About the Event
We’re excited to share that the Compassionate Future Initiative is organising a 2025 Compassionate Future Summit, taking place 21–25 August near Berlin— with support from CLR, CRS, EA Funds and EA Germany.
This participant-driven working and community weekend will bring together around 40 ambitious, international attendees and project representatives eager to reduce and prevent suffering long term.
The Summit builds on the success of the 2019 Suffering Focused Ethics (SFE) retreat in Switzerland. Our primary goal is to attract and nurture talent committed to fostering a more compassionate future. We’re inviting representatives from a range of international EA-aligned organisations to inspire the development of high-impact projects and career pathways.
🔔 March 2025 Update: Two Exceptional Guests Confirmed
We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome two remarkable guests whose work has transformed how we think about suffering, ethics, and our responsibilities in the world:
David Pearce – Keynote Speaker
British utilitarian philosopher and co-founder of Humanity+, David Pearce is among the most influential thinkers in suffering-focused ethics. His manifesto, The Hedonistic Imperative, lays out a bold vision for using science and technology to abolish suffering across all sentient life. In it, he argues that this goal is not only ethically urgent, but also technically feasible—through the responsible use of biotechnology and genetic engineering.
David’s idea of a “compassionate biosphere” challenges us to expand the boundaries of moral progress—and inspires bold, practical action to reduce suffering in humans and non-humans alike. We’re deeply honoured to host him.
Jack Hancock-Fairs – Special Guest
Widely known for his compelling YouTube channel Humane Hancock and podcast Humane Hangouts, viewed and listened to by millions, Jack Hancock-Fairs explores urgent topics such as animal ethics, veganism, and wild animal suffering. His work stands out for its rare blend of clarity, emotional depth, and disarming humour.
At the Summit, Jack will be sharing a glimpse of a deeply personal project he's been working on for a number of years.
🌱 Meanwhile, our content contribution calls with participants are in full swing. A wide range of talks, workshops, and collaborative sessions are taking shape, and we look forward to sharing a preview of the rich program in the coming weeks.
Program and Focus Areas
The non-hierarchical program will include content contributions from all participants, focusing on long-termist perspectives on:
- Global Health and Wellbeing - From a Sentientist Perspective
- Global Peace and Conflict Resolution Strategies
- (Farmed and Wild) Animal Rights and Wellbeing
- Moral Philosophy and Moral Psychology specific to SFE
- Artificial Intelligence - Risks, Opportunities and Interventions
In addition to these and other topics, the retreat will feature sessions that promote personal growth and community, such as Circling, prioritization workshops, and self-reflection sessions using tools like Liberating Structures.
Venue, Accommodation, and Catering
The event will be held in a bungalow village southeast of Berlin, just 200m from the Müggelsee tram stop. Nestled in a protected natural area, it offers direct access to the lake.
- All-vegan full-board catering
Shared accommodation: 2- to 6-bed rooms in comfortable bungalows
Applications Now Open
There’s no formal application deadline, but spots are limited and filling quickly. If you’re considering joining us, we encourage you to apply soon.
Apply Now
Want to contribute or nominate someone?
We’re reaching out directly to project experts and collaborators, but also welcome proactive contact. If you’d like to present a project or suggest participants, please email us at: 📩 compassionate.future [at] gmail.com
🌍 Looking ahead:
If successful, we aim to make this an annual, rotating-continent summit to strengthen global cooperation and impact.
✨ Applications Still Open: Compassionate Future Summit
📅 21–25 August 2025 | 📍 Berlin, Germany
As attendance capacity remains dynamic, a few spots are currently available — perfect for last-minute applicants looking to join a transformative weekend focused on long-term strategies to reduce suffering across all sentient life.
From fast-paced lightning talks to in-depth workshops, here’s a snapshot of the content already driving this year’s Compassionate Future Summit.
And apply here.
We still have around 5 spots left for the upcoming Compassionate Future Summit!
I’ll soon be sharing 10 example content contributions and contributors — but in the meantime, here’s what I suggest to anyone applying in order to get the most out of the preparation for your self and make your content contribution most valuable for the other attendees.
Ideally:
If you’re working on ideas that could meaningfully shape a more compassionate future, we’d love to hear from you!
Warmly,
Ruth
Why not add to this highly interesting event an option for online participation?
Hi Alex, thanks for the kind words and thoughtful suggestion!
We actually run online events every other month, and everyone’s welcome to join. I’ll be setting up the next one soon, so I recommend following the Compassionate Future Initiative group page to stay in the loop.
As for the summit, making it hybrid would unfortunately compromise the community atmosphere we’re aiming to create. For more classic conference-style formats, where a safe, close-knit setting is less crucial, we might consider hybrid options in the future.
Hope to see you at one of the events—online or in person. :)