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Held April 21–24, 2026, the 23rd annual Skoll World Forum convened more than 1,500 social entrepreneurs, impact investors, policymakers and journalists from over 100 countries for four days of debate, collaboration and celebration.
For the Atlantic Institute, itself based in Oxford, the week offered a significant opportunity to connect Atlantic Fellows to this vibrant global network, while raising awareness of Fellows’ work and opening up new opportunities for learning and collective action. Through its programming and partnerships alongside the Forum, the Atlantic Institute helped bring Atlantic Fellows into deeper conversation with each other and with the wider Skoll community throughout the Forum week. Fellows spoke about reconnecting with old friends, building new relationships and finding inspiration in unexpected exchanges across the city.
Throughout the week, the Forum’s theme of regeneration was reflected not only in discussions about systems and communities, but also in the relationships, ideas and collaborations that took shape across Oxford.
This year also marked the largest Atlantic Fellows presence at the Forum to date. Under the theme Influencing Through Partnerships, Fellows brought a powerful equity lens to discussions on advancing health, social, economic and racial equity around the world. The Institute team curated a program that created space for Fellows to connect, support one another and navigate what can often feel like an overwhelming week, particularly for first-time participants. The Atlantic Fellows Residence, Kopanong — meaning “a meeting place for diverse languages” — came into its own as a home, anchor and international hub for conversation, shared meals and quiet reflection.
We co-hosted events with a range of partners, bringing together complementary networks and expertise to deepen dialogue and collaboration. One highlight was a discussion for Atlantic Fellows, Mobilizing Resources for Systems Change, featuring Atlantic Fellow Ishrat Jahan, who works for the World Economic Forum in Southeast Asia, with more than a decade of experience in social impact and institution-building through policy, governance and administrative reforms. Other speakers provided perspectives from The Bridgespan Group, Spring Impact and Small Foundation.
Linking to the Atlantic Institute’s Equity Review, our forthcoming publication on advancing a fair and equitable transition to a greener planet, we collaborated with the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group and Youth Ki Awaaz on Navigating Climate Uncertainty, an interactive session exploring how climate action is adapting to current geopolitical shifts and what new forms of leadership are emerging in response. Atlantic Fellow and climate leader from South Africa, Siyanda Siko, injected his wealth of experience into the opening discussion, helping ignite a wider conversation across Fellows and the extended community.
In another session on climate, we collaborated with the Raintree Foundation to explore equitable approaches to landscape regeneration. Drawing on the expertise of more than 120 participants, the session contributed to the development of our Oxford Statement on Equitable Landscape Regeneration. Atlantic Fellow Enamul Mazid Khan Siddique from Bangladesh spoke about his work on transboundary river systems and how governance across borders shapes visibility, exclusion and access. Fellow Ana Santos shared reflections from the Philippines on living in landscapes that are constantly shifting and partially submerged.
While the Forum itself is invitation-only, the wider Skoll Week ecosystem has expanded significantly in recent years through the free-access Marmalade Festival and SideBar, attracting around 3,500 additional visitors and bringing a broader and more diverse community of practitioners, activists, researchers and locals to the city. SideBar, in particular, has become an important space for participant-led programming and collaboration. Through The People Map, participants were connected by the organisers with others sharing similar interests and invited to co-host events. Atlantic Fellows hosted six sessions on topics ranging from regenerative food systems to menstrual health to neuro-inclusive systems change.
SideBar is the brainchild of Seth Cochran, whose passion for storytelling and narrative as a tool for systems change strongly resonates with Atlantic Fellows. We were delighted to support a Story Slam at a local pub in Oxford city where Atlantic Fellows Bich Pham and Nonsikelelo Mathe were among those courageously sharing their stories on stage.
The relationships strengthened and formed in Oxford felt less like the end of an event than part of a growing movement working toward a more just, equitable and resilient future.
A challenge during Skoll World Forum week is the limited number of informal spaces where Forum delegates, Marmalade Festival participants, SideBar contributors and the local Oxford community can gather outside the formal programming. In response - and recognizing the growing importance of creativity in social change — we collaborated with the Skoll Foundation, Moleskine Foundation and Fusion Arts to create the House of Creativity.
A former retail space in the city was transformed into a vibrant venue where artistic practice met social transformation. Alongside light-touch programming, the space offered serendipitous opportunities for connection, exchange and community-building. It also provided a platform for the Institute’s XR Lab to showcase the immersive film Living in Water, by Atlantic Fellow Ana P. Santos with the Atlantic Institute XR team, alongside a rolling film program throughout the week highlighting the work of Atlantic Fellows advancing equity around the world.
With participants from fellowship communities including Ashoka, Aspen Institute, Echoing Green, Ford Fellows and TED Fellows among others — many working toward overlapping goals — the week also offered an opportunity to build the “fellowship of fellowships”. At the start of the week, the Institute partnered with the Skoll Centre to bring together their researchers and practitioners with Atlantic Fellows from across the social impact ecosystem. Later, the team created further opportunities for Fellows to engage with the wider fellowship community through a storytelling-for-impact workshop, a connection lunch and an Ideas Lab. Demand for these gatherings far exceeded expectations and capacity, underscoring the appetite for deeper collaboration across fellowship programs.
Throughout the week, the Forum’s theme of regeneration was reflected not only in discussions about systems and communities, but also in the relationships, ideas and collaborations that took shape across Oxford. It served as a reminder of our collective capacity for renewal, in systems, communities and ourselves. For Atlantic Fellows, the week sparked new conversations, fresh questions and deeper connections across borders and disciplines. In that spirit, the relationships strengthened and formed in Oxford felt less like the end of an event than part of a growing movement working toward a more just, equitable and resilient future.
About the author
Katherine Bond is responsible for the Global Partnerships strategy for the Institute and the community of Fellows it supports. She believes passionately in the power of collaboration to drive social, economic and health innovation and brings extensive experience of working across international communities and multi-stakeholder environments. Prior to the Institute, Katherine was director of the Cultural Institute at King's College London, working at the interface between the university and the creative and cultural sectors; she has also held leadership roles within creative, policy, diplomacy and non-governmental organisations. Katherine began her career directing theatre and music and continues to advocate for the arts as a platform for health and social change as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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