More Than a Conference – A Movement would be the suitable title of an upcoming oikos Community Gathering in Lisbon 2026 co-creation session earlier this September. The energy that this online session brought was inspiring and marvellous giving a feeling of an in person gathering. This energy stems from the tradition of bringing together young changemakers that’s been evolving for years. St.Gallen, 2021 oikos Conference; Graz, 2022 International Chapters Conference; Copenhagen, 2023 – well organized gathering where the oikees were collaborating with each other; Barcelona, 2024; Warsaw, 2025, and finally the upcoming and even more exciting conference – oikos Community Gathering in Lisbon 2026. A participant isn’t merely a bystander taking in the learnings and information, but also is the one who shapes it and ignites action for a regenerative blue economy. The Community Gathering is set to take place at a perfect time – the end of February, when the cool wind starts to leave the city, and the beginning of March as a new chapter of warmth, when innovative ideas prosper. To make this event participatory, designed and brought to students by students, we invited oikees to brainstorm at the early stages of planning.
Our students are changemakers, and leading the change comes with challenges. In order to be fully prepared, we address the challenges together, and the main complexities that students from chapters face include gaps in understanding, the lack of awareness about sustainability, time differences, finding inspiration or resources to move forward, and going from words to actions. Students voiced out the needs for knowledge sharing sessions, hopeful vision for the future, a more connected international effort towards sustainability, and meeting new interesting people, which lead to inspiration, creating the real and visible impact in the community, building networks, and driving change for a sustainable world.
With a twist on perspective – we travelled to the end of 2026 and looked back on the oikos Community Gathering in Lisbon 2026. We were imagining the sunset on the beach and getting to know each other, dancing at the shore, connecting and smiling with people, learning, and growing together are the valuable insights that people mentioned. Bringing the oikos spirit to where it belongs – in nature, in community, in inspiration for the action.
After discussions and brainstorms, we have narrowed down what we would like to see in our Community Gathering. Things like gaining insights into the current trends, connecting communities, having friends around the world, knowing about how other cultures think, motivating people as a better leader, and feeling empowered to challenge status-quo. oikos Community is also a talented crowd of people who can bring in their talents and knowledge through open space, climate cafe, deep storytelling formats, including ethical leadership tips, sustainable business-models, circular economy, and climate action topics, and one of the long-awaited parts is the contribution that chapters can bring bachata classes, being partners for vegan food, community building, swimming classes, and even more.
This co-creation session showed not only the plans of the real future oikees meeting, but the ability of people to deeply analyze the essence of the upcoming oikos Community Gathering in Lisbon 2026. Stay tuned!
