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Events

We offer open and participatory events that showcase interdisciplinary work and impact and spark ideas, inspiration and debate.

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October 2025

Talk/Discussion

20th October 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM BST

Giving Humanists a Helping Hand in HPC

Online Edinburgh

Free

Event banner with photos of Kyle Morrison and Pushpi Bagchi from Edinburgh Futures Institute. Text reads: "Facilitating Futures-led Design Sprints," and includes event details for an online meetup on Tuesday 21 October, 12:30–13:30 BST.

Talk/Discussion

21st October 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM BST

Facilitating Futures-led Design Sprints

Free

A woman experiences virtual travel: she walks with a backpack, works on a laptop in a plane seat, video calls from bed, reads books, and pilots a plane, all with travel scenes and airplanes in the background.

Talk/Discussion

22nd October 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM BST

Traveltech/E-corner Meetup

Room 2.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EF

Free

Talk/Discussion

22nd October 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM BST

The Future of Free (and Who Will Pay for It)

Room G.07, Informatics Forum, The University of Edinburgh 10 Crichton Street, Newington, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Free

Event poster for a lecture titled "Patrick Geddes and the Anarchist Strain of Town Planning: Mike Small," with speaker photo, date, time, location, and logos for the University of Edinburgh and Data Civics.

Talk/Discussion

30th October 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM GMT

Patrick Geddes and the Anarchist Strain of Town Planning

Room 2.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EF

Free

30th October 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM GMT

AI in the City

Edinburgh Futures Institute, Level 0 Event Space 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Free

November 2025

A promotional banner for an event titled "How Will AI Change Science?" featuring headshots of four speakers: Emily Sullivan, Eran Tal, Arfon Smith, and Anna Scaife, along with their affiliations and event details.

Talk/Discussion

4th November 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM GMT

Technomoral Conversations: How Will AI Change Science?

Edinburgh Futures Institute, Level 0 Event Space 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Free

A young person with short blue hair uses a smartphone, with abstract pink shapes in the background. Logos for the British Council and the University of Edinburgh Futures Institute are visible at the top.

Training

11th November 9:30 AM - 12th November 5:30 PM GMT

Media Literacy in the age of AI

Edinburgh Futures Institute Edinburgh

Free

December 2025

Event poster for a lecture titled "Geddes and the Scottish Generalist Tradition: Professor Murdo Macdonald" with date, time, and location info, featuring a photo of Professor Macdonald and an illustrated cityscape background.

Talk/Discussion

11th December 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM GMT

Geddes and the Scottish Generalist Tradition

Room 2.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EF

Free

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A group of bees swarming around a white bathtub on an orange background. Text reads, "The University of Edinburgh - Edinburgh Futures Institute - Making Waves Event Season - March-May 2025." A QR code is in the top right corner.

Making Waves

Making Waves is an exciting programme of events that explores creativity in different forms, crossing areas such as the arts, technology, science, and the environment..

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Learning Curves

Our Autumn 2024 programme of events explored the future of education through panel discussions, poetry readings, live music and performance, and deep intellectual debate and discussion.

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POWER TRIP

Our Autumn 2023 programme of events explored leadership in all its forms – from the seats of power to the front lines of activist movements and even in our own workplaces.

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Love machine

Our Spring 2023 programme of events explored the interconnections of AI and data with humanity through conversations, performances, and workshops.

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First Breath

Our Autumn 2022 programme featured more than 20 events exploring crisis, migration, displacement and equality coalescing around the theme of Climate Justice.

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"The production and intellectual content of your recent events has been fantastic! Thank you for the opportunity to attend and learn. This is probably the best event I have been to all year."
Event attendee, Love Machine Spring 2023

"Really, really impressed with Futures Institute events. Properly impressive speakers, and seamless technical management. Thank you for keeping them hybrid/online – it's a really nice way to keep in touch!"
Event attendee, Love Machine Spring 2023

"Amazing! I hope that Utopia Lab can ring in every event season, the dream space that you curate and allow to flourish is an important and novel lens that Edinburgh Futures Institute offers partners, students, staff, researchers and anyone with an interest in collaborative thinking and doing."
Event attendee, Love Machine Spring 2023

Our public events seasons are co-created with people from across the University of Edinburgh. If you'd like to contribute ideas for the programme please contact the events team.

Call for proposals

Meet the events team

Alice Carr

Events Co-ordinator

Fraser Pringle

Project & Events Administrator

Ioannis Kalkounos

Programme Manager

Lewis Williams

Events Technician

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Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) building, The University of Edinburgh, 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EF
*Deliveries via West Entrance on Nightingale Way.
Email: efi@ed.ac.uk

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336, VAT Registration Number GB 592 9507 00, and is acknowledged by the UK authorities as a “Recognised body” which has been granted degree awarding powers.