Come to Second Order!
Running an economics unconference 26th-29th September, 2 hours from London Liverpool Street
Dates: 26th to 29th September 2025
Location: Harkstead Hall, 2 hours from London Liverpool Street
✨ Apply here! Applications are due August 31st, EOD AoE. ✨
What is Second Order?
A three‑day residential unconference for ~20 early‑career economists, policy wonks and kindred thinkers. At an unconference, the schedule is participant driven: we collaboratively craft the content at the beginning of each day, so you can run whatever you are most enthusiastic about! The classic case for this is that conversations in corridors between sessions are often the most valuable part of traditional conferences, hence unconferences aim to transform the entire conference in this manner. Some sessions from a previous iteration:
A step by step guide for how you won’t build a house in London
Informational supply chains
A history of cybernetics
Uncertainties on optimal immigration policy
Evaluating mechanisms for fertility decline
Why the horses were fine after all
Introduction to mechanism design
Will AI be a decisive strategic advantage?
Plus many others, along with an evening panoply of Wikipedia bluffing games, supply chain simulations, giving someone else’s lightning talk topic, late night conversations and much more.
Who should apply?
We're primarily looking for curious people with some economics-adjacent interests. Note that some of our most valuable participants previously had no formal economics training, and we're seeking a diverse group with varied backgrounds—so when in doubt, apply!
A few other things we value are demonstrated excellence in other areas, super reasoning / critical thinking ability, and desire to understand the world as an entire system rather than just one particular part.
Logistics
We expect we’ll need to charge around £200 for students, and £300 for non-students. We’ll finalise the cost by the time of the acceptance email. If cost is a barrier for you, please apply anyway and make a note of it in the additional comments section of the form. We may be able to subsidise places for people who need them.
Venue: We’re staying at Harkstead Hall. Check-in will be Friday, September 26th, at 4 PM. We will leave the venue on Monday, 29th September, at 10:00. Should that be inconvenient, you’re welcome to join us there instead. All beds will be singles, and single gender rooms will be available should that be your preference. The venue has a pool, hot tub and sauna, so you may wish to bring swimming costumes.
Travel: The train from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich takes around 90 minutes. We will be booking a coach from central Ipswich to travel to the venue.
Contact
Please email second.order.retreat@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.
✨ Apply here! Applications are due August 31st, EOD AoE.
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