We offer open and participatory events that showcase interdisciplinary work and impact and spark ideas, inspiration and debate.
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As part of Adversarial Acoustics Unit Test (Martin Disley and Murad Khan) will screen their new short film, investigating the relationship between vocal forensics and machine learning through a mix of critical and speculative aesthetic practice.
The rise of Virtual, Augmented, and Extended Reality (AR/XR) with their applications urge us to investigate whether “catharsis” is still conceivable, in hybrid or entirely artificial environments; and how a reconfigured concept of “catharsis” can be envisioned as part of the co-evolution of human, natural, and artificial life forms.
In this workshop, artist Yana Knight will share a few ideas and techniques of working with AI as a creative medium and the potential that lurks within this collaboration to extend, support and enrich creativity.
Raw Green Rust are an improvising laptop trio that make abstract glitch-dub that draws on wide ranging musical interests and interconnectedness. For this event, the trio will perform as an ‘Antagonistic Sextet’ with and against their own performance history.
The New Real’s research team and newly commissioned artist will present insights into what is happening in this area and new work currently in development using The New Real Observatory Platform, an unboxed AI tool created with and for artists.
The Summer School is an intensive, 5-day, in-person event, with a heavy practical focus. It consists of two simultaneously run streams: A Gentle Introduction to Coding for Data Analysis, and Text and Data Analysis in the Wild. Find out more about each stream and which best suits your needs below.
The Economics of Financial Technology conference, organised by the Edinburgh Futures Institute and the University of Edinburgh Business School, brings together academics, policymakers, and finance professionals to share new insights and discuss the critical issues related to the application of technology to the practice of finance in a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
A free online training event exploring the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence in the publishing industry.
Take a tour of the South College Street building during Doors Open Day.
Talk and discussion with Dr Chandré Gould about collaborative and multi-sectoral approach to violence prevention.
The Creative Informatics Innovation Showcase is an exciting two-day hybrid event and exhibition to explore how data-driven innovation is changing the world around us.
Fintech companies are constantly innovating and developing new products and services. However, while many of the technological solutions are user-centred, they are not necessarily human-centred. They typically focus on process, user experience and scalability, but often neglect the deeper needs, emotions, instincts, and social factors that impact people's financial wellbeing. This event challenges fintech leaders ... Read more
In this event, Dr. Elinor Carmi will share her latest research report titled “What mobilises people against Big-Tech?”.
This flagship panel event opens the fifth in the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Conversations series.
This performance is part of our Futures Conversations series on the Future of Leadership.
Michael Begg presents work undertaken with People Ocean Planet, Marine Alliance of Science and Technology in this seminar presentation.
Learning about the mental health needs of care-experienced young people.
How music in alternative spaces is making a difference to young people and their communities.
Join Professor David Runciman in conversation with Professor Shannon Vallor about his latest book, The Handover.
Join us for FutureGaze, a series of conversations providing time out to reflect and gaze into the future of the creative industries.
Cory Doctorow will be in conversation about his book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.
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.
This Black History Month event will take on a long-discussed topic in the Black and Afrocentric movements across the world: the challenged idea and risks of leadership.
This lecture will cover the regulatory issues emanating from the implementation of the UK government’s vision for an internationally competitive and innovative financial services sector in the UK.
A prerecorded conversation about the Disability Rights Movement with the makers of the film Defiant Lives.
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.
A panel event about the importance of creating spaces for listening in healthcare.
Digital Justice & Policing is the largest gathering for digital justice practitioners in Scotland
Dr Runa Mackay Legacy Lecture with Edinburgh Futures Institute's writer-at-large, Dr Katherine Trebeck.
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.
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.
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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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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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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Our Spring 2023 programme of events explored the interconnections of AI and data with humanity through conversations, performances, and workshops.
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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.
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Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) building, The University of Edinburgh, 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9EF
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Email: efi@ed.ac.uk
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