On 1 September, 2026, Dr Kasia Wodniak of the School of Social Work and Social Policy participated in a panel at the Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, titled "Is Survival Enough? From Crisis Management to Strategic Vision." The session, moderated by Dr Camilla Devit of the Department of Sociology, brought together former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Dr Sarah Arduin of the School of Law. The panelists examined whether Europe is merely surviving or actively shaping its future, if the EU project only finds cohesion when external threats emerge, and how democratic legitimacy can be built for long-term vision when voters are exhausted by permanent emergency mode.
The session utilised the Challenge Lab format developed by the Trinity Long Room Hub, aimed at strategic provocation to bring rigorous academic insight into conversation with political responsibility at European scale. Coinciding with Ireland's EU Presidency and delivered in partnership with TRiSS, Challenge Labs aim at creating space for intellectual freedom outside formal political settings by testing assumptions, encouraging evidence-based reflection, and producing outputs capable of informing policy across all 27 member states. The September event was held with the European People's Party.
Dr Wodniak's panel contribution centred on moving Europe beyond a reactive cycle of crisis response toward a proactive, ecosocial vision. Arguing that the EU's narrow focus on economic integration has driven a crisis of legitimacy, the discussion explored democratic renewal through citizen assemblies and deliberative forums with real decision-making power, and an economic shift away from market-centric logic toward a social and solidarity economy that prioritises human wellbeing within planetary boundaries. The presentation concluded that Europe's strategic vision, absent external threats, must be a genuine and inclusive political community.
Photo: “343DUBLIN EPP Session5” by European People's Party, CC BY 4.0