The Belonging Forum
A keynote address from Kim Samuel - Founder and Chief Architect, Belonging Forum
Speakers
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Kim SamuelFounder and Chief ArchitectKim Samuel
Founder and Chief Architect
Kim Samuel is a leading voice in the global movement for belonging. She is the Founder and Chief Architect of Belonging Forum, a global research, advocacy, and action organization that combats social isolation and builds belonging around the world. She is also a Research Fellow at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford, and an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.
Through her work with Belonging Forum, Kim has led the Belonging Barometer, a first-of-its-kind, solutions-focused annual study on the state of belonging in the United Kingdom, which draws on survey data from 10,000 participants and explores diverse dimensions of connection related to people, place, power, and purpose. The Barometer will soon launch in additional geographies, including South Africa and Canada. Belonging Forum—formerly known as the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness—also convenes the Global Symposium on Belonging, bringing together the belonging movement’s leading thinkers and changemakers, as well as a leading fellowship program for diverse scholars and practitioners working to advance the cause of belonging.
In 2025, the organization also launched the world’s first Charter for Belonging, a set of principles and practices to guide governments, businesses, nonprofits, and other institutions in coordinated action for building belonging.
Kim is also the author of On Belonging: Finding Connection in an Age of Isolation (Abrams Press 2022), an exploration of the crisis of social isolation and humanity’s right to belong. She serves on the executive committee and board of Special Olympics International as well as the disability rights advisory committee and the London and Canada committees of Human Rights Watch.