Night of Ideas 2025 at the Institut Français

Launched by the Institut Français in 2016, the Night of Ideas is an annual event, which brings together leading voices from Paris, London and worldwide, to consider pressing issues and engage audiences internationally. Now a worldwide project staged in 190 cities and 104 different countries, the Night of Ideas is always highly anticipated. Crossing French and British perspectives, it tackles the latest ideas of our time and engages audiences through free debates and workshops.

This year's event was organised with academic partners in London - and through the UCL European Institute, UCL is once more on board.

The designated theme of this year’s edition, Taking Action, invited us to reflect on the ability of governments, civil society and individuals to respond effectively to the world’s geopolitical disorder. It also questioned the growing polarisation within our societies and the frailty of social contracts in democratic heartlands. By crossing perspectives and bringing together leading figures from both sides of the Channel, visions for a brighter – if not less fractious – future emerged and were debated.

We would like to particularly highlight the session run by the UCL Debating Society 'Direct democracy or disorderly conduct?'. It turned out to be a lively session with students from UCL arguing the pros and cons of whether states should use citizens’ assemblies to guide law reform in contentious areas like environmental policy, criminal justice and abortion.

In the run-up to the Night of Ideas, a Little Night invited pupils from British and French schools to reflect on the main topics.

To explore this year's programme, and events in the run-up, please see the dedicated project website.