Fragile Lives 2026
Evidence for human development, food security, and peace in poly-crises
About the conference
Every Autumn, experts from around the world gather in Berlin to discuss the most pressing issues of our time, and what role gathering and analyzing data can play to tackle these crises across three priority areas:
Lives and Livelihoods: How do people respond to and cope with poly-crises around the world?
Achieving Zero Hunger: How do we best increase food security in poly-crises?
Peace and Prosperity: How can rigorous evidence inform the design of effective peacebuilding measures?
Special attention is given to poly-crises, where several crises coincide, such as displacement, droughts, natural disasters, wars, famines, or any other kind of complex emergency intersect.
On a structural level, the defining feature of Fragile Lives is the inter-sectoral interactions of attendees. By cooperating with the Households in Conflict Network (HiCN), we host presentations by academics on the cutting-edge of micro-level research. Simultaneously, we work with our practice and policy partners to host a range of research-to-practice sessions. This allows for deeper engagement between academia and practice than traditional conferences, and opens new networking opportunities for attendees.
The goals of Fragile Lives
- Present rigorous analyses of questions of significant policy interest;
- Discuss how causal evidence can be used to develop new policy to improve the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people;
- Offer novel policy recommendations for how to protect and support vulnerable households and institutions; and
- Connect academia and practice across disciplines, institutions, sectors, and countries to facilitate learning on how to deal with our increasingly uncertain and challenging world
Conference Programme
Fragile Lives 2026 will once again feature a range of presentations and discussions on cutting-edge research and pressing policy challenges. To this end, we are hosting presentations in cooperation with Households in Conflict Network (HiCN), thereby creating a space for academics studying the micro-level impacts of conflict and fragility to present and discuss their ongoing work. Beyond these academic sessions, we are partnering with a range of donor, policy, and practice organizations for research-to-practice sessions on some of the most pressing crises the world is facing. A detailed conference program will be available in August 2026.
See the preliminary list of presenters.
To find out more about the content of Fragile Lives, take a look at the programs for 2024 and 2025.
Organizing partners
Fragile Lives is hosted by a cooperation between Humboldt University of Berlin, Leibniz Institute for Horticultural Sciences (IGZ) and support from ISDC - International Security and Development Center.
More information: https://zerohunger.de/fragile-lives-2026/
Registration: https://fl26.exordo.com/login