We offer open and participatory events that showcase interdisciplinary work and impact and spark ideas, inspiration and debate.
Get event updates from Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Speculative Futures Central Scotland hosts a conversation on participatory futures with Futurall, a research and design studio building hope, agency and action towards more equitable futures.
Join us to discuss the women building a robust transnational feminist network, the tactics developed in the global south which are now being shared with feminists in Europe and North America, and building a new model for international feminist solidarity.
Join us to discuss the human dynamics of the workplace, how to better understand our own inner theatre, and how this knowledge can create better managers and leaders.
As AI's influence grows, navigating its geopolitics becomes increasingly crucial for shaping the future of nations and their global relationships.
DigitalScotland is the largest annual gathering of public sector technology professionals.
This workshop will address the complexities, challenges and future scenarios facing the retrofitting and energy efficiency of existing buildings.
The UK FinTech Symposium is the annual conference for the FinTech National Network and is the gathering place for FinTech leaders to collaborate, cooperate and develop new market opportunities.
Join the Centre for Technomoral Futures for their Flagship Lecture, where delegates will hear from Dr Michael Veale on Governing the AI Business Model: Platforms All the Way Down?
The fourth CDCS Annual Lecture How to See What’s Missing presented by Mary Flanagan.
CreativeMornings Edinburgh invites you to join a conversation with the team behind the Recycling A Hospital project at Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Join the Centre for Data, Culture and Society for their first Project Deep Dive of the semester ‘Image and Text Analysis using Multi-modal Embeddings’ presented by Justin Chun-ting Ho.
The use of science and technology to optimise the output of workers for the profit of business is not a new phenomenon. For this session we welcome two sociologists who work on the quantification of the body and worker, Dr Mark Patterson, and Dr Karen Gregory. Dr Patterson will explore the history of measurement of the ... Read more
Prediction of the impacts of climate change is one of the most urgent challenges facing humanity, crucial tools that will support policy, business and civil society in planning mitigations - everything from the pricing of insurance to building community resilience and the speed of decarbonisation. Just as in the work done to demonstrate human impacts ... Read more
Join MusAI and The New Real to delve into the intriguing intersection of artificial intelligence and music copyright.
2023 was undoubtedly the year of 'AI' - when we were all amazed by the capabilities of ChatGTP and image generators, and stories of existential risks filled the media. This narrative seemed to be pushed by the very people who had invested most in developing Large Language Models, and were interlinked with the ideology of ... Read more
As our society has become increasingly dependent on information infrastructures that reach into our pockets, homes and workplaces, we have become increasing vulnerable to attacks on and through these systems. How can we improve legal, technical and human dimensions of design and use to ensure future protection and resilience?
Join the Centre for Data, Culture & Society and the Social Data Science Hub for a Project Deep Dive presented by Anja Neundorf, professor of Politics and Research Methods at the University of Glasgow.
Join us for a day of creative discussion with other makers of multi-disciplinary and music driven performance to identify how we overcome barriers and envision a future together.
Ensuring the safety of our information infrastructures is a huge challenge that involves human, legal, and technical cooperation at a global scale. The rise of new technology, especially AI, poses great challenges for the development of effective law and regulation. In this session we have a perspective from law and social science from the University ... Read more
The CDCS Project Deep Dive series continues with ‘Digitization for Social Welfare: Examining the Building and Other Construction Workers' (BOCW) Welfare Funds in India’ presented by Dr Sruthi Herbert.
Join us for a live-stream of this conversation hosted by Professor Liz Grant and Dr Katherine Trebeck, University of Edinburgh.
This workshop organised by The Binks Hub will help you use poetry to communicate your research.
This event asks how people politically mobilise when subject to data systems that algorithmically govern them but remain opaque.
This event marks the launch of Tech Tuesdays, a new series dedicated to making sense of technology within the tourism, travel, and hospitality industries.
Join the Centre for Data, Culture & Society for a Project Deep Dive presented by Sal Hagen, University of Amsterdam.
The Technomoral Conversations series brings together leading experts in a “fireside chat” format to discuss futures that are worth wanting.
In her book Richie evaluates medical reproduction from an environmental perspective & confronts the carbon impact of the healthcare industry.
In the seminar, Ben Collier will introduce the new book, Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy (MIT Press, 2024).
ChatGPT and the other new advances in artificial intelligence have the potential to change work, education, and even what it means to “think” in the first place. In this talk, Professor David Williamson Shaffer looks at what AI is (and isn’t), its impact on what and how we learn, and how AI can change what ... Read more
To what extent can human creators exercise control on the technological tools they are using? And how does the control that technology exerts on them influence the creative process?
This event is specifically designed for professionals within the hospitality and tourism sector who are eager to explore what value robotics can bring to their businesses.
Dr Petko Kalev discusses why resiliency is an important dimension of market liquidity. For University staff and students only.
Hear a project deep dive from Ursula Martin on Imagining AI: computing stories in a museum context.
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.
Watch recordings
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.
Watch recordings
Our Spring 2023 programme of events explored the interconnections of AI and data with humanity through conversations, performances, and workshops.
Watch recordings
Our Autumn 2022 programme featured more than 20 events exploring crisis, migration, displacement and equality coalescing around the theme of Climate Justice.
Watch recordings"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
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.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all material is copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021.
