Following a successful launch event on 2 June, Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Future University events programme continues on 17 to 18 September with six hybrid events.
The Future University events programme is a bold exploration of how universities can evolve to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
The programme explores AI, research, teaching, truth, leadership, and the future of work in relation to knowledge, democracy and higher education.
Events will feature conversations with leading voices across academia, policy, industry and civil society, including leading thinkers from The University of Edinburgh.
All events are free to attend and offered in hybrid format, in person at Edinburgh Futures Institute and online.
How about if condensed to something like: The programme is open to all and will be of particular interest to those with a stake in the future of the higher education sector, including leaders from higher education, policy and public affairs, the research industry and media.
Bold conversations: Disruption and Response
The launch event, Civic University – Democracy, AI, and the Public Imagination with Beth Simone Noveck and Professor Oliver Escobar, drew an engaged audience both in person and online, and set the tone for what promises to be a bold season of debate.
The programme now moves into a two-day run this September for six distinct events with intersecting themes.
Day 1 is framed around Disruption: AI, Knowledge, Public Purpose, opening with a conversation on how AI is reshaping the core work of the university.
Conversations will explore the future of research and scholarship, the future of teaching and learning, and the universities’ role in defending truth, free speech, and open inquiry.
Day 2 turns to Response: Leadership, Global Design, Institutional Futures, asking how universities should be led, governed, and rebuilt in the face of these disruptions.
The events include a participatory workshop on collective decision-making and institutional purpose, a conversation on leadership and strategy for the university of 2050, to a closing discussion on the future of work and the knowledge economy.
| DAY 1 – Disruption: AI, Knowledge, Public Purpose | DAY 2: RESPONSE – Response: Leadership, Global Design, Institutional Futures |
| 10:00–11:30am – The Future of Research in an Age of AI with Devi Sridhar, Christopher Smith, Michael Rovatsos. Chaired by Professor Marion Thain 2:00–3:30pm – Teaching, Learning, and the AI University with Rose Luckin, Janja Komljenovic, Andrew Maynard. Chaired by Professor Sian Bayne 6:00–7:30pm – Universities and the Future of Truth: AI, Free Speech, and Power with Rumman Chowdhury, Jillian C. York, Jeffrey W. Howard. Chaired by Professor Shannon Vallor | 9:30am–12:00pm – When Universities Decide: From Collective Inquiry to Public Consequence with Federica G. Pedriali and Mateusz Hohol 2:00–3:30pm – Building the University of 2050: Leadership, Structure, and Strategy with Vivienne Stern, Jamie Bartlett. Chaired by Professor Marion Thain 6:00–7:15pm – Future University: Work and the Next Economy of Knowledge with Sarah O’Connor. Chaired by Professor Marion Thain |
Professor Marion Thain, Edinburgh Futures Institute Director, said:
Our launch event showed just how much appetite there is for serious debate about what the future will need from our universities. As we continue to look beyond the current context and take a longer view, this September, we’re opening up questions of research, teaching, truth, governance and work to some of the sharpest thinkers in each field. I’d encourage anyone with a stake in the future of higher education to join us.
Explore the full Future University programme and register
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