Evidence for human development, food security, and peace in poly-crises
Fragile Lives
An annual international expert conference focused on using rigorous, scientific evidence to inform policy interventions in fragile, conflict-affected, and underdeveloped settings.
Fragile Lives 2026 will take place in Berlin on 30 September and 1 October 2026.
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 themes:
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?
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
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.
30 September - 1 October 2025
Fragile Lives 2025
Fragile Lives returned to Berlin on 30 September and 1 October 2025.
30 September - 1 October 2026
Fragile Lives 2026
The next edition of Fragile Lives will take place on 30 September and 1 October 2026.
Organizing Partners
Fragile Lives is hosted by a cooperation between Humboldt University of Berlin and Leibniz Institute for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), with support from ISDC - International Security and Development Center.
