Drupal England’s heart is back beating strong

DrupalCamps are crucial to the Drupal ecosystem, far more accessible than global events; they help strengthen local and regional ecosystems by helping to foster a strong sense of community.

Providing a platform for developers, designers, marketers and business leaders to exchange knowledge, camps bring together Drupal professionals, enthusiasts, and newcomers, facilitating connections that can lead to collaboration, hiring opportunities, and new business relationships.

For the past 5 years members of the UK Drupal community have gone without a big DrupalCamp. Inspired by the Scottish community, 1xINTERNET’s Paul Johnson joined forces with a small team of fellow English Drupalers to take action, determined to be the ones to bring major Drupal events back to England.

After 5 months of meticulous planning, DrupalCamp England launched on 1 March 2025 with an event at The University of Cambridge Faculty of Law. 150 Drupalists flocked from across the UK and Europe to this sell out inaugural conference.

Opening Keynote by Baddy Sonja Breidert

1xINTERNET’s CEO Baddy Sonja Breidert opened proceedings with her keynote address. Speaking about how AI will disrupt how people consume content in the future, she explained how the Drupal AI ecosystem is growing at an exponential pace thanks to the extensible way underlying systems have been created. Combined with low technical barriers, this has seen Drupal establish a significant lead in the AI powered CMS market place.

Baddy discussed how Drupal has been recognised as a Digital Public Good - a freely accessible digital resource, such as open-source software or online data, that anyone can use, share, and enhance for the benefit of society.

She championed how the Public Good Alliance has spotlighted Drupal in its latest State of the Digital Public Goods Ecosystem report, significant global recognition which will no doubt draw interest from across governments, higher-ed, non-profit, and other sectors.

Whilst there were many excellent sessions, a few stood out amongst our team.

Why Drupal AI might take over the world

With the rapid advancements in Drupal’s AI landscape, Jamie Abrahams took the stage before a packed auditorium to exclusively unveil the latest breakthrough: Drupal AI “Swarms. These involve multiple AI agents (a "swarm") working together within a Drupal site to enhance functionality, automate tasks, and improve user experiences.

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How to get 50% or more of your week funded to work on open source

Motivated by a strong desire to contribute, Mark Conroy has carved out a unique role for himself by collaborating with both Drupal agencies and end users to facilitate and carry out funded contributions. In essence, he has found a way to align his work with his passion while ensuring that contributions to the Drupal ecosystem are financially supported. 

How we can all apply user-centred ideas to make a Drupal to be proud of

Emma Horrel is applying user-centred design practices to empower the Drupal community to shape solutions that meet user needs. Drupal CMS has driven a UX resurgence, focusing on non-technical users and Emma’s contribution has significantly driven this agenda forwards. At DrupalCamp England she detailed what progress has been made and how her work has started to edge into the AI applications of Drupal CMS.

Initiatives like these are meaning issues with Drupal’s usability are being comprehensively solved and pave the way for the project to set new standards others must pay attention to.

Together with old friends, making new ones

The sheer joy of community members finally meeting was painted across people’s faces. Not only this, 20 attendees had used Drupal for less than a year. A clear sign Drupal is in good  health in the UK.

A historic moment needs capturing for prosperity

Paul’s powers of persuasion were tested to the limit as he discovered herding 150 Drupalists to line up for the group photo was far from easy.

Not only was the event flawlessly delivered, the great British weather was kind on us. 150 happy Drupalists smile for the camera, making history together.

Scholarships announced for 2026

In addition to confirming plans are already underway for next year, the organisers announced 2 funded scholarships for DrupalCamp England 2026. Open to those who would otherwise be unable to attend our event. This is part of the camp’s commitment to making the event as inclusive as possible.

Thanks to Ángela Saldaña Contreras 

The closing plenary could not pass without a big thank you to Ángela of 1xINTERNET, Creator of the DrupalCamp England branding and logo. There’s no doubt she managed to combine so well the very English lion and the essence of Drupal in creating this iconic design.

Thanks to all the organisers

Events like these take many hours of dedication over months to organise. If you attended the camp do take a moment to thank the incredible team that made it possible.

The team behind DrupalCamp England: Paul Johnson, Liam Hiscock, Rajeev Kumar, Jenny Dumitrescu, John Cook, Rachel Lawson, David Bishop, Tony Barker, Will Huggins, Tyler Staples.

And if you missed out don’t worry, all sessions were recorded and will be shared on YouTube in the coming weeks. For updates be sure to visit drupalcampengland.org and follow on LinkedIn.