Arrival and registration
Coffee, name badges, and your first look at the themed boards that will carry the day’s work.
> boot fmb_forum.sys [OK] > locale BERLIN / DE · impact hub, neukölln > date SATURDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2026 > language ENGLISH > status REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
The Future of Men & Boys Berlin · 2026
A one-day forum where research meets practice on inspiring positive, equitable, and caring masculinities. Amid growing backlash against progressive values, feminism and democracy, the Forum brings together participants from politics, academia, men’s studies and civil society to focus on solutions.
Format Panels · lightning talks · work panels
Who it’s for Academics · politicians · practitioners
Language English
Setting One room
One day in Berlin — Saturday 21 November 2026.
Parallel signal
The day after: following the German Federal Ministry’s international conference on boys and men on the preceding Friday, the Forum offers an opportunity for even deeper reflection and active exchange on related and emerging topics.
CH.02 / ABOUT
Built for people
Why this day
Built for people
who shape this work
Amid growing backlash against progressive values, feminism and democracy, the Forum brings together participants from politics, academia, men’s studies and civil society to focus on solutions.
The aim is to facilitate direct exchange across the sector, allowing participants to explore the wheels already invented — proven strategies, successful models, and effective interventions — and adapt them to their local contexts. We are particularly keen to create an environment where researchers discover insights from field experience, while practitioners and policymakers draw on cutting-edge research to drive real impact. In the end, we will all leave having a better idea of what works and how to do it.
The Forum inverts the usual conference dynamic to give voice to you, while an expert panel asks the questions that can inspire you to develop actionable strategies for your future work. In the morning, you share the work you already do and your best idea for what the field should do next. Only then does the expert panel take the stage and respond to your material. In the afternoon we gather in work groups to deep-dive into your priorities and turn them into specific strategies we can all use.
All participants are invited to present their own work through posters and lightning talks, and to explore synergies with other projects, organisations or active actors.
Where we stand. This is gender-transformative work, and it belongs inside the movement for gender justice. What constrains men and boys comes from the same system that constrains everyone else, so improving their lives is not a rival cause to equality for women and girls — it is part of it. The Forum is built alongside feminist research and practice. It is not a venue for treating men’s difficulties as women’s gains.
Your agenda, not ours
We set the themes. Everything discussed inside them comes from the room, on the day.
Research meets practice
Researchers gain field experience; practitioners and policymakers gain current research.
You leave with strategies
Two hours of building, then every group reports back. Not notes — next steps.
CH.03 / PROGRAMME
The day
Programme 09:00 → 17:00
The room sets the agenda in the morning; the experts respond to it after the break. Scroll to advance →
CH.04 / WORK PANELS
How the
The afternoon
How the
work panels run
The agenda is built during the morning, by the people in the room. Nothing is decided before you arrive except the themes.
We set five visions of the future in advance. In the morning you go to the board for the one that matters most to you and write down what you already do to reach it, and your best idea for what we should do next. The expert panel then responds to that material before lunch, you vote with stickers on what matters most, and the afternoon is spent turning the winners into strategies you can take back to your own work.
The five visions
- Caring Is What Men Do — care as an ordinary part of being a man, emotional openness as what boys learn, relationships rooted in love, equality and mutual respect.
- Work Beyond Profit and Power — work built around fairness, security and care for people and the planet, free from dominance-based hierarchies, exploitation and precarity.
- Living Our Democratic Values — men and boys finding belonging, purpose and a voice in communities and democratic life, not in grievance politics, extremism or militarised ideas of strength.
- A World Without Violence — free from gender-based and all other forms of violence, where men and boys help prevent harm and those who have caused it are held accountable and supported to change.
- Technology That Sets Us Free — technologies shaping boys’ and men’s lives, from social media to AI, bringing people together across divides.
$ step 01 — Five visions of the future, published ahead of the Forum.
$ step 02 — Morning: post what you already do, and your best idea for what we should do.
$ step 03 — Talk it through with everyone else standing at that board.
$ step 04 — Over the break, the panelists walk the room and read what you put up.
$ step 05 — The expert panel discusses what you posted, not a prepared agenda.
$ step 06 — Vote with stickers over lunch. One sticker each, so the choice is real.
$ step 07 — Two hours in parallel groups, each with a moderator, building actionable strategies.
$ step 08 — Every group reports back at the close, so the whole room leaves with all of it.
$ exit 0 — agenda belongs to the room
CH.05 / SPEAKERS
On the panels
Speakers & panelists
The expert panel responds to what you put on the boards in the morning. Two panelists confirmed, with a youth representative joining them. The afternoon work panels are each held by a moderator.
Confirmed
Gary Barker
Founder & CEO
Equimundo
Two decades of global research on the lives of boys and men. Co-founder of MenCare and MenEngage, and co-creator of IMAGES, the largest international survey of men’s attitudes on violence, fatherhood and gender equality.
Panelist
Confirmed
Debbie Ging
Professor of Digital Media & Gender
Dublin City University
Director of the DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities. Over a decade mapping the manosphere, online misogyny and the radicalisation of boys and men — most recently the influencer economy that sells it.
Panelist
Confirmed
Mustafa Aboud
Activist & advocate
Youth representative
Activist and advocate for mutualistic eco-social development, with a background in global logistics and trade. Fifteen years lived across Syria, the Emirates, Jordan, Sweden, Scotland, Malaysia, Belgium and Germany, now focused on turning that experience into development that holds across cultural differences.
Panelist
Confirmed
João Vaz
Psychologist · Executive Director
The Possible Man
Psychologist and facilitator working on men’s emotional and relational development, with years inside the corporate world before it. Certified in Gender Equality and Human Rights (OHCHR / ILO).
Moderator
Confirmed
Simon Fokt
Managing Director · PhD
PathForge
Philosopher and lecturer in ethics at HTW Berlin. Board member of MenEngage Europe, where he runs the Working Group on Positive Engagement, and founder of the Diversity Reading List.
Moderator
Confirmed
David Santos
Professor & Researcher · PhD
University of Lisbon · ITI
Researcher and trainer in creativity, communication and innovation at the Interactive Technologies Institute, working across the performing arts, technology and AI.
Moderator · tech
CH.06 / TICKETS
Registration
Tickets €35 → €100
Registration runs on an external platform. Lightning talk selections are now closed, but posters are open to anyone who wants one — just tell us when you book, or write to us.
Tier_01Closed
Early bird
€57
per seat / full day
Full access at a reduced rate. This tier has closed — the standard ticket takes over.
Tier_02On sale now
Standard
€72
per seat / full day
Full access to the day: morning brainstorm, expert panel, lunch, posters and the afternoon work panels.
Tier_03From 1 November
Student
€37
per seat / full day
Reduced rate for students. On sale from 1 November, limited number, valid student ID at the door.
Tier_04Always available
Supporter
€100
per seat / full day
Same ticket, a little extra. Available at any time, with no limit on numbers — it keeps student and reduced places open.
Every ticket includes €2 that covers the ticketing platform and card processing. Our own prices are €70 standard and €35 student — we have built the fee into the price rather than adding a surprise at checkout. The supporter ticket absorbs it.
CH.07 / VENUE
Getting there
Impact Hub Berlin
Rollbergstraße 28A, 12053 Berlin. The Forum takes place in CRCLR House on the Kindl Campus in Neukölln — a former brewery rebuilt along circular-economy lines. A large ground-floor hall holds the whole room for the morning boards and the expert panel. The afternoon work panels run in separate groups.
- AddressRollbergstr. 28A · 12053 Berlin
- DistrictNeukölln · Kindl Campus
- U-BahnU8 Boddinstr. · U7 Rathaus Neukölln
- On foot6 min from either station
- Bus104 · 167 · 246
- From BERAbout 25 min
- AccessStep-free throughout · lift to all floors
If you have an access requirement we should plan for, write to us and we will sort it with the venue in advance.
Open in MapsLocation
Impact Hub Berlin
CRCLR House · Kindl Campus
Rollbergstraße 28A
12053 Berlin · Germany
- U8Boddinstraße — 6 min walk
- U7Rathaus Neukölln — 6 min walk
- BUS104, 167, 246 stop nearby
- BERAbout 25 min from the airport
Step-free access throughout, lift to all floors
CH.08 / FAQ
Good to know
Questions?
Something not covered? Email us and we’ll answer.
QRY_01What language is the day in?
English throughout — panels, talks and work panels. You don’t need German to take part.
QRY_02Who is it for?
Participants from politics, academia, the field of men’s studies, and civil society organizations: academics, politicians, practitioners, counsellors, group facilitators, and programme staff.
QRY_03Is this a men’s event?
No. The Forum is about men and boys and open to everyone working in the field; the room is mixed. The work is gender-transformative and sits within gender justice — we take it as given that improving the lives of men and boys and advancing equality for women and girls are the same project, not competing ones.
QRY_04How do I pitch a lightning talk or poster?
Lightning talk selections are now closed — the session is full and the speakers have been confirmed. Posters are a different matter: everyone who wants one gets a space, so just tell us. They go up from 09:00 when doors open, or during the mid-morning break, and stay up all day beside the vision board they relate to, so your project is seen by the people already working on it.
QRY_05How does the day actually work?
Nothing to prepare on paper. We publish five visions of the future beforehand. Before you come, think of the work you already do, or would like to do, towards one or more of them. In the morning you go to the board for the vision that matters most to you and write that down, along with your best idea for what we should do next, then talk it through with the others at that board. Over the break the panelists walk the room and read what you put up; the expert panel then responds to it before lunch. A sticker vote at lunch decides which challenges get worked on, and the afternoon work panels — each with a moderator — turn them into concrete strategies, reported back to everyone at the close. See how the day is built above.
QRY_06How does this relate to the Ministry conference on Friday?
The two complement each other. The German Federal Ministry’s international conference on the Friday convenes the field and presents current work. The Forum on the Saturday is built for exchange around it: you bring the challenges and solutions from your own practice or research, the expert panel responds to them, and the afternoon turns them into strategy.
If you are already travelling to Berlin for the Friday, the Saturday gives you a second day with the same field in the room and the time to work with it.
QRY_07Who is organising the Forum?
The Forum is organised by two organisations: The Possible Man (Portugal) and PathForge (Germany).
QRY_08What’s the refund policy?
Tickets can be refunded in full up to 30 days before the Forum. After that, we can no longer refund, because catering and venue numbers are already committed — but you can transfer your ticket to a colleague free of charge at any time, right up to the day. Just write to us with their name. If we cancel or move the Forum, you get a full refund.
A note on the law: under EU consumer rules, the usual 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply to tickets for events held on a specific date, so this policy is our own commitment rather than a legal minimum. Ticketing, payments and invoicing are handled by pretix, a European (GDPR-compliant) ticketing platform, which issues your invoice and processes any refund back to your original payment method.
QRY_09Is the venue accessible?
Yes. Impact Hub Berlin has step-free access throughout and a lift to all floors, so every space we use on the day is reachable without stairs. If you have a specific requirement, email us and we will arrange it with the venue in advance.