributed, and what it means to share a single market and a security umbrella with a nation under martial law.

This session is a space to unpack the realities of this transition. We will look past the macro-bureaucratic language to ask what an integrated EU-Ukraine actually looks like on the ground, and how it reshapes the rights, responsibilities, and future of every EU citizen.

Open to everyone | Booking required

Bar open

__________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Diego de Ojeda is currently Head of Unit for Defence and Preparedness at the Secretariat General of the European Commission. He has over 20 years of experience in international relations, with a specialisation in the Common Foreign Security Policy, the Middle East, Russia and Public Communication.

Hosting the Series is Sandra Djuvara Melone, CEO of Zancora Consulting, which she founded in 2021, with a strong expertise in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, crisis management, human rights and, not last, gender. With a vast experience on the ground, she has worked across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. She knows first hand what living through civil war is like. Sandra is the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Search for Common Ground, Europe, one of the world’s leading international non-governmental organisations working in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, where she's been involved in various roles since 1995. Sandra is a founding member of the European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation (EPCPT), of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO), and of the Child Soldiers Initiative (CSI). Before dedicating her career to conflict transformation, Sandra worked in human rights advocacy with Amnesty International, and in international education.

----

ADDITIONAL INFO

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Small (10-20)	Available on request

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

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

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

Get your EARLYBIRD pass for the entire weekend today!