19th November 2026 (7:00 am - 8:00 pm)
The role of inclusive volunteer involvement in civic society is an online international event exploring the role of inclusive volunteer involvement in civic society around the world. It will take place on Thursday 19th November 2026.
This event is organised by VSSN in collaboration with ISTR and IVR.
Tickets are available here
Three facilitated online webinars will promote dialogue among participants across the globe and foreground contexts that are currently underexplored. Short, pre-recorded presentations from three panellists will be followed by a facilitated discussion and Q&A with participation from the floor:
07:00 – 08:00 (GMT), with three panellists from Asia, Australasia and Melanesia
12:00 – 13:00 (GMT), with three panellists from Europe and Africa
19:00 – 20:00 (GMT), with three panellists from the Americas
This is a free online event, but registration is required as spaces are limited. Please book a separate ticket for each session you would like to attend.
Closer to the event, the Zoom link and a link to Padlet — an online message board where participants can share thoughts and ideas during the session — will be available on the Eventbrite online event page. To access them, sign in to Eventbrite, go to Tickets, select your booking and click Go to online event page. The links will be emailed directly to you via Eventbrite ahead of the event.
The role of inclusive involvement in civil society, its contexts, concepts, and the way it is enacted vary greatly around the globe. This event will be a few weeks after the midterm elections in the USA. In Germany and the UK, we observe a stronger showing of parties from the political right; in China, policies for volunteer involvement domestically and internationally, as suggested by its President Xi Jinping, are being implemented; and in Australia, a National Strategy for Volunteering is being implemented. We seek to discuss the various contexts and concepts.
The organisers can only offer the event in English but recognise that concepts and terms are culturally encoded and therefore seek first-hand contributions from diverse contexts.
Pre-recorded statements will be posted online after the event. Each webinar will be summarised. The summaries will be validated with panellists and posted online. Digitally born resources will be collected, curated and shared online. Over the Christmas Break, a full summary of the webinars, thoughts from the message board and links to resources will be validated with panellists and shared online in January 2027.
