EAYW: 4th Edition (2026)

The 4th European Academy on Youth Work focuses on the question: How can youth work move forward in times of uncertainty?

The main questions the EAYW is exploring are:

• What does youth work need in order to move forward in times of uncertainty and disruption?
• How can youth work build resilience, agency and readiness for change?
• How can we respond to the major challenges affecting young people and youth work today?
• How can we learn, innovate and act together for positive futures of youth work?

The specific objectives of the 4th EAYW are the following:

1. Celebrate the Academy’s efforts and achievements.
2. Build knowledge & capacity around the themes of future-oriented thinking, innovation and change.
3. Support youth workers’ collective resilience and sense of agency.
4. Create space to reflect on how youth work can move forward in times of uncertainty.
5. Strengthen the youth work community and inspire new ideas and initiatives for the future.

4th Residential EAYW Event: Connecting Dots and Moving Forward, Together

Around 160 professionals from different fields of European youth work, youth policy and research will come together at the EAYW event, which will be held from 5 – 8 May 2026 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

This EAYW event will be closing the cycle of the Academy under the current generation of EU youth programmes. As such it will a bridging event, representing an occasion for looking back and celebrating achievements as well as looking forward and identifying action for future steps youth work can take to move towards the future(s).

The programme will include:

• Plenary sessions, which aim to address key cross-cutting themes like change, innovation, resilience and agency. The aim is to inspire collective reflection within the field and provide “container” space for the more specific Deep Dive conversations. The plenary sessions will also provide moments for collective sense making and discovering the source of the future movement in the youth work field.  
• Deep Dive sessions offering space for deeper discussions on selected topics (see more below);
• Introduction of youth work tools and practices that support future oriented conversations and help youth work move forward. They will be shared at different moments throughout the programme – in plenary, Deep Dives and other designated spaces, such as the Bonfire & Market evening see below);
• Inspiring inputs from inside and outside youth work that can stimulate new perspectives and ideas for action at different moments of the programme;
• Spaces for community-building, networking and joint reflection about futures of youth work;
• Reflection and exchange in smaller learning groups on how ideas and reflections from the event can be taken further in the participants’ home environment;
• Informal spaces for seeing things from a different perspective and having fun together.

The Deep Dive Sessions will be six thematic groups that run in parallel across three 90-minute sessions. Each group explores one central theme shaping youth work today – from AI and social skills to democracy, rights, climate justice, and belonging in times of conflict. These sessions will create a focused space where 20–30 participants stay with the same topic long enough to actually… well, dive deep. Sessions will include inputs and practice presentations to stimulate new perspectives. The intention is to create shared spaces of curiosity to reflect together, challenge assumptions, meet new perspectives, and connect what we hear to our own realities and practices.

Deep Dive Themes:

1. Love, Youth Work & Robots – AI, Technology and Everything In Between

2. Tell Me How to Say Hello – Mental Health & Social Skills in the Era of ChatGPT

3. From TikTok to Real Talk – Youth Rights & Participation Beyond the Screen

4. Us, Them & the Nothing Inbetween – Youth Work in a Fragile Democracy

5. Environment & Climate Justice – Are We Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic?

6. From Division to Dialogue – Supporting Young People in Times of Conflict