Edinburgh Futures Institute is delighted to announce the opening of First Breath – our first season of events running from 10 October to 2 December.
The season was officially launched on 6 September at Inspace, where many of the season’s in-person events will take place.
The diverse programme offers a wide range of activities and performances, readings, and discussions that will invite and engage different responses to the critical challenges of our time.
The theme ‘First Breath’ was selected by Edinburgh Futures Institute to connect with the third Edinburgh Futures Conversation – the Future of Climate Justice, and with the aim of opening the opportunity to create and showcase different events, performances and activities across the Institute’s key themes and projects.
First Breath is open to multiple interpretations and exploration and the event programme delves into responses to the climate and environmental crisis, to migration and displacement, and to equality, reparation and justice.
A diverse programme of events
First Breath features poetry and performances, author discussions, participatory sessions and workshops centred around different interpretations of the theme.
The wide-ranging and co-created programme reflects the diverse work and communities of practitioners, researchers, students and external partners that the Futures Institute reaches.
A commitment to deliver a number of events in hybrid format reflects the open nature of the programme and ensures that EFI’s unique student body (both online and on-campus learners) can participate.
All events are free to attend and open to the wider public.
The future of climate justice
The First Breath event season is closely aligned with the University’s Edinburgh Futures Conversations series, where experts from around the world share their views on pressing global issues.
The three Edinburgh Futures Conversations events — two panel discussions and one poetry performance —will focus on the future of climate justice and kick off the First Breath event season.
The flagship panel event features experts in the field of climate justice: Adrienne Buller, Elizabeth Cripps, Tasneem Essop, Arunabha Ghosh, A. C. Grayling, and Patricia Scotland, in a live discussion chaired by Hermione Cockburn.
Indonesian writer and artist Khairani Barokka will deliver a poetry performance entitled AMUK for the second event of the series.
An online panel discussion caps the conversations series, featuring environmental experts and climate activists from around the world: Khairani Barokka, Alice C. Hill, George Monbiot, Vanessa Nakate, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, and Laura Young. The discussion will be chaired by Elizabeth Bomberg.
Professor Jamie Cross, Director of Edinburgh Earth Initiative, the University’s centre that focuses on climate research, welcomes the theme of the conversations series.
Professor Cross said:
‘Our responses to climate change are inseparable from the question of who owes what to whom.
The focus on climate justice in this season’s Edinburgh Futures Conversations series recognises this as one of the key questions of our time. I look forward to hearing from the panel of acclaimed journalists, activists, and policy makers who share the same goal of finding just solutions to the climate crisis.’
Looking forward
The First Breath Autumn Event season gives a glimpse of the various events that the Edinburgh Futures Institute will offer in future event seasons.
Professor Chris Speed, Edinburgh Futures Institute Director said:
‘We are delighted to launch the First Breath Autumn event season that showcases a wide range of creative responses to pressing global issues, such as the climate crisis, migration, and social inequality. This diverse programme reflects the aims of the Institute to engage with the problems that the world is facing through interdisciplinary collaborations.’
Further information
We look forward to welcoming you to our events!
To see the full programme of the First Breath Event season, go to: https://efi.ed.ac.uk/events-overview/
Subscribe to our mailing list for invites and updates on upcoming events here: https://efi.ed.ac.uk/events-overview/subscription/
