Events

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

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The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas

The Stand Comedy Club 5 York Place, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Hosted by comedian Susan Morrison, and now in its eleventh year, CODI is ninety minutes of rapid-fire research from some of the finest minds in the country.

Utopia Lab: Futures Dreaming 

Project Room (1.06), 50 George Square 50 George Square, Newington, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

In this session invited speakers will present visions of their Utopia, which we will respond to by creating our own artistic, thoughtful and creative mini-Utopias.

Digital Justice & Policing 2023

University of Strathclyde, Technology & Innovation Centre 99 George Street, Glasgow

Digital Justice & Policing is the largest gathering for digital justice practitioners in Scotland

New Real Salon: “We Speak For…”

Inspace 1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

In this event, The New Real's Creative Agent, Caroline Sinders, convenes a group of practitioners who work on and with AI. Together they will explore future landscapes for creative AI and what co-creation between AI and artists will look like in the future.

Building a Global Movement for Self-Managed Abortion

Online Edinburgh
Virtual Event Virtual Event

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.

Emotions at Work with Gabriella Braun

Online Edinburgh
Virtual Event Virtual Event

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.

Digital Scotland 2023

Edinburgh International Conference Centre 150 Morrison St, Edinburgh

DigitalScotland is the largest annual gathering of public sector technology professionals.

UK FinTech Symposium 2023

OX Edinburgh Natwest Gogarburn, 175 Glasgow Road, Edinburgh

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.

Governing the AI Business Model: Platforms All the Way Down?

West Court, Edinburgh College of Art 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh

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?

CDCS Annual Lecture 2023

West Court, Edinburgh College of Art 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh

The fourth CDCS Annual Lecture How to See What’s Missing presented by Mary Flanagan.

Project Deep Dive: Justin Chun-ting Ho

Online Edinburgh

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.

Quantification of Labour: from the factory to the gig economy

Newhaven Lecture Theatre 13-15 College Street, Edinburgh

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

Climate Extremes and Decision-making: it’s all about the models

Newhaven Lecture Theatre 13-15 College Street, Edinburgh

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

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Power trip event season event flyer

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 event season digital flyer

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 Autumn Event Season brand leader. Image of dandelion and umbrellas on orange background. Text reads: 'First Breath: Autumn Event Season'. Includes Edinburgh Futures Institute logo.

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

Headshot of Alice Carr

Alice Carr

Events Co-ordinator
Headshot of Fraser Pringle

Fraser Pringle

Project & Events Administrator
Headshot of Ioannis Kalkounos

Ioannis Kalkounos

Programme Manager
Lewis Williams

Lewis Williams

Events Technician

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