LevelUp is for people who want to thrive in life and defend freedom on solid ground.
You’ll engage with world-class thinkers, discover powerful life-serving ideas, meet hundreds of wonderful people, and level up in life like never before.
Join us in Prague for the most life-enhancing conference in Europe!
Firebringer Scholarships
If you are 18 to 29, you can apply for a scholarship worth up to €200—and that’s just the cash value.
The experiential value of attending LevelUp can hardly be quantified (see what attendees say below).
LevelUp is for people who want to thrive in life and defend freedom on solid ground.
You’ll engage with world-class thinkers, discover powerful life-serving ideas, meet hundreds of wonderful people, and level up in life like never before.
Join us in Prague for the most life-enhancing conference in Europe!
Firebringer Scholarships
If you are 18 to 29, you can apply for a scholarship worth up to €200—and that’s just the cash value.
The experiential value of attending LevelUp can hardly be quantified (see what attendees say below).
What Attendees Say
Sign Up for Updates
Venue, Hotel and Area
LevelUp Europe will be held at CEVRO Institute, 40 minutes from Václav Havel Airport.
Nearby hotels include Occidental Praha Wilson—a short walk to Metro line C, which you can ride to CEVRO, as well as Hotel Praga 1, Hotel Amarilis, and Dolce Vita Suites—all less than a 10-minute walk to CEVRO Institute. Note that most rooms in Dolce Vita Suites are for 3–4 people.
If you’d like to find a roommate, please post a note on LevelUp Europe’s WhatsApp group, which is a great place to meet other attendees and make plans in general.
Venue, Hotel, and Area
LevelUp Europe will be held at CEVRO Institute, 40 minutes from Václav Havel Airport.
Nearby hotels include Occidental Praha Wilson—a short walk to Metro line C, which you can ride to CEVRO, as well as Hotel Praga 1, Hotel Amarilis, and Dolce Vita Suites—all less than a 10-minute walk to CEVRO Institute. Note that most rooms in Dolce Vita Suites are for 3–4 people.
If you’d like to find a roommate, please post a note on LevelUp Europe’s WhatsApp group, which is a great place to meet other attendees and make plans in general.
Speakers
Andrew Doyle
Andrew Doyle is a writer and comedian. He is host of Free Speech Nation on GB News and creator of the Twitter sensation Titania McGrath. His books include Free Speech And Why It Matters and The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World.
Jess Gill
Jess Gill is the Communications Manager for the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, a Hazlitt Fellow for the Foundation for Economic Education, a Mises Apprentice for the Mises Institute, and is pursuing a politics degree at King’s College London. She regularly appears on Talk TV and GB News and makes regular content for The Lotus Eaters podcast. She has produced two documentaries and often writes about cultural and political topics. In her spare time, she likes playing the Sims and watching movies.
Thomas Walker-Werth
Thomas Walker-Werth is associate editor at The Objective Standard and a fellow at both Objective Standard Institute and Foundation for Economic Education. He is currently writing his first full-length book, Reason for Living: A Rational, Fact-Based Approach to Living Your Best Life.
Tetania Rak
Tetiana Rak is the CCO of We Are Innovation, a journalist, and freedom activist. She has worked with renowned media outlets including CNN, TechCrunch, Fox News, HackerNoon, the BBC, and Radio Free Europe. She is a local coordinator for Students For Liberty in Ukraine and the Ladies of Liberty Alliance’s Polish chapter. Tania is also a Senior Editor with Speak Freely. Tania promotes liberty and individual rights as cornerstones for any rights-respecting society. Strengthened by the war in Ukraine, Tania promotes technological advancements as a transformative tool to advance liberty, giving people the opportunity to speak, act, and pursue happiness without unnecessary restrictions.
Stephen Davies
Stephen Davies is the Head of Education at the IEA. Previously he was program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University in Virginia. He graduated from St Andrews University in Scotland in 1976 and gained his PhD from the same institution in 1984. He has authored several books, including Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and was co-editor with Nigel Ashford of The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991).
Ely Lassman
Ely Lassman is founder and chair of Prometheus on Campus, a UK-based educational nonprofit focused on promoting philosophy for freedom and happiness; and quality assurance manager for Prometheus Foundation, for which he audits programs, leads study groups, and teaches philosophy. He earned his degree in economics from University of Bristol, where he also founded the UoB Liberty Society.
Agnieszka Płonka
Agnieszka Płonka is a physicist by training, and a passionate teacher. As a Summer Research Fellow at the Mises Institute, she studied the deterioration of truth in collectivist philosophies. In 2021, she was a keynote speaker at the Austrian Economics Conference in Vienna, talking about how Hegelian and Marxist dialectic enable regimes to lie. She currently works as a consultant for Liberty International, and is starting a research project concerning the possibility of using modern clinical psychology in political science.
Kiyah Willis
Kiyah Willis is a fellow at Objective Standard Institute focusing on cultural trends and their causes and consequences. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kiyah worked as a data analyst before transitioning to philosophy. Her hobbies include hiking, playing with her boxer, Apollo, and writing for her Substack. You can find her advocating reason, individualism, and liberty on Twitter (@kiyahwillis).
Angelica Walker-Werth
Angelica Walker-Werth is a fellow at Objective Standard Institute, an assistant editor and writer for The Objective Standard, and an Ayn Rand Fellow with Foundation for Economic Education’s Hazlitt Project. Her roles at OSI include managing the internship and Active-Mind scholarship programs, course administration and development, and editing On Solid Ground. She holds bachelor’s degrees in horticulture and Spanish from Clemson University and enjoys reading, playing the piano, ballet, and traveling.
Hynek Fencl
Hynek Fencl is the Head of Research at the Free Cities Foundation, a non-profit at the center of a worldwide movement toward achieving liberty in our lifetime through political decentralization and innovation in governance. He also works as Chief Communications & Research Officer at Tipolis, an industry-leading company in negotiating, establishing, and soon operating free private cities around the world.
Speakers are subject to change.
Talks
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Genuine Justice vs. “Social Justice”
Andrew Doyle
The world is getting crazier by the day. Men should box with women? Race-based admissions to university are not racist? Jihadists who murder, rape, torture, and kidnap are good guys? All of this comes under the rubric of “social justice,” which is capturing and crippling minds worldwide. Andrew Doyle, host of Free Speech Nation and author of The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World, will discuss the fundamental ideas behind “social justice” and why they are contrary to genuine justice.
Reason and Emotion in Harmony for Happiness
Thomas Walker-Werth
What roles do reason and emotion play in your life? Is there an inherent conflict between them? Should you “trust your instincts” or “follow your heart” even when they disagree with your mind? Or should you suppress your emotions in favor of “cold, calculating logic,” as Spock does? Or can you achieve harmony between the two? Thomas Walker-Werth will discuss what reason and emotion are, their relationship, and how they can work together to help you achieve a lifetime of happiness.
Why Making Money Is Profoundly Moral
Stephen Davies
Is money the root of all evil? Or, perhaps, is it the root of all good? What does it mean to “make money”? What exactly is involved in producing wealth? And what is the moral status of someone who does so exceptionally well? Dr. Stephen Davies, author of The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity, will discuss what money is, where it comes from, why producing wealth is moral, and why we should view the most productive of our society with reverence and gratitude.
Deep Values in Dystopian Literature
Angelica Walker-Werth
Dystopian novels tend to be dark and depressing. So what can a lover of life and freedom get out of them? Examining both classic and modern examples of dystopian fiction, from 1984 to The Hunger Games, Angel Walker-Werth will zero in on key aspects of the stories, including plot, theme, and characterization, and show how we can draw out and make explicit the positive, life-serving values that may be only implicit or under the surface.
Ancient Greek Lessons for Modern Times
Ely Lassman
In ancient Greece, the birthplace of Western philosophy, thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and the Stoics sought wisdom to understand reality, think clearly, achieve happiness, and govern society—just as we do today, and for the same reason: Such knowledge is a basic requirement for human flourishing. Ely Lassman will survey powerful ideas from several Greek philosophers, focusing on timeless principles for good living, and suggesting helpful resources for further exploration.
Rational Resilience: Growing Through Adversity
Tania Rak
What do you do when you suffer a hit that knocks you down, psychologically, physically, or both? How do you get back up, fight for your values, and create a life you love? Living through Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Tania Rak has experienced the atrocities of war, witnessed the destruction of individuals and families, seen communities turned into rubble, and watched Ukrainians demoralized en masse. Even so, she has managed to pursue a life of purpose and joy. She’ll discuss how she has overcome major adversity and trauma, and how you can too.
Individualism and War: What about Innocents?
Kiyah Willis
“War is hell,” observed General W. T. Sherman, reflecting on the U.S. Civil War. It kills people, maims people, destroys lives. And often those harmed are innocent—including children. As the wars between Hamas and Israel and between Russia and Ukraine rage on, what principles should guide our thinking about the nature of war, who’s guilty, who’s innocent, and who’s responsible for the deaths of innocents? Kiyah Willis will draw from relevant history and apply moral principles to address these and related issues.
Invisible Chains: Psychological Control in Dictatorships
Agnieszka Płonka
North Korea’s estimated population is 25 million; Iran’s is 87 million; China’s is over 1.4 billion. Yet, to enslave entire nations is to enslave individuals. Can we use our knowledge about controlling relationships to know what is going on behind the modern Iron Curtains? What would you do if you were tormented by the political police? Are some of the methods they use present in your life? How to cover up a lie and not leave any traces? Agnieszka Plonka will discuss the psychological techniques dictatorial regimes use to manipulate and maintain control over citizens, to foster loyalty and obedience, and to suppress dissent.
Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Education
Jess Gill
Education is a vital part of a young person’s path to success. Unfortunately, modern education—with its uniform standards, teaching methods, and, in some cases, underlying political agendas—stifles creativity while sidelining individual strengths, values, and goals. This often leaves students feeling trapped, forcing them to jump through irrelevant hoops rather than engage in their interests. Drawing from her experience achieving academic success despite struggling in a classroom environment, Jess Gill will challenge the conventional approach to education and offer ideas to revamp the education system by fostering self-motivated and effective learning.Talks are subject to change.
Schedule
7:00–9:30 PM
8:30 AM
9:15 AM
9:30–10:30 AM
10:30–10:45AM
10:45–11:45 AM
11:45–12:00 PM
12:00-1:00 PM
1:00–1:45 PM
1:45–2:45 PM
2:45–3:00 PM
3:00–3:15 PM
3:15–4:15 PM
4:15–4:30 PM
4:40–5:30 PM
5:30–8 PM
8 PM
9:30 AM
9:45–10:45 AM
10:45–11:00 AM
11:00–11:15 AM
11:15–11:45 AM
11:45–12:45 PM
12:45 PM
3:00 PM
Schedule is subject to change.