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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Edinburgh Futures Institute
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260416T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260416T173000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260121T115248Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260402T101233Z
UID:10000325-1776330000-1776360600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching Conference 2026
DESCRIPTION:This year’s Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching Conference will be hosted by Edinburgh Futures Institute\, at the University of Edinburgh. \n\n\n\nThe conference theme is Interdisciplinary Pathways: Engaging Learners and Creating Opportunities. The conference is open to everyone involved with interdisciplinary learning and teaching\, within and outside university contexts. We especially want to emphasise that students and early-career researchers\, staff from education sectors outside higher education\, and community partners\, are warmly welcome to attend. \n\n\n\nThis year will focus on how interdisciplinarity can be supported\, structured and created in different educational contexts\, including those before and beyond higher education. \n\n\n\nRegistration will be £85\, with some bursaries available for students and non-HE delegates. \n\n\n\nProgramme\n\n\n\nView the programme here. \n\n\n\n*subject to change. \n\n\n\nAccommodation\n\n\n\nConference delegates can enjoy a discount at the University’s accommodation by using the code ‘EVENT’ at www.uoecollection.com. This offers a reduction of 10-15% off the flexible rate\, varying by property and subject to availability. Nearby\, there are alternative hotel options: 3-star hotels like IBIS Edinburgh Centre South Bridge\, and Motel One Edinburgh Royal\, and 4-star hotels such as 10 Hill Place Hotel\, Apex Grassmarket Hotel\, Hotel Du Vin & Bistro\, Hilton Carlton Edinburgh\, and Marriott Residence Inn.  \n\n\n\nThe conference venue is located at Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh. For more details on campus location and visitor information\, please see the University’s maps and visiting pages.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/interdisciplinary-learning-and-teaching-conference-2026/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Conference
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260417T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260417T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260318T105138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T105248Z
UID:10000348-1776418200-1776445200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Future Voices: An interdisciplinary student symposium
DESCRIPTION:A one-day showcase of interdisciplinary student projects\, featuring talks\, exhibitions & networking at Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\nIncludes\, breakfast (available from 9.30am for a 10am start) and lunch. Breaks throughout the day and a social gathering in the evening. See the full programme below. \n\n\n\nJoin us for the first annual Interdisciplinary Symposium\, a one-day event celebrating the creativity\, innovation and impact of EFI undergraduate and postgraduate students. Discover presentations\, films\, installations and digital projects from the Interdisciplinary Futures programme and related electives\, as well as the postgraduate programmes at EFI\, and connect with students\, staff and conference delegates in a vibrant\, collaborative setting. \n\n\n\nProgrammes\n\n\n\n\n\n9:30am – 10amBreakfast / arrival10amWelcome10:05 – 10:45amKeynote: Ida Kemp10:45am – 11:45amSession 1: Making Futures: Education\, sustainability\, belonging11:45am – 12pmBreak12pm – 1pmSession 2: Making Exhibition: Art\, performance\, video1pm – 2pmLunch2pm – 3pmSession 3: Making Information: Data\, AI\, systems3pm – 3:15pm3pm – 3.15pm: Break3:15pm – 4:15pmSession 4: Making Value: Narrative\, mobility\, identity4:15pm – 4:45pmClosing plenary
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/future-voices-an-interdisciplinary-student-symposium/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Conference
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260420T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260420T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260407T093517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260407T093520Z
UID:10000352-1776693600-1776704400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The National Security and Defence Documents Dataset
DESCRIPTION:The National Security and Defence Documents Dataset: A Hands-On Introduction for Researchers and Practitioners \n\n\n\nHow do states talk about security — and has that changed? This half-day workshop offers researchers and practitioners a first hands-on encounter with the National Security and Defence Documents Dataset (NSDDD): a unique resource spanning 118 countries and four decades of national security strategies\, defence reviews\, and strategic documents. \n\n\n\nParticipants will explore the dataset using purpose-built semantic search and text analysis tools\, discovering what computational approaches can reveal about patterns in strategic language\, threat framing\, and geopolitical alignment — including the wave of new documents published in 2025. No prior technical experience is required: the session is designed to open up the dataset’s possibilities for scholars and policy professionals with substantive expertise in security and strategic studies. \n\n\n\nBy the end of the session\, participants will understand what the dataset contains and how it was built\, have direct experience using the search interface to pursue their own research questions\, and be positioned to contribute to a collaborative discussion about the most promising directions for future research. \n\n\n\nAgenda\n\n\n\n14:00-15:00Introduction to the dataset by Prof. Andrew Neal15:00-16:00 Hands-on learning with the dataset tools\, with in-person support16:00-17:00Participant findings from the hands-on session\, Q&A\, discussion\, future directions
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-national-security-and-defence-documents-dataset/
LOCATION:Room 1.52\, Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF
CATEGORIES:Workshop
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260429T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260429T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260309T155728Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T155731Z
UID:10000345-1777474800-1777482000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:CDS Seminar Series: Sophie Bishop
DESCRIPTION:Overview \n\n\n\n‘Influencer Creep: How Optimization\, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture’ \n\n\n\nSophie Bishop’s book ‘Influencer Creep: How Optimization\, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture’ (University of California Press) draws from in-depth ethnography and interviews with influencers and professional artists. Bishop argues that looking to the shifts within influencer culture can help us understand contemporary changes to labour conditions\, compensation and representation within creative industries. Taking seriously the motivations that drive more and more people into the contest for online visibility\, Influencer Creep documents a creative workforce nervously conforming to the monopoly power of social media platforms—and occasionally resisting it. Early praise for the book includes “those in the art world will find plenty to chew on” (Publishers Weekly) and “both a page turner and thorough academic study” (Professor Thomas Poell\, UVA). \n\n\n\nBio \n\n\n\nSophie Bishop is an expert in influencer culture and an Associate Professor at the University of Leeds in Media and Communications who has been researching the social and cultural implications of the influencer industry for a decade. Sophie\, has advised policy makers in UK Parliament and the European Union on influencer culture and has written for academic journals New Media & Society\, Social Media + Society and Media\, Culture & Society and has been interviewed in Paper\, Real Life\, Financial Times\, BBC and The Atlantic. Sophie lives in Manchester\, England with her husband\, daughter\, and two cats. Influencer Creep is her first book.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/cds-seminar-series-sophie-bishop/
LOCATION:Room 1.55\, Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260429T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260429T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260317T115554Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T124742Z
UID:10000347-1777480200-1777485600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:What Patrick Geddes did in India: a few steps too far?
DESCRIPTION:This talk will consider the time that Geddes spent as the first Professor of Sociology at the University of Bombay. He produced a series of town plans\, met a kindred spirit in Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore\, and then left. What was his impact on colonial India? \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Roger Jeffrey\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRoger Jeffrey is Professor Emeritus of Sociology of South Asia\, University of Edinburgh. His academic publications focused on public health and health policy\, especially maternal and reproductive health and access to medicines\, as well as secondary schooling. Since 2015 he has been researching the ‘footprint’ of India in the city of Edinburgh\, and the lives of women who qualified as doctors in the UK between 1877 and 1916. He edited India in Edinburgh\, (Delhi and London\, 2019); a further volume\, edited with Friederike Voigt\, Perceptions of Empire: Edinburgh’s Engagement with India\, was published in India in February 2026. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Liz McFall\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Liz McFall is Director of the Data Civics Observatory at Edinburgh Futures Institute and Personal Chair in the Sociology of Markets. She is an interdisciplinary sociologist with research interests that cross the social studies of insurance\, cultural economy and market studies. Her recent research explores historical\, spatial and infrastructural connections between institutional investment\, urban governance and everyday social life. This informs the Data Civics programme which draws inspiration from Patrick Geddes in its emphasis on using digital and experimental ethnographic methods to investigate the social\, political\, cultural and economic dimensions of civic planning\, governance and placemaking.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/what-patrick-geddes-did-in-india-a-few-steps-too-far/
LOCATION:Room 2.55\, Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/29-April-Roger-Jeffery-1920x1080-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260505T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260505T140000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260323T121204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260323T121206Z
UID:10000349-1777986000-1777989600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The Digital Backlash in Education: Panic\, Politics\, or Pedagogy?
DESCRIPTION:In recent years\, debates about digital technologies in education have shifted from what could be described as a digital hype to a digital backlash. Digital tools are increasingly framed as threats to learning\, cognition\, and the well-being of children and young people\, and nations worldwide have started to implement more restrictive digitalization policies\, such as banning smartphones from the classroom. This presentation explores recurring patterns in the arguments underpinning this shift\, across time and national settings\, and how similar narratives of harm and calls for scientific ‘evidence’ have resulted in different national policy responses. It discusses how this backlash emerged\, what forms of knowledge and expertise have shaped it\, and whether it can be used as a provocation to inform a more sustainable and pedagogically grounded relation to digital technologies in education. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biography\n\n\n\n\n\nIngrid Forsler\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIngrid Forsler is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University\, Sweden. Her research concerns imaginaries and future visions of digital technologies in education\, in recent years focused mainly on the growing resistance against digital devices in schools. She is also interested in the postdigital\, material\, and infrastructural dimensions of contemporary learning environments.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-digital-backlash-in-education-panic-politics-or-pedagogy/
LOCATION:Online\, Edinburgh
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260514T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260514T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260324T115814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T115816Z
UID:10000350-1778749200-1778778000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:CreativeTech Scotland Gathering 2026
DESCRIPTION:Join us on the 14th of May at CreativeTech Scotland Gathering 2026 for an exciting day of cutting edge creative tech talks and workshop. \n\n\n\nOur aim is to bring people together from across the creative and cultural sector in every discipline to meet\, connect\, share know-how\, be inspired by new innovations and be amazed by how we each use creative technology to deliver our services\, products and audience experiences. \n\n\n\nThe Programme will be added shortly but to give you a flavour of the day\, there will be a range of industry spotlights\, hands-on workshop\, and a showcase of creative tech demonstrations and lightning talks\, with a closing reception in partnership with Venture Café 5pm to 8pm. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nOpening Keynote: Jane Harris\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDirector of the University of the Arts London\, Fashion\, Textiles and Technology Institute (UAL\, FTTI) with over £25m investment to date\, Professor Harris was Director / PI of the Business of Fashion\, Textiles and Technology (BFTT\, £6m) one of nine Creative R&D Partnerships funded by the AHRC Creative Industries Clusters Programme (£80m\, CICP\, 2018-24) – and is Co-I on an EPSRC Digital Economy Network+ (2022-27) establishing a UK wide Virtual Production Network led by the University of York\, and led DREEm: Digital\, Regeneration and Experience Economy modelling (www.dreem.org.uk)\, funded by AHRC. \n\n\n\nProfessor Harris will talk about the UAL XR Research Lab in Textiles and Dress\, a specialist research facility\, which aims to advance research in the digital rendition of textiles and dress for integration into screen and real-time environments spanning wide ranging performance\, gaming\, cultural heritage\, and live experiences. This specialist research facility is part of the UAL Fashion\, Textiles and Technology Institute (UAL FTTI). Creating capacity for innovative\, transdisciplinary practice-led research in VP/XR textiles and dress\, partners include the Victoria and Albert Museum\, Royal Shakespeare Company\, Numerion Software and SONY. \n\n\n\nTo find out more visit arts.ac.uk \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nClosing Keynote: Trevor Jones\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTrevor Jones is a Scottish-based artist and creative technologist whose work examines how blockchain and artificial intelligence are reshaping authorship and creative agency. He holds a Master of Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art. \n\n\n\nHe first gained international recognition for his pioneering augmented reality interventions in national institutions and later became an early leader in blockchain-based art\, with landmark works such as Bitcoin Angel. His practice spans traditional painting\, digitally native systems\, and immersive\, interactive installations. \n\n\n\nJones’ work explores faith\, technology and the changing role of the artist as digital tools alter how art is made\, owned and experienced. Through hybrid physical and digital participatory projects\, he examines how authorship shifts when creative control is shared between artist\, audience and machine. \n\n\n\nTo find out more visit trevorjonesart.com
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/creativetech-scotland-gathering-2026/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Conference,Creative Industries
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T191500
DTSTAMP:20260411T141629
CREATED:20260409T134034Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T143951Z
UID:10000353-1780423200-1780427700@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Beth Simone Noveck: Civic University – Democracy\, AI\, and the Public Imagination
DESCRIPTION:Join Beth Simone Noveck in conversation with Oliver Escobar for a timely exploration of the civic role of the university in an age of democratic uncertainty and rapid technological change. This event will examine how universities can act as democratic institutions – harnessing AI not just as a tool for innovation\, but to strengthen participation\, trust\, and public problem-solving. At a moment when democracy feels increasingly fragile\, what responsibilities do universities hold as civic actors embedded in society? And how can they help design and deploy technologies that serve the public good rather than concentrate power? This conversation invites us to reimagine the university not only as a site of knowledge\, but as a vital partner in renewing democratic life. \n\n\n\nPart of the Future University programme\, this event looks beyond immediate sector challenges to ask what kind of institutions we need for the future – and how universities can rise to meet that moment. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nBeth Simone Noveck\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeth Simone Noveck is a professor and director of the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University. She leads The Governance Lab and its InnovateUS initiative. Former U.S. deputy chief technology officer and the first state chief AI strategist\, she founded AI for Impact\, which builds democratic AI with communities. She is the author of Solving Public Problems: A Practical Guide to Fix Our Government and Change Our World and writes on AI and democracy at rebootdemocracy.ai. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Oliver Escobar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Oliver Escobar is the Chair of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation at the University of Edinburgh. He works on participatory and deliberative democracy\, with a focus on public participation\, policy work\, the commons\, political inequalities\, and the governance of the future. Oliver combines research and practice to develop social and democratic innovations across various policy and community contexts. He was Academic Lead on Democratic Innovation at Edinburgh Futures Institute (2019-2023)\, and Co-director of CRITIQUE  (2021-2023). Read more about Oliver: https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/oliver-escobar \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\nRegister now
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/beth-simone-noveck-civic-university-democracy-ai-and-the-public-imagination/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University
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