About the theme: Reframing togetherness  

As the first college to host Congress, George Brown invites researchers, students, educators, policymakers, and the public to reframe what it means to coexist with other humans, the environment, and technology. With an invitation and a challenge, we aim to open a collaborative space that bridges different ways of learning and producing knowledge in order to rethink our roles and responsibilities in these times of climate and humanitarian disasters, ever-evolving technologies, social isolation, dislocation, and increasing polarization.  

This milestone Congress challenges all attendees to model togetherness by questioning traditional knowledge hierarchies and by collaborating on fundamental- and applied-research solutions for humanity's historically rooted problems. If communities rally around commonalities, togetherness may offer us a way to build on a foundation of diversity and heterogeneity that helps us reframe our perspectives and generate innovative solutions for enduring issues.  

What past, present, or fictional models of togetherness can put these issues into new contexts? How can we further decolonize our worldview and rework our relationships to the environment and technology? Conversely, what are the drawbacks of togetherness? In response to contemporary realities, new pitfalls of interconnection, from mental health impacts to reactionary extremism, emerge continually. Ultimately, how can our collaborative sharing of knowledge and learning enable us to care for a world in trouble in personally, societally, culturally, and politically healthy ways?