Group Relations Conference · Registration open
Living Together in Difference
Authority, Responsibility, and Ethical Imagination
13–15 Feb 2027
Stony Brook University, Long Island, New York
- Dates
- 13–15 Feb 2027
- Location
- Stony Brook University, NY, USA
- Early bird
- Until 30 Nov 2026
- Registration closes
- 10 Jan 2027
An Invitation
Living inside the tension, together, for three days
We're living through a period of real organizational and social change. Many of the challenges we face — at work, in our communities, in our organizations — are bigger than any one of us, or any one group, can solve alone.
At the same time, many of us feel more disconnected than ever: from our organizations, from each other, from the systems we depend on.
Living Together in Difference: Authority, Responsibility, and Ethical Imagination is an invitation to explore that tension directly — not by talking about it, but by living inside it, together, for three days.
The New York Center's first in-person Group Relations Conference since 2019.
- 01How do we live and work together in the presence of difference?
- 02How do we exercise authority when responsibility is shared across many hands?
- 03How do we stay engaged with what's hard to face — rather than turning away from it?
Explore authority. Embrace difference. Imagine responsibly.
The Primary Task
To study:
- The conditions under which Ethical Imagination may be found or lost within a temporary learning cooperative, and
- How authority, responsibility, sponsorship, difference, and interdependence influence the capacity of individuals, groups, and organizations to respond to contemporary dilemmas.
Every event in the conference exists to serve this task.
Who Should Attend
For anyone who thinks, leads and acts inside or with an organization
Leadership & Consultancy
- Leaders and managers, including board members
- Organizational consultants
- Executive coaches
- Community leaders and organizers
Clinical & Group Relations
- Mental health practitioners, including psychoanalysts
- Group Relations practitioners
Education & Public Life
- Educators
- Public servants
- Members of international organizations
- Volunteers of not-for-profit or community organizations
Research, Arts & Activism
- Researchers
- Students and trainees
- Artists
- Activists
Why Attend
Group Relations Conferences offer direct experience of how authority, leadership and organizational life actually operate. Participants develop a clearer read on their own role in organizational life, sharper thinking about leadership and responsibility, and new ways of seeing group and institutional dynamics.
This conference extends that by creating opportunities to investigate how authority, responsibility, sponsorship, resources, legitimacy and interdependence operate within contemporary social and organizational systems.
The conference also invites inquiry into whether new forms of association may emerge when individuals and groups remain sufficiently connected to reality, difference, responsibility and one another. Such forms may include collaborations, initiatives, partnerships, communities of practice, networks, organizational experiments, social innovations, and temporary or enduring collective projects. The conference does not assume that such forms will emerge — it seeks to study the conditions under which they become possible.
Ready to join us?
Living Together in Difference
Authority, Responsibility, and Ethical Imagination
13–15 Feb 2027
Stony Brook University, Long Island, New York
Early bird deadline 30 Nov 2026 · Registration closes 10 Jan 2027
“We learn about organizational life so that better organizations and more ethical futures can become possible.”
