The European Policy Centre and EuroHealthNet are pleased to invite you to participate in the online Policy Lab ‘Belonging and Thriving: A Wellbeing Approach to Demographic Resilience’, organised in the framework of the MERGE Horizon Europe project.
- WHEN: 07 July 2026 from 9.30 to 12.00 CET
- WHERE: online, the Zoom link will be shared with registered participants.
- REGISTER HERE BY 06 JULY.
Ageing populations, declining fertility, labour and skills shortages, migration and territorial inequalities are reshaping Europe. At MERGE, we ask what these shifts mean for wellbeing, rights and cohesion and what it would take for people of all generations to belong, thrive, work and stay in the communities they value.
Agenda
9:30 — Welcome and introduction
- Valentina Caimi, Senior Programme Manager, Health and Societal Resilience Programme, European Policy Centre (EPC)
9:40 — Setting the scene: Demographic resilience and Wellbeing
- Moderated by Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Executive Chair, Earth4All and Honorary President, The Club of Rome
- Fabrizio Natale, Project Leader Demography, and Philipp Ueffing, Project Officer Demography, Migration and Demography Unit, Joint Research Centre, European Commission
- Birgit Van Hout, Chief, United Nations Population Fund Representation Office in Brussels
- Q&A
10:35 — Two parallel break-out sessions
1. Housing, services and opportunities as the foundations for staying and building a family
- Moderated by Valentina Caimi, Senior Programme Manager, Health and Societal Resilience programme, European Policy Centre (EPC)
- Serafín Pazos-Vidal, Territorial Development, Senior Policy Lead, AEIDL
- Césarine Boinet, Project Manager, High Commission for Strategy and Planning, France
2. Demographic change, skills investment and future labour-market resilience
- Moderated by Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Executive Chair, Earth4All and Honorary President, The Club of Rome
- Prof. Tommaso Frattini, Università Statale di Milano
- Samuel Goodger, Policy Analyst, Health and Societal Resilience programme, EPC
11:45 — Reporting back from the break-out sessions and conclusions
Join us!
In breakout sessions, participants will exchange experiences, discuss current challenges and co-create recommendations. If you are a policymaker, civil servant, researcher, or civil society organisation working on participatory governance, wellbeing or democratic innovation, this is your space!
Register by 07 July here.
For more information, please contact our colleague Valentina Caimi (EPC): v.caimi@epc.eu
