SUMMER SCHOOL OVERVIEW
Our three-day residential school takes place in central London on 26 to 28 June and is open to anyone aged 18 to 30, based in the UK or beyond.
First time attendees are eligible for a Living Freedom 2025 Scholarship that covers 90 per cent of fees (scholarship cost is £50 reduced from full cost £500). The deadline for applications is May 12 and a review panel will award 50 scholarships.
‘VIBE SHIFT’: A NEW ERA FOR FREEDOM?
Across the planet, political discussion is dominated by the American ‘Vibe Shift’ and the implications of Trump 2.0 for reshaping Western politics and culture. After a decade and more of freedoms feeling under siege, some anticipate that actions to counter race and gender ideologies, dismantle the DEI empire or ‘restore freedom of speech and end federal censorship’ will help usher in a more upbeat era, one where free expression again flourishes as the lifeblood of democracy.
Others remain downbeat, fearful that freedoms may founder on the rocks of legal or institutional resistance or be derailed by a partisan political class that rarely embraces the ideal of ‘free speech for all’. Is it sensible to rely on Trumpism for our freedoms? With technologies such as X now operating from the White House, and Meta now seemingly on board with the new regime, is the US government’s influence over ever more of the public square to be feared or celebrated?
Shifting loyalties and cultural hegemonies in the US are one thing, but what will be the impact downstream in Europe? Will Big Tech’s seeming turn against content moderation prevail in the face of European commitments to controlling hate speech and misinformation online? Can the quest for more open political debate survive the firewalling of populist parties in Europe? Can growth and development struggle free of environmental green tape and lawfare? And how best can agency and individual freedom be defended in the face of increasing incursions in the private sphere by officialdom? Is the trajectory towards scepticism of everything, from official fact-checkers to EDI, a sign that the tide is turning, especially with the young, keen to shake off their reputation as Generation Snowflake.
Clearly this is a moment of flux when we need to examine afresh many of the big, historically significant questions related to freedom and free speech. Living Freedom Summer School 2025 is your chance to be involved in such debates. We’ll place recent trends in wider context through expert lectures on key developments in the history and philosophy of freedom; panel-led debates will cover contemporary challenges and hot topics of our time; workshops allow attendees to explore classic texts and ethical dilemmas. In changing times, join us to assess the challenges and opportunities and to develop the arguments we need to make the 21st-century case for freedom.
SCHOLARSHIPS
The cost of providing a place at the summer school is £500. This includes accommodation in central London and attending the annual Living Freedom dinner.
However, first-time attendees will pay just £50, a massive reduction of £450.
This is because Living Freedom uses a targeted scholarships programme funded by our donors and partners, which will ensure that we can select attendees on merit, irrespective of their financial circumstances.
If you would like to support a scholar, find out more here.
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
PLENARY LECTURES & DEBATES
- The Trump effect: step forward or setback for freedom?
- Privacy and Freedom: the rise and fall of private life
- Nation, identity, ethnicity: what is a citizen?
- Farewell to fact-checking: online freedom or free rein for misinformation?
- History of hate: origins and evolution of hate speech laws
TALKS AND WORKSHOPS: MORAL MAZE OF FREEDOM
- Free speech dilemmas: extremism and liberty
- From deporting Palestinian activists to silencing feminists: challenges of compelled speech
- Letters on Liberty talks – today’s challenges to liberty
- What the papers say – reviews workshops
DEBATES: FREEDOM AND ITS LIMITS
- Reclaiming freedom: escaping the straitjacket of wellbeing and mental health
- OnlyFans to online influencers: is the digital world destroying our youth?
- Young dissenters: how to fight back against conformism
LITERATURE AND LIBERTY: TALKS AND SEMINARS
- Christopher Lasch: The Culture of Narcissism
- Normal People? Love in contemporary literature
SPEAKERS INCLUDE
Felice Basbøll author, How to become a dissenter; project assistant, Living Freedom
Piers Benn philosopher; author, Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars
Jon Bryan author, Risking it all: the freedom to gamble
Ella Dorn freelance writer; creator, Fairyland! Substack
Faika El-Nagashi political scientist; former Green Party MP (Austria)
Matthew Feeney advocacy manager, Big Brother Watch
Claire Fox director, Academy of Ideas
Frank Furedi sociologist and social commentator
Luke Gittos criminal lawyer; director, Freedom Law Clinic
Bryn Harris chief legal counsel, Free Speech Union
Tiffany Jenkins author, Strangers and intimates: the rise and fall of private life
Fraser Myers deputy editor, spiked
Jacob Phillips author, Obedience Is Freedom
Lorcán Price legal counsel, ADF International
Jacob Reynolds head of policy, MCC Brussels
Kevin Rooney editor, irishborderpoll.com
Abhishek Saha professor of mathematics, Queen Mary University of London
Connie Shaw philosophy and theology student; commentator and campaigner
Martin Speake alto saxophonist and jazz educator
Ella Whelan journalist; co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival
Austin Williams director, Future Cities Project
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are now closed.
SUPPORTED BY
ENQUIRIES
Should you need further information, please email the Living Freedom convenor, Alastair Donald, at info@livingfreedom.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 7269 9234.