UPJ BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 2026

UPJ BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

Beyachad Kadimah — Moving Forward Together

Melbourne, Australia
November 19th – 22nd 2026

Registrations are now open for the UPJ Biennial 2025:
REGISTER HERE

Every two years, something remarkable happens: people from congregations and communities across the country come together, and almost immediately, the challenges feel smaller and the possibilities feel larger. That’s the heart of Beyachad Kadimah. This year’s theme speaks to something we know you understand deeply. The work we do in our congregations, on our boards, in our communities is most powerful when we do it together. When we are connected, equipped, and moving in the same direction with shared clarity and purpose.

We’re excited to share a first look at one of the sessions shaping this year’s program.

Brave Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

A hands-on session on talking and listening across differences — turning disagreement into learning, and discomfort into growth.

Leading it are two remarkable educators:

Dr Dan Heller – Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Brave Conversations Project, is a historian focused on identity, memory, and how communities engage across difference. His book, No Topic Off Limits: Teaching Polarizing Issues in University Classrooms, is forthcoming with Princeton University Press.

Dr Farid Zaid – Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Brave Conversations Project, is a cognitive scientist and Deputy Director of the Graduate Diploma in Psychology at Monash University, whose work explores reasoning, metacognition, and the role of discomfort in learning.

Both are UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellows — a fitting pair to help our community practise the kind of brave, generous conversation Beyachad Kadimah is all about.

The full program will be announced in August — this is just a taste of what’s to come.

Places are limited. If you haven’t registered yet, we’d love for you to join us.