Second Renaissance Online Conference: 5-7 Dec 2025 - Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis

Join Rebecca Henderson, Peter Limberg, Liam Kavanagh and other leading thinkers and change-makers to explore pathways to resilience, renewal, and collective wisdom in this 3-day online conference.

Join us — along with leading thinkers and changemakers including Prof. Rebecca Henderson, Kam Bellamy, Peter Limberg, Rufus Pollock, and Liam Kavanagh —online from December 5–7, 2025, for the Second Renaissance Online Conference: Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis.

Across three days online in December, we’ll bring together leading thinkers, practitioners, and community-builders to explore pathways for resilience, renewal, and societal transformation towards a Second Renaissance. Together, we will examine how wisdom, creativity, and collective action can respond to the interwoven crises of our time — social polarization, ecological breakdown, inequality, and loss of meaning— fostering a wisdom-based community of practice where insight, connection, and engaged action come together to create meaningful impact..

Keep reading for full event details and tickets, what we will learn, who should attend, provisional schedule, confirmed speakers and panelists, unconference information and where to register your interest.

Event Details - Snapshot Overview

Date: 5-7 December, 2025

Time: 5pm - 9pm CET | 8am - 12pm PT | 11am - 3pm EST

Where: Online

What: 3 days: 2-day conference, and 1 day unconference structure

Who: Academics, researchers, practitioners, facilitators, artists, community-builders, and activists seeking to develop resilience, integrate wisdom into action, and contribute to meaningful community and societal transformation

Website: www.2rcon.org/

Confirmed: Prof. Rebecca Henderson — author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, Kam Bellamy — Springboard, Peter Limberg of the Stoa, and Liam Kavanagh — Co-founder of Climate Majority Project

Tickets: Register today with 70% off Super-Early Bird rates - only 25 tickets available

A Wisdom-Based Community of Practice for Engaged Action

We live in a time of accelerating crisis and possibility: social polarization, ecological breakdown, inequality, and a crisis of meaning and connection. These are not separate problems, but interwoven symptoms of a deeper shift in our shared values, beliefs, and stories.

The creation of a weller, wiser world offers the opportunity to respond to the metacrisis with a regenerative vision: not only reform, but of a deep renewal of consciousness, culture, and collective purpose. Drawing from wisdom traditions, science, art, and activism, the Second Renaissance provides a space for integrating inner cultivation, relational resilience, and practical action.

The Second Renaissance Online conference brings together inquiry and imagination: How can we meet technological disruption with wisdom? How do arts and education nurture resilience and renewal? How do spirituality, health, youth movements, and climate action interweave into a larger story of transformation? How do communities support our values development?

After the success of our in-person Human Transformation in a Time of Metacrisis conference at Harvard University (May 2025), we’re excited to continue this global conversation with the Second Renaissance Online Conference — creating a leading edge conference of thought-leaders accessible wherever you are in the world.

Keynotes and Panelists

We’re excited to announce our first confirmed keynote speaker — Prof. Rebecca Henderson (Harvard Business School) — Author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire.

Rebecca Henderson is a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of both the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also has more than twenty-five years of major public board experience. Rebecca’s research explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy. She is an author of a number of publications, including Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire. Rebecca is currently researching how inner capacities lead to climate action in education, in business and politics.

More keynote speakers will be announced soon.

Our confirmed panel facilitators include:

• Peter Limberg (The Stoa)

• Sylvie Barbier (Life Itself)

• Jadzia Tedeschi (Climate Majority Project)

• Rufus Pollock (Life Itself)

• Kam Bellamy (Springboard Foundation)

• Liam Kavanagh (Climate Majority Project)

Panels will open up cross-disciplinary explorations of areas related to AI and technology, arts and creativity, education and learning futures, health and wellbeing, youth and next generations, climate, spirituality and wisdom traditions, and the metacrisis and metamodernity. Each theme is explored in its relation to the whole, weaving together the systemic, cultural, communal, and personal.

Unconference (Day 3)

The final day is a participant-driven unconference, where the structure and agenda are shaped by attendee submissions to foster open discussions, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and workshops. This creates space for embodiment, co-creation, idea generation and collective action at the intersection of inner work and systemic change.

Why attend

This event opens inquiry into wisdom-based approaches to transformation, community, and resilience, offering a unique opportunity to:

• Connect to likeminded individuals in a global hub for those leading transformation in a time of metacrisis

• Continue the action and thought-leadership inspired by the Harvard conference

• Engage with changemakers across disciplines and continents

• Experience beyond ideas — with embodied practices, workshops, and network formations designed to integrate and transform thought into lived change

Who should attend?

• Anyone seeking to develop resilience, integrate wisdom into action, and contribute to meaningful community and societal transformation

• Academics, researchers and lifelong students passionate about personal and relational development and societal transformation

• Practitioners and facilitators looking to integrate a lens for societal transformation and a community of civic actors to further apply it

• Artists looking to meet like-minded peers for which artistic creation meets impact in the world

• Community-builders and activists seeking deeper personal and systemic strategies through resilience and wisdom

Provisional Online Conference Schedule

Daily on Friday 5th - Sunday 7th December 2025

5pm Introduction & Community groups*

5:30pm Keynote & Q&A

7pm Panel sessions & Q&A

8:30pm Community groups* & Closing

*You will be invited to join a community group which will meet at the beginning and end of each conference day to discuss questions, surprises and insights.​

Ticket Prices

We are excited to offer 25 Super-Early Bird tickets - available now.

• Super-Early Bird - £29 (Only 25 tickets available at this rate!)

• Standard - £99

• Reduced fee (students, unemployed & over 65) - £49

Meet the Conference Organising Team

Boaz B. Feldman – Director: Clinical psychologist, researcher, ex-Buddhist monk, and founder of NeuroSystemics.

Rufus Pollock – Strategic Co-Lead: Entrepreneur, activist, and author with a long-term Zen practice, founder of Life Itself and Open Knowledge Foundation.

Lauren Wigmore – Communications & Co-Organizer: Facilitator, embodiment practitioner, and communications strategist supporting conscious start-ups and developmental initiatives.

With the support of Harvard Alumni for Education, NeuroSystemics, and Life Itself

We look forward to welcoming you online on December 5–7 2025 to connect, learn, and co-create with leading thinkers, practitioners and community members. Register now to secure your spot at 70% off and be part of the movement for a wiser, more resilient world.

Have a question? Reach out to us at: boaz@lifeitself.org