At the 5th International Conference on Transitions, Careers and Guidance, held on 2–3 October 2025 in Örkín, Hveragerði, Iceland, members of the Critical Perspectives on Career and Career Guidance (COCAG) network introduced the Action’s aims and emerging work.

The session invited participants to explore how critical approaches can reshape the way we understand careers and career guidance in a changing world. Questions centred on how career theories might account for power, inequality, and precarity and how practitioners can respond to these realities rather than reproduce them.

COCAG, a COST Action running from 2024 to 2028, now connects more than 445 members from 33 countries. Its work is organised around four pillars: building an open and inclusive network, developing shared resources and toolkits, creating opportunities for young researchers, and promoting collaboration across Europe.

We had great engagement and several new colleagues have already joined the network. COCAG continues to welcome researchers and practitioners who want to explore careers through a critical lens and contribute to collaborative European work.