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Public Autumn Series 2026
Europe: Values and Choices
🗓️ Thursdays, 24 September – 15 October 2026
🕖 7.00–8.30pm
📍 Synge Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
🎟️ Free - registration required
Europe's housing challenge:
The market and the state as allies, not rivals
Europe's housing crisis is real. But who's responsible for solving it?
For younger people across Europe, finding somewhere affordable to live has become one of the defining challenges of our time. Economist Ronan Lyons argues that the answer lies not in choosing between the market and the state, but in encouraging both to pull in the same direction. In Europe, that idea of market and state as allies, not rivals, is a core value. In practice, it's proving harder to deliver. Can it be done?
🎙️ Dr Ronan Lyons, Professor of Economics, Trinity College Dublin
Human rights and equality
Two of values on which the EU is founded are respect for human rights and equality. It is often thought that the two are closely connected but it’s not entirely clear if that’s the case and what exactly the connection is.
In this lecture, Adina Preda will examine these two values and potential link between them and argue that philosophical justifications of human rights do not rest on a very robust conception of equality. There is, however, room for developing a more egalitarian understanding of human rights.
🎙️ Dr Adina Preda, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Trinity College Dublin
Europe's hard choices:
Transatlantic security in the Trump era
For eight decades, Europe's security rested on a transatlantic bargain. That assumption no longer holds.
The war in Ukraine grinds on. The second Trump administration has cast serious doubt over US commitments that have underpinned European defence since 1949. Join political scientists Dr Jesse Dillon Savage and Dr Thomas Chadefaux as they explore where things are likely to head in the short to medium term, and what it all means for a small, militarily non-aligned state like Ireland.
🎙️ Dr Jesse Dillon Savage, Associate Professor in Political Science and Dr Thomas Chadefaux, Professor of Political Science at Trinity College Dublin
Crisis, distrust and the new face of protest in Europe
Europe has seen wave after wave of protest in recent years. But what do these movements actually have in common?
From anti-austerity campaigns to anti-lockdown demonstrations, these movements share one thing: a deep distrust of political institutions. But distrust can pull in very different directions. Sociologist Larissa Meier examines what connects these movements and what divides them, and what it all tells us about the state of democracy in Europe today.
🎙️ Dr Larissa Meier, Assistant Professor in Conflict Sociology at Trinity College Dublin