We offer open and participatory events that showcase interdisciplinary work and impact and spark ideas, inspiration and debate.
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Soroche is the word used in Colombia to describe altitude sickness. In this multidisciplinary piece, combining text, music and imagery, writer Jessica Gaitan Johannesson and musician Stephanie Lamprea explore personal and collective history in relation to the country they share a connection with – Colombia. They are joined by musician Alistair MacDonald as they, through ... Read more
Join a lively discussion with authors of the thrilling and provocative book, Half-Earth Socialism, as well as the designers who created a video game based on the book. The event will feature discussions and Q&A with the authors and designers, as well as a chance to explore the game! Half-Earth Socialism makes clear that while ... Read more
Utopia is a ‘no-space’ for contemplation, innovation and collaboration. The term utopia was coined from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The word comes from Greek: οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place") and means "no-place", and strictly describes any non-existent society 'described in ... Read more
Join us for a drink and delicious, celebratory treat as we reveal the winners of the Edinburgh Futures Institute's Student Photography Competition and view a selection of the submitted photographs. Professor Liz Grant, Assistant Principal (Global Health) and Director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh, will announce the winners and speak ... Read more
Since 2014, Palestinian dancer and choreographer Farah Saleh has been creating an Archive of Gestures through the re-enactment, transformation, and analyses of bodily gestures and movements. In What My Body Can/t Remember, Saleh explores what her body can and can’t remember of her life in Ramallah in 2002 when, living under curfew, she returned to ... Read more
Author Gaia Vince draws attention to mass migration and climate change at a time when huge swathes of the world are becoming uninhabitable. ‘Gaia Vince's new book should be read not just by every politician, but by every person on the planet, because it lays out, much more clearly than any existing scientific assessment, the ... Read more
What is the impact of AI on the planet? There are reasons to hope that data-driven efficiencies and insights can help produce innovative solutions to the climate emergency, touching areas such as energy, biodiversity monitoring and conservation, transportation, water conservation, and agriculture, among others. On the other hand, there are also real concerns about the ... Read more
In this participatory workshop, poet Anthony Anaxagorou will be asking what happens if we expand the idea of ‘air’ or first breath to mean a new beginning. Can the idea of air invoke fresh possibilities or social reform? Can air and breath can be reshaped to move beyond the conventional understanding of these terms? How ... Read more
This is an opportunity for the EFI and its extended community to come together and join a live viewing of the online event, 'The Fight for Climate after Covid-19: A conversation with Alice C. Hill' in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.
The catastrophic risks of pandemics and climate change carry deep uncertainty as to when they will occur, how they will unfold, and how much damage they will do. The most important question is how we can face these risks to minimize them most. Alice C. Hill’s book, The Fight for Climate after COVID-19, draws on ... Read more
From the classical period through the early modern, tales abounded of distant islands inhabited by demons, devils, evil spirits, and all manner of winged creatures. The Sirens lured sailors to shipwreck with singing voices. The sprite Ariel conjures up a storm. The stories we tell ourselves to make sense of wind. An Island of Sound ... Read more
This event marks the opening of the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Spring 2023 season and is by invitation only. After this event, bookings will officially open to everyone for our Spring 2023 programme of events, created in collaboration with partners across the Edinburgh Futures Institute, will run from March to May 2023!
This panel opens the fourth in the University’s Futures Conversations series on Artificial Intelligence. In this event, we bring together leading experts from the worlds of science, politics, and civil society to debate what our AI futures may bring, and to develop ideas for what is needed to advance our collective ability to put AI to the best possible use.
This show is part of our Futures Conversations series – Shaping our AI Futures – and explores the delicate and intricately evolving relationship between humans and machines, through a dynamic dance between a dancer and a soft robot as the focal point.
In this panel, speakers will briefly showcase their work on the intersections of technology and sexuality. When we are repeatedly told who and what to desire by apps, platforms and websites the relationship between technology and sexuality feels impossible to escape. We might not know what we really, really want.
A panel discussion among experts on what it means to ‘live well’ with robots.
Professors from the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh will share their speculative scenarios for Higher Education Futures in an event which will be a mix of research-sharing, storytelling and collaboration.
This audio-visual performance by composer Philly Holmes responds to Limbic, a poetry collection by Peter Scalpello. Through words, sound and imagery, the performance traces a personal narrative exploring intimacy and queer discovery, enacting the confusions and graces of a queer life through hybridity of storytelling forms.
In this workshop, participants will learn basic coding elements to create a simple poem generator. The emphasis is on play and experimentation, with some background information on literary techniques. Participants will experience how computational poetics and computational thinking can jumpstart or become part of a creative writing process.
The multidisciplinary event will feature short performances by Scottish Dance Theatre’s dancers, including an excerpt from ‘Thin h/as h/air’ by choreographer Pauline Torzuoli. Inspired by the natural phenomena of Itla Okla and Hair Ice, this playful and poetic solo work follows the journey of a man: from scientist to the spirit of a tree.
Our love of fashion is driving an unsustainable system of manufacturing, distributing and disposing of our clothing that is impacting our planet. How can we change our behaviour and the system for the love of the planet? How can we harness new technology such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics and informatics, and creative tools such as Augmented and Virtual Reality?
A discussion with Rule of the Robots author Martin Ford, who argues that the true AI revolution is yet to come.
This writing workshop will look at a range of writers and theories, exploring interdisciplinary strands of New Media hybrid writing. You will be provided with the tools and ideas to craft your own digital poetics, and means by which to use the virtual on the page, creating and fostering a relationship between the machine and the author.
How can the latest developments in technology, robotics and implants lead to powerful and liberating possibilities for what bodies can be? In this event, speakers share their eye-opening accounts of disability, identity, and how robotics and AI are altering what it means to be human.
How has technology exacerbated systems of oppression in the 21st century, and what can we do to resist? This event features a conversation with authors Matthew Williams and Lilia Giugni whose works examine different yet intersecting issues of human behaviour in the digital era.
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.
Call for proposals
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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