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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T191500
DTSTAMP:20260918T181827Z
CREATED:20260625T120033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260918T181827Z
UID:10000374-1789754400-1789758900@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Future University: Work and the Next Economy of Knowledge
DESCRIPTION:Artificial intelligence is transforming the world of work\, but its impact is not predetermined. As new technologies reshape professions\, workplaces\, and career paths\, universities face profound questions about the knowledge\, skills\, and values they should cultivate in future generations. How can higher education prepare people not only to adapt to technological change\, but to shape it? In this closing conversation\, Sarah O’Connor draws on her reporting and research into the changing nature of work to explore what makes work meaningful\, what risks we face as technology becomes more deeply embedded in everyday life\, and what role universities should play in building a more human-centred economy.  \n\n\n\n\n\nSarah O’Connor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSarah O’Connor is a columnist\, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work\, as well as longer features and investigations. She has won the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils\, the Wincott Award for financial journalism\, Business Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards\, Financial/Economic story of the year at the Foreign Press Awards and Business and Finance Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Marion Thain\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarion Thain comes to Edinburgh Futures Institute from her role as Professor of Culture and Technology at King’s College London\, where she was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for 6 years. While at King’s she founded and led the Digital Futures Institute\, which grew out of her Centre for Attention Studies. She began her career as a Junior Research Fellow at Cambridge University\, and worked in English departments at Russell Group universities before moving to New York University as a professor of Arts and Literature (in English and the school of the interdisciplinary global liberal arts) and Director of Digital Humanities. She returned to the UK in 2018. Marion is interested particularly in the relationship between culture and technology (considering ‘technology’ in the broadest sense)\, and in formations of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. Details can be found at https://www.marionthain.org 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/future-university-work-and-the-next-economy-of-knowledge/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/18-Sept-Future-University-Work-and-the-Next-Economy-of-Knowledge.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T153000
DTSTAMP:20260918T144319Z
CREATED:20260625T115932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260918T144319Z
UID:10000373-1789740000-1789745400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Building the University of 2050: Leadership\, Structure\, and Strategy
DESCRIPTION:Universities were built for a different age. As artificial intelligence\, demographic change\, geopolitical uncertainty\, and economic pressures reshape society\, long-established assumptions about how universities are governed\, funded\, organised\, and valued are coming under increasing strain. What kinds of institutions will be needed in 2050? Which traditions should be preserved\, and which structures may need to be reinvented? Bringing together perspectives from higher education leadership and technological change\, this session will ask whether the university as we know it is fit for the decades ahead – and what new models of knowledge\, learning\, and institutional life might emerge by 2050.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nVivienne Stern\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVivienne Stern took up the role of UUK Chief Executive in September 2022. Vivienne has over 25 years’ experience of working in higher education policy and politics at national and international level. She previously worked for the Chair of the Education Select Committee of the UK Parliament; as a policy specialist and then Head of Political Affairs for Universities UK; and most recently as the Director of Universities UK International (UUKi) which represents UK universities around the world. She is a member of the UK Government’s Soft Power Council; the Higher Educational Advisory Group; the Skills Advisory Group and the GREAT Private Sector Council. She is Deputy Chair of the Council for At Risk Academics and chairs its Nominations and Governance Committee. She was awarded an MBE for Services to International Education in the New Years’ Honours List 2022.  In 2021 Vivienne received the European Association of International Educators’ “Vision and Leadership” award. Vivienne is a graduate of the University of Cambridge\, where she studied English Literature.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJamie Bartlett\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJamie Bartlett is one of the UK’s leading technology writers and thinkers. His previous books include The People Vs Tech\, winner of the Transmission Prize and longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing\, and The Dark Net. In 2010 Jamie founded a research centre at leading ThinkTank Demos that specialised in designing and applying AI to understand social trends.He has written and presented several hit BBC podcast series\, including The Missing Cryptoqueen\, which reached number 1 in the podcast charts around the world\, and his Ted Talk about the dark net has been watched nearly six million times. He has previously written on the intersection of tech and politics for the Telegraph\, the Spectator\, and the Guardian.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBen Wildavsky\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBen Wildavsky is a visiting fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the award-winning author of The Great Brain Race (Princeton) and the coeditor of Reinventing Higher Education and Measuring Success. His writing has appeared in The New York Times\, The Wall Street Journal\, The Atlantic\, and many other publications. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Marion Thain\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarion Thain comes to Edinburgh Futures Institute from her role as Professor of Culture and Technology at King’s College London\, where she was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for 6 years. While at King’s she founded and led the Digital Futures Institute\, which grew out of her Centre for Attention Studies. She began her career as a Junior Research Fellow at Cambridge University\, and worked in English departments at Russell Group universities before moving to New York University as a professor of Arts and Literature (in English and the school of the interdisciplinary global liberal arts) and Director of Digital Humanities. She returned to the UK in 2018. Marion is interested particularly in the relationship between culture and technology (considering ‘technology’ in the broadest sense)\, and in formations of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/building-the-university-of-2050-leadership-structure-and-strategy/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/18-Sept-Building-the-University-of-2050.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T193000
DTSTAMP:20260917T184504Z
CREATED:20260625T115514Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260917T184504Z
UID:10000371-1789668000-1789673400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Universities and the Future of Truth: AI\, Free Speech\, and Power
DESCRIPTION:At a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping how information is produced\, distributed\, and consumed\, questions of truth\, trust\, and authority have become increasingly urgent. What happens when AI systems mediate public debate\, generate knowledge\, and influence what we see\, believe\, and share? How should universities respond to a world of contested expertise\, information abundance\, and growing distrust in institutions? Bringing together perspectives on technology\, democracy\, public discourse\, and digital rights\, this discussion will explore the role of universities in defending open inquiry\, fostering critical thinking\, and sustaining the conditions for informed public life.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nRumman Chowdhury\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRumman Chowdhury\, PhD\, is a globally recognized expert in responsible AI\, governance\, and algorithmic accountability. She is the CEO and founder of Humane Intelligence public benefit corporation\, and the co-founder of Humane Intelligence\, a nonprofit advancing community-driven AI auditing and evaluation. Appointed as the U.S. Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence\, she engages in global AI governance efforts with a focus on emerging markets. Previously\, she led AI ethics teams at Twitter and Accenture\, pioneering enterprise-level AI risk mitigation tools. Rumman is also a Responsible AI Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and a trusted advisor to international organisations on AI policy and ethics.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJillian C. York\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJillian C. York is a writer and activist whose work examines the impact of technology on our societal and cultural values. Based in London\, she is the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation\, a fellow at the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina\, a visiting professor at the College of Europe Natolin\, and the author of Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism (Verso 2021).  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJeffrey W. Howard\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJeffrey W. Howard is professor of political philosophy and public policy at University College London\, where he is director of the Digital Speech Lab. He is co-editor of the journal Political Philosophy.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Emily Sullivan\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Emily Sullivan is Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. She is the Co-Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute and an Associate Editor for The British Journal of Philosophy of Science. In 2025 she was awarded the Herbert A. Simon Award from the International Association of Computing and Philosophy (IACAP) for outstanding research in computing and philosophy. She is currently the PI on an ERC Starting Grant (2025-2030) that conceptualizes and evaluates machine learning models across science and society as a type of toy model. In this project\, she bridges epistemic and ethical issues in simple computational models with complex modern day machine learning models.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/universities-and-the-future-of-truth-ai-free-speech-and-power/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/17-Sept-Universities-and-the-Future-of-Truth_-AI-Free-Speech-and-Power.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T153000
DTSTAMP:20260917T143434Z
CREATED:20260625T115413Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260917T143434Z
UID:10000370-1789653600-1789659000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Teaching\, Learning\, and the AI University
DESCRIPTION:Artificial intelligence is accelerating change across higher education\, challenging established assumptions about teaching\, assessment\, expertise\, and the value of a university education. As new models of learning emerge\, what should the university of the future look like? Who will shape it\, who will benefit from it\, and what role should universities play in preparing people for a rapidly changing world? This panel will explore how institutions can respond to technological transformation while preserving their educational mission and public purpose.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nRose Luckin\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRose Luckin is Professor Emerita at University College London and Founder and CEO of Educate Ventures Research (EVR). An internationally recognised expert on artificial intelligence and education\, she has more than 30 years of experience researching how technology can support teaching and learning. Rose advises governments\, policymakers\, and industry on the ethical and effective use of AI in education and is a leading voice on the future of learning in an age of rapid technological change. She is co-founder of the Institute for Ethical AI in Education and the author of several influential books\, including Machine Learning and Human Intelligence: The Future of Education for the 21st Century and AI for Schoolteachers.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJanja Komljenovic\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJanja Komljenovic is a Senior Lecturer in Education Futures at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the political economy of higher education and the digitalisation\, datafication\, and platformisation of universities. Her approach intersects economic sociology\, science and technology studies\, and higher education research. She has published internationally on higher education policy\, higher education markets\, and educational technology. Janja acts as a consultant on various international higher education policy projects\, serves as an evaluator for national quality assurance agencies\, and is a member of committees within international organisations.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAndrew Maynard\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAndrew Maynard is a scientist\, professor\, and author at Arizona State University\, where he directs the Future of Being Human initiative. His work explores the nature of advanced technology transitions from a transdisciplinary perspective\, and spans conceptual understanding of the shifting dynamic between technology\, society and the future\, to what it means to flourish in a technologically-transformed world. While his work addresses many facets of emerging technologies\, he is increasingly focused on both the challenges and opportunities emerging around frontier AI modes; especially where they challenge established ideas around learning\, education\, meaning-making and human identity. Andrew has worked with organizations from the OECD and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research\, to the World Economic Forum; has given testimony to congressional committees on tech innovation; is the author of the books Films from the Future and Future Rising\, and co-author with Jeffrey Abbott of AI and the Art of Being Human. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNoah Sobe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNoah W. Sobe\, PhD\, is Chief of Section for Higher Education at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.  Prior to this appointment he had a two-decade career as a professor at Loyola University Chicago.  He was previously at UNESCO (2019-2022) helping to lead a flagship futures of education initiative.  Additionally\, he is a past president of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and former co-editor of the journal European Education. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Sian Bayne\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSian Bayne is Professor of Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. She directs the Centre for Research in Digital Education where her research is currently focused on higher education futures and on interdisciplinary and critical approaches to researching digital education.  
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/teaching-learning-and-the-ai-university/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/17-Sept-Teaching-Learning-and-the-AI-University.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T113000
DTSTAMP:20260917T105746Z
CREATED:20260625T115259Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260917T105746Z
UID:10000369-1789639200-1789644600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The Future of Research in an Age of AI
DESCRIPTION:Artificial intelligence is transforming how knowledge is produced\, analysed\, and shared across every discipline. From scientific discovery and creative practice to the humanities and social sciences\, new tools are reshaping the research process and raising fundamental questions about expertise\, evidence\, and the future of scholarship. How might AI change what researchers do\, how research is conducted\, and what universities contribute to society? This panel will explore the opportunities\, challenges\, and responsibilities facing research institutions as they navigate a new era of knowledge creation. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nDevi Sridhar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDevi Sridhar is a writer\, broadcaster and world-leading expert in public health and wellbeing. She is Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and has advised the WHO\, UNICEF\, UNESCO and the Scottish\, UK and German governments. Devi appears regularly on ITV and Channel 4 News\, has a bi-weekly column in the Guardian\, and a certified Level 3 Personal Trainer. Her first popular book\, Preventable\, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and a Sunday Times bestseller. Her latest book How Not to Die (Too Soon)’ was a Financial Times Book of the Year in 2025.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristopher Smith\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Christopher Smith is the Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)\, UKRI International Champion and Creative Industries Responsible owner UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).  He has been involved across his career in culture\, heritage and the arts in Scotland\, Italy and globally.  He has been Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews since 2002\, and was also Vice-Principal (2007-2009)\, before being seconded as Director of the British School at Rome\, the UK’s leading humanities and creative arts research institute overseas\, from 2009 to 2017.  In 2025 he was appointed as the Chair of the Board of the National Library of Scotland (NLS). He is the author or editor of over 20 books from textual editions to museum studies.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Academia Europaea.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMichael Rovatsos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMichael Rovatsos is Dean of Research and Innovation at the College of Science and Engineering and Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the School of Informatics. He has previously held key leadership roles at the University as Director of The Bayes Centre\, Deputy Vice Principal for AI\, and institutional lead on AI adoption. He currently serves on the Scottish Government’s Tech Council\, the Board of The Data Lab and acts as academic University liaison at the Alan Turing Institute. He has over 25 years of experience in AI research\, where he develops to support collaboration between human and/or artificial agents. He has published over 100 scientific articles on various topics in AI\, and has been involved in research and innovation projects that have received over £20 million of external funding. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Marion Thain\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarion Thain comes to Edinburgh Futures Institute from her role as Professor of Culture and Technology at King’s College London\, where she was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for 6 years. While at King’s she founded and led the Digital Futures Institute\, which grew out of her Centre for Attention Studies. She began her career as a Junior Research Fellow at Cambridge University\, and worked in English departments at Russell Group universities before moving to New York University as a professor of Arts and Literature (in English and the school of the interdisciplinary global liberal arts) and Director of Digital Humanities. She returned to the UK in 2018. Marion is interested particularly in the relationship between culture and technology (considering ‘technology’ in the broadest sense)\, and in formations of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. Details can be found at https://www.marionthain.org 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-future-of-research-in-an-age-of-ai/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/17-Sept-The-Future-of-Research-in-an-Age-of-AI.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260602T191500
DTSTAMP:20260625T095655Z
CREATED:20260409T134034Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260625T095655Z
UID:10000353-1780423200-1780427700@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Beth Simone Noveck: Civic University – Democracy\, AI\, and the Public Imagination
DESCRIPTION:Join Beth Simone Noveck in conversation with Oliver Escobar for a timely exploration of the civic role of the university in an age of democratic uncertainty and rapid technological change. This event will examine how universities can act as democratic institutions – harnessing AI not just as a tool for innovation\, but to strengthen participation\, trust\, and public problem-solving. At a moment when democracy feels increasingly fragile\, what responsibilities do universities hold as civic actors embedded in society? And how can they help design and deploy technologies that serve the public good rather than concentrate power? This conversation invites us to reimagine the university not only as a site of knowledge\, but as a vital partner in renewing democratic life. \n\n\n\nPart of the Future University programme\, this event looks beyond immediate sector challenges to ask what kind of institutions we need for the future – and how universities can rise to meet that moment. \n\n\n\nImage credit: Elise Racine & The Bigger Picture / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nBeth Simone Noveck\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeth Simone Noveck is a professor and director of the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University. She leads The Governance Lab and its InnovateUS initiative. Former U.S. deputy chief technology officer and the first state chief AI strategist\, she founded AI for Impact\, which builds democratic AI with communities. She is the author of Solving Public Problems: A Practical Guide to Fix Our Government and Change Our World and writes on AI and democracy at rebootdemocracy.ai. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Oliver Escobar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Oliver Escobar is the Chair of Public Policy and Democratic Innovation at the University of Edinburgh. He works on participatory and deliberative democracy\, with a focus on public participation\, policy work\, the commons\, political inequalities\, and the governance of the future. Oliver combines research and practice to develop social and democratic innovations across various policy and community contexts. He was Academic Lead on Democratic Innovation at Edinburgh Futures Institute (2019-2023)\, and Co-director of CRITIQUE  (2021-2023). Read more about Oliver: https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/oliver-escobar
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/beth-simone-noveck-civic-university-democracy-ai-and-the-public-imagination/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Future University
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2-June-Beth-Noveck-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260211T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260211T193000
DTSTAMP:20260216T090155Z
CREATED:20260116T100239Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260216T090155Z
UID:10000326-1770832800-1770838200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: What’s the Story with AI? AI Narratives and Counter-narratives
DESCRIPTION:The Technomoral Conversations series brings together leaders\, creators and innovators from academia\, technology\, business and the third sector in a ‘fireside chat’ format to discuss futures that are worth wanting. \n\n\n\nJoin us for the latest event in our Technomoral Conversations series: What’s the Story with AI? Exploring AI Narratives and Counter-Narratives. \n\n\n\nDuring this fireside chat\, we will hear critical insights from experts across academia and industry on the dominant narratives surrounding AI\, and what alternative stories can be and are being told about AI and its place in our futures. \n\n\n\nChaired by Dr Alex Taylor (University of Edinburgh)\, this Technomoral Conversation will feature Dr Abeba Birhane (Trinity College Dublin)\, Steph Wright\, (co-founder and managing director of Our AI Collective CIC)\, and John Thornhill (Financial Times)! \n\n\n\nThis event is a collaboration between the Centre for Technomoral Futures\, the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) Programme and Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Alex Taylor (Chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Alex Taylor is a sociologist with a fascination for the relations between machines and social life\, and what possibilities technoscientific entanglements might create for fundamental transformations in society. He’s currently a Reader in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh\, and an AHRC BRAID fellow focusing on the operationalising of responsibility. He is also a fellow of the RSA\, and holds visiting roles at the University of Sweden and City\, University of London. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Abeba Birhane\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Abeba Birhane founded and leads the TCD AI Accountability Lab (AIAL). She is an assistant professor of AI at the School of Computer Science and Statistics in Trinity College Dublin. Dr Birhane researches AI accountability with a particular focus on audits of AI models and training datasets – work for which she was featured in Wired UK and TIME on the TIME100 Most Influential People in AI list in 2023. Dr Birhane also served on the United Nations Secretary-General’s AI Advisory Body and currently serves at the AI Advisory Council in Ireland. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSteph Wright\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSteph Wright has a diverse background ranging from astrophysics to genomics in academia and film & TV to dance in the arts and the third sector. A project and programme management professional\, she loves to develop and build collaborations across organisations to help people with their data/AI journey. She is co-founder and managing director of Our AI Collective CIC\, which works to empower communities to shape AI’s future and strengthen civic power in the age of AI. Steph was recognised as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics in 2023\, one of the Top 10 Women in Tech in Scotland in 2023 and recently named in the 2025 Digital Leaders AI 100 UK list. She was also awarded the 2024 DataIQ Award for Data & AI For Good Champion. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Thornhill\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Thornhill is the Innovation Editor and Tech Columnist at the Financial Times where he writes a weekly award-winning column on the impact of technology with a particular focus on AI. He is also the founder and editorial director of Sifted\, the FT-backed site for European startups\, and a host of Tech Tonic\, the FT’s technology podcast. \n\n\n\nJohn was previously deputy editor and news editor of the FT in London. He has also been Europe editor\, Paris bureau chief\, Asia editor\, Moscow correspondent and Lex columnist. He is a board member of the Ada Lovelace Institute.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversations-whats-the-story-with-ai-ai-narratives-and-counter-narratives/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Technomoral-Conversations-AI-Narratives-5760-x-3240-px-for-slide-deck-1-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251104T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251104T193000
DTSTAMP:20251105T085945Z
CREATED:20251009T095359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251105T085945Z
UID:10000295-1762279200-1762284600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: How Will AI Change Science?
DESCRIPTION:The Technomoral Conversations series brings together leaders\, creators and innovators from academia\, technology\, business and the third sector in a ‘fireside chat’ format to discuss futures that are worth wanting. \n\n\n\nChaired by the Centre for Technomoral Futures’ new Co-Director\, Dr Emily Sullivan\, this event will feature Dr Eran Tal (Canada Research Chair in Data Ethics and Associate Professor of Philosophy at McGill University)\, Dr Arfon Smith (Senior Fellow at Schmidt Sciences on the Science Systems team)\, and Professor Anna Scaife (Professor of Radio Astronomy\, University of Manchester). During this Technomoral Conversation\, we will hear from these experts on the impact of data driven machine learning and AI on science and knowledge production. \n\n\n\nThis event is a collaboration between the Centre for Technomoral Futures and Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. \n\n\n\nImportant notice: This event will be photographed/recorded\, and images may be used for future marketing\, promotional or archive purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed\, please let organisers know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/55594/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TC-AI-change-science-2160-x-1080-px-for-Even_Jordan-Watson.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251030T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251030T193000
DTSTAMP:20251009T093551Z
CREATED:20251001T150224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251009T093551Z
UID:10000294-1761847200-1761852600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:AI in the City
DESCRIPTION:AI for Collective Intelligence (AI4CI)\, Architecture and Design Scotland (A&DS) and Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) are proud to host a public forum on ‘AI in the City’. \n\n\n\nJoin us for a broad and rounded discussion between expert panellists working within Geocomputation\, city planning\, smart city design\, AI integration and AI ethics. Moderated by Scottish journalist\, broadcaster and presenter Stephen Jardine. \n\n\n\nDo you want to know more about how AI will affect how our cities are designed and managed? How AI will impact our towns\, cities and rural areas? And what work is already in motion? \n\n\n\nThis event will give members of the public access to expert knowledge and the opportunity to ask the questions they most want the answers to. \n\n\n\nJoin us on 30th October and stay engaged with the influence of AI on city living\, building and planning; the challenges\, the opportunities\, the risks\, the rewards and the impact to communities living in these areas. \n\n\n\nAgenda\n\n\n\n17.30 – 17.55: Doors open for arrival18.00 – 18.10: Welcome by Professor Marion Thain\, Director\, Edinburgh Futures Institute18.10 – 19.25: Panel discussion and audience questions19.25 – 19.30: Closing address19.30 – Event End \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Moderator: Stephen Jardine\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScottish journalist\, broadcaster and presenter. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlison Heppenstall\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSmart City Design Theme Lead\, AI4CI & Professor of Geocomputation\, University of Glasgow. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTom Wilkinson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChief Data Officer\, Scottish Government. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCaroline Parkinson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDirector\, Creative/Sector Engagement Manager\, Creative Industries\, Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJeremy Doherty\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEdinburgh Officer Leader\, Arup. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRaffaele Esposito\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCity Design Manager\, Glasgow City Council.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/ai-in-the-city/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Forum,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AI-in-the-City-Eventbrite-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251015T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251015T193000
DTSTAMP:20251001T102222Z
CREATED:20251001T102043Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251001T102222Z
UID:10000293-1760551200-1760556600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:CTMF Flagship Lecture: Wisdom for an Artificial Age
DESCRIPTION:Join us for our Centre for Technomoral Futures (CTMF) Flagship Lecture\, where we will hear from Professor John P. Sullins (Sonoma State University) on\, ‘Wisdom for an Artificial Age.’ \n\n\n\nAbstract\n\n\n\nArtificial Intelligence has confronted philosophy in five different intellectual wars\, wars that consumed philosophers and other thinkers as the technology of AI advanced from a mere idea to the headline-dominating technology that it is today. AI technologies have had a disruptive history that even their proponents have found concerning. Professor John P. Sullins will review this history and explore the surprising role that human wisdom is playing to help us navigate the challenges of AI technologies and create a more humane future. \n\n\n\nDon’t miss out on this thought-provoking event\, taking place on Wednesday\, 15th October 2025 at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and online. Doors open at 17.45. \n\n\n\nProfessor Sullins’ lecture will be followed by a reception. \n\n\n\nThis event is free\, but tickets are limited. Please register if you plan to attend. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biography\n\n\n\nProfessor John P. Sullins\n\n\n\nJohn P. Sullins is Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at Sonoma State University and co-director of the Sonoma State University Center for Ethics Law and Society (CELS). He is coauthor of the book Great Philosophical Objections to Artificial Intelligence: The History and Legacy of the AI Wars (2nd ed. in 2026). His research includes AI ethics for security and defense as well as building ethical competency in robotics applications. He has published extensively on topics in the philosophy of technology\, philosophical issues of artificial intelligence and robotics. Professor Sullins is involved in industry and government consultation involving ethical practices in technology design and deployment. He was the co-author of IEEE Courses on Ethics\, AI\, and Autonomous Systems as well as chairing the committee on Affective Computing for the IEEE “Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems.” He also co-chairs the IEEE Standards Committee P7008 – Standard for Ethically Driven Nudging for Robotic\, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems. \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Online joining instructions will be posted on the Eventbrite\, and sent to virtual attendees on the day of the event. \n\n\n\nImportant notice: This event will be photographed/recorded\, and images may be used for future marketing\, promotional or archive purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed\, please let organisers know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/ctmf-flagship-lecture-wisdom-for-an-artificial-age/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/John-Sullins-Flagship-Lecture-Eventbrite_Jordan-Watson.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250824T151500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250824T161500
DTSTAMP:20250717T100822Z
CREATED:20250717T100820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250717T100822Z
UID:10000282-1756048500-1756052100@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Richard Susskind: Navigating the AI Revolution
DESCRIPTION:For Richard Susskind\, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the defining challenge of our age. Drawing on 40 years’ experience in the field\, his multidisciplinary book How to Think about AI: A Guide for the Perplexed demystifies AI’s ethical\, economic\, and social implications. Hear Susskind today\, cutting through the still-unfolding maze of uncertainty to show us how to think responsibly about our technological future. Chaired by Shannon Vallor. \n\n\n\nSupported by Edinburgh Futures Institute.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/richard-susskind-navigating-the-ai-revolution/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Edinburgh International Book Festival,Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250612T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250612T153000
DTSTAMP:20250605T144700Z
CREATED:20250515T130004Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250605T144700Z
UID:10000272-1749720600-1749742200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:How Revolutionary is AI? International Digital Futures Network Summer Symposium
DESCRIPTION:Just how revolutionary is the AI revolution? And to what extent will it change the world around us? This year’s International Digital Futures Network Summer Symposium brings together experts in the field from across academia and industry to explore these questions and more over a day of talks\, panels and open discussions. \n\n\n\nCo-hosted by Edinburgh Futures Institute and Bristol Digital Futures Institute\, this year’s event will take place in the Futures Institute’s new home; a beautifully transformed\, historic building which provides a dynamic futures-focused space for learning\, research\, and innovation at the University of Edinburgh. \n\n\n\nSchedule\n\n\n\n09:30Arrival\, tea and coffee  10:00An introduction to the International Digital Futures Institute fromProfessor Marion Thain Director\, Edinburgh Futures Institute and member of the IDFN Steering Group10:10 – 11.10Evolution vs Revolution: How did we get here with AI?Professor Jane Hillston with Steven Connor  11:15 -12:15The 8 Foundational Principles for Genuinely Intelligent (and Useful) AIDr Marcus Weldon with Sandra Woolley12:15  – 13:15Lunch  13:15  – 14.15Generative AI: Distinguishing Hype from HallelujahProfessor Peter Flach with Sanja Milivojevic14:15 – 15:15Panel discussion  15:15 -15:30  Closing remarks\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Jane Hillston\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJane Hillston is a Professor of Quantitative Modelling\, Dean of Research Culture and REF\, Interim Co-Director of University of Edinburgh’s Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL)\, and former Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. In March 2007 she was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 2018\, to the membership of the Academia Europaea. She is the recipient of the Suffrage Science Award for Computer Science and the RSE Lord Kelvin Medal. She was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2022. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Marcus Weldon\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarcus Weldon is the Emeritus President of Bell Labs\, the world-renowned innovation powerhouse that defined the current digital age.  He has currently helping a wide variety of companies with their AI strategies\, as well as acting as the Contributing Editor for AI for Newsweek magazine with the AI Impact series of interviews with the leading prognosticators\, pioneers and practitioners of AI across the globe. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Peter Flach\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter Flach has been involved in AI research for four decades. He joined the Department (now School) of Computer Science at the University of Bristol in 1997 and has been Professor of Artificial Intelligence since 2003. An internationally leading scholar in the evaluation and improvement of machine learning models\, he has also published on mining highly structured data\, on knowledge-driven and explainable AI\, and on the methodology of data science. His books include Simply Logical: Intelligent Reasoning by Example (John Wiley\, 1994; interactive online edition\, 2022) and Machine Learning: the Art and Science of Algorithms that Make Sense of Data (Cambridge University Press\, 2012). From 2010 until 2020\, Prof Flach was Editor-in-Chief of the Machine Learning journal. He is a founding board member\, previous President and current Vice-President of the European Association for Data Science. He is a Fellow of the European Lab for Learning and Intelligent Systems and of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence. He was the founding director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence\, and currently directs the UKRI AI Centre for Doctoral Training in Practice-Oriented Artificial Intelligence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is co-hosted by Edinburgh Futures Institute and Bristol Digital Futures Institute.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/how-revolutionary-is-ai-international-digital-futures-network-summer-symposium/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Symposium
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250502T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250502T190000
DTSTAMP:20250624T103849Z
CREATED:20250205T123126Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250624T103849Z
UID:10000232-1746208800-1746212400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Marcus du Sautoy: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity
DESCRIPTION:Many of the artists that we encounter are completely unaware of the mathematics that bubble beneath their craft\, while some consciously use it for inspiration. Our instincts might tell us that these two subjects are incompatible forces with nothing in common – mathematics being the realm of precise logic and art being the realm of emotion and aesthetics – but what if we’re wrong?  \n\n\n\nMarcus du Sautoy joins us at the Futures Institute to unpack how we make art\, why a creative mindset is vital for discovering new mathematics\, and how a fundamental connection to the natural world intrinsically links these two subjects.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nMarcus du Sautoy\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarcus du Sautoy has been named by the Independent on Sunday as one of the UK’s leading scientists\, has written extensively for the Guardian\, The Times and the Daily Telegraph and has appeared on Radio 4 on numerous occasions. In 2008 he was appointed to Oxford University’s prestigious professorship as the Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science\, a post previously held by Richard Dawkins.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Minhyong Kim\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMinhyong Kim is Director and Sir Edmund Whittaker Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh. He works on arithmetic geometry\, the study of spaces built out of finitely-generated systems of numbers\, employing ideas of mathematical physics\, especially topological quantum field theory.  Minhyong is a keen communicator of mathematics and has published 13 books in Korea for the general public. His latest project is a series of illustrated children’s books featuring a mathematician (who quickly disappears)\, his family (who search for him)\, and Schroedinger’s cat (who does both).
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/marcus-de-sautoy-how-mathematics-shapes-creativity/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250429T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250429T203000
DTSTAMP:20250410T093314Z
CREATED:20250205T122745Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250410T093314Z
UID:10000231-1745949600-1745958600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The New Real Salon: Doing AI Differently 
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the third iteration of The New Real Salon\, which introduces their new international initiative\, Doing AI Differently. This initiative sets out to integrate the humanities\, data science\, and engineering in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. It is led by The New Real and the Data-Centric Engineering at Alan Turing Institute; and brings together the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC/UKRI) and partner institutions in the UK and North America.  \n\n\n\nAI has transitioned from numerical outputs to text-based\, qualitative ones\, highlighting the need for the humanities\, arts and social sciences to guide its development. Doing AI Differently brings humanities insights directly into AI design\, fostering collaboration between disciplines and aims to address complex\, context-dependent tasks in AI. By doing so\, it enhances AI tools for deep contextual analysis across different domains\, and fundamentality advances data-centric engineering.  \n\n\n\nThis event will showcase insights from our research in exploring humanities-based approaches to AI design. Throughout the event\, audience members will have the opportunity to participate in the discussion.  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nImage credit: Yutong Liu & Kingston School of Art  / Better Images of AI / Talking to AI 2.0 / CC-BY 4.0
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-new-real-salon-doing-ai-differently/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250425T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250425T190000
DTSTAMP:20250327T151901Z
CREATED:20250205T121926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250327T151901Z
UID:10000230-1745604000-1745607600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:David Farrier: Nature’s Genius
DESCRIPTION:Life on Earth is changing; the question is\, can we change with it? Can we remake the world to be fit for all life to thrive once more? In his new book Nature’s Genuis: Evolution’s Lessons for a Changing World\, Professor David Farrier takes us on a profound journey into this ever-changing natural world\, encouraging us to think creatively about finding ways that we can adapt\, ways to stop the destruction we’re causing to the planet.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Farrier\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Farrier is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh. David’s first book\, Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils\, looked at the marks we are leaving on the planet and how these might appear in the fossil record in the deep future. It was named by both The Times and Telegraph as a Book of the Year\, earned praise from Robert Macfarlane and Margaret Atwood\, and has been translated into ten languages. He has had pieces published in The Atlantic\, BBC Future\, Emergence\, Prospect\, Daily Telegraph\, Orion and The Washington Post. He has spoken at numerous online events\, has given an invited lecture at the Royal Geographical Society\, and has appeared on radio and podcasts such as BBC’s Free Thinking and Little Atoms.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Hermione Cockburn\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHermione Cockburn is an Honorary Fellow of the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh and former Scientific Director at Dynamic Earth. She began her career in research working on landscape evolution in Africa\, Antarctica and Australia before moving on to present science programmes for the BBC including an 8-part television series about British palaeontology for which she wrote an accompanying book. She is passionate about empowering people with understanding and empathy for the Earth and enabling life-long learning. She was an associate lecturer with the Open University in Scotland teaching environmental science for many years and now works with a variety of organisations to support learning for a range of audiences. Hermione is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh\, a trustee of National Museums Scotland and in 2020 was awarded an OBE for services to public engagement in science. 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/david-farrier-natures-genius/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/250425_DavidFarrierNaturesGenius.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250417T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250417T193000
DTSTAMP:20250623T104406Z
CREATED:20250205T120000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250623T104406Z
UID:10000228-1744912800-1744918200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:A&I (Beta): Orange Grove Dance’s Embodied Performance with AI
DESCRIPTION:An international premiere performance by dance\, design\, and film company\, Orange Grove Dance (USA)\, A&I is a new dance and multimedia live production between five performers and a solitary AI interface (Luna) that uses smart home technology on a theatrical scale. The work questions how we see and care for the technologies we have created\, which hold up the fragile ecosystems of modern society.  \n\n\n\nA&I PERFORMANCE TRAILER CAN BE FOUND HERE ** \n\n\n\nA&I is a first-of-its-kind production\, integrating AI technology to respond to performers’ actions in real-time while controlling technical elements of the performance. The work explores how we perceive and care for the technologies rapidly shaping the modern world. Engaged in embodied conversations of their hopes and dreams\, the performers and Luna (AI) are led into situations where they must see each other ‘face-to-face’— together creating emotionally driven digital and sonic landscapes that reference the nostalgia of what it means to be a 21st century human.   \n\n\n\n**Performances at The Voxel in April 2024 marked the Beta debut of the work. Performances of A&I will continue to change and develop as the technology for the work continues to evolve.  \n\n\n\nAbout Orange Grove Dance\n\n\n\nOrange Grove Dance (OGD) continually redefines creative ingenuity through its interdisciplinary approach to dance and art-making. Known for innovative performances that blend movement\, design\, film\, and technology\, the company consistently expands the boundaries of contemporary dance. The imagistic gravity of the work compels audiences beyond the confines of traditional stage venues and reflects the extraordinary influence of dance in everyday life. Under the direction of Artistic Directors Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves\, OGD’s acclaimed canon of works is recognised for its powerful imagery and choreography\, which engages audiences in a world that is relevant\, mysterious\, and absorbing.  \n\n\n\nOGD enacts its mission (to bring dance\, design\, and film to all communities) through the artistic vehicle of its presentation\, research\, and educational programming through films\, performances\, classes and workshops and – a hallmark of its programming – the OGD Summer Intensive. The Intensive serves as a unique embodiment of the company’s priorities and mission to embolden interdisciplinary artists and designers through an affordable weeklong incubation with the company. The OGD Intensive allows artists to get inside of OGD’s creative processes while continuing the development and exploration of their own artistic voice.  \n\n\n\nOver the past decade OGD has been presented by The Voxel\, The Kennedy Center\, Dance Place\, Maryland Theater for the Performing Arts\, U.S. Botanic Garden\, Museum of Zhang Zhidong\, City of Alexandria’s Waterfront Park\, CulturalDC\, Dupont Underground\, Joe’s Movement Emporium\, and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.  \n\n\n\nBiographies\n\n\n\n\n\nColette Krogol and Matt Reeves || Artistic Directors\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nColette Krogol and Matt Reeves are acclaimed directors\, choreographers\, filmmakers\, and mixed media designers. As a collaborative duo they have been creating dances together for over fifteen years through their founding and directing of Orange Grove Dance. Their award-winning works are noted for bringing virtuosic athleticism\, mesmerizing design landscapes\, and powerful imagery to their audiences.   \n\n\n\nKrogol and Reeves are Helen Hayes Award winners for “Outstanding Choreography in a Play” for their work in Round House Theatre’s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2020). Additional honors and commissions include: 2023 Rubys Artist Grantees through the Deutsch Foundation\, The Carla Fund for Choreography and Performance (Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation)\, Maryland State Arts Council’s Artist Awards\, the Baker Artist Awards (2024\, 2023\, and 2021)\, and The Voxel’s 2024 Artists-in-Residence program– where they continued developing their newest stage work\, A&I.   \n\n\n\nAs faculty\, they have served at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute\, Towson University\, George Washington University\, University of Florida\, University of Maryland\, and the Wuhan Institute of Design and Sciences in China. They have also directed residencies at American University\, Dickinson College\, Sweet Briar College\, Hillsborough Community College\, and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLondon Brison || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLondon Brison\, a South Tennessee native\, is an East Coast-based performing artist. Holding a BFA in Dance from Troy University in Alabama\, he has trained under mentors like Dominic Angel and Dante Puleio\, while showcasing his talent in works by choreographers including Kyle Abraham\, Kile Hotchkiss\, Tucker Knox\, and Trey Coates-Mitchell. Brison’s professional credits include Dendy/Donovan Projects\, Orange Grove Dance\, Dafi Alteba\, Chris Bell Dances\, and The Dash Ensemble with notable performances at the American Dance Festival\, Jacob’s Pillow\, the U.S. Botanic Garden\, The Kennedy Center\, New York Live Arts\, and Dance Place DC.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRobin Neveu Brown || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRobin Neveu Brown is a Baltimore/DC-based dance teaching artist\, performer\, choreographer\, writer\, and mover/lover/mother. Her passion is working with people as a creativity amplifier\, uncovering the connections between body\, mind\, heart\, and community. To that end\, she works as an early childhood teaching artist with the Wolf Trap Institute and Arts for Learning Maryland\, spreading the gospel of embodied learning. She holds an MFA and BFA in Dance from the University of Maryland and the University of Florida\, respectively. Additionally\, Robin is a trained birth doula\, helping people transition into parenthood through the meaningful movement of pregnancy\, labor\, and birth. Robin has had the continually soul-feeding experience of working with Orange Grove Dance since 2015.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLevi Coy || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLevi Coy (they/he) is a queer artist\, choreographer\, educator\, filmmaker\, and mover based in Baltimore\, MD. Levi’s artistry has been showcased through captivating performances with The Collective\, Kinetics Dance Company\, GRIDLOCK Dance\, Extreme Lengths Productions\, and Orange Grove Dance. With a BFA in Dance from Ball State University\, Coy also serves as faculty at Howard Community College training students at all levels of modern/contemporary technique.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJuliana Pongutá Forero || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJuliana Pongutá Forero is an artist\, choreographer and educator born in Colombia. Her works and practices explore the relationship between imagination\, creativity and community. She is passionate about creating and exploring experiences that foster individual curiosities while developing capacities for collaboration and reflection. Her original work has been presented in several Latin American countries and the United States\, and she has collaborated with various companies such as Orange Grove Dance\, S.J. Ewing & Dancers\, and Dance Exchange in the DC area. Currently\, she is studying social work as a way to interconnect dance and community work.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDylan Glatthorn || Composer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDylan Glatthorn is a Brooklyn-based composer and sound designer. Dylan has written music for eleven feature films\, numerous shorts\, documentaries\, and commercials for clients such as Lindt\, Nickelodeon\, Oakley\, Red Bull\, Alessi\, PBS\, and the Tokyo Metro. As a long-time collaborator with Orange Grove Dance\, he has composed numerous original musical scores for their works including REMNANTS (Premiere: Kennedy Center in Washington\, D.C.) and Leaning Toward the Sky (commissioned by the US Botanic Garden in Washington\, D.C.). His original full-length musicals include The Pelican (MTW New Works Fest ’24\, NAMT Festival ’22\, Frank Young Fund Grant ’20-’21)\, Pottersfield (NFMT Grant ’24) and Edison. Original one-act musicals include Bittersweet Lullaby\, Starshine\, and Peach Melba. Other awards and honors include: RaumArs Artist Residency (Finland)\, New Hampshire Theatre Award for Best Sound Design\, Clive Davis Award for Excellence in Music in Film\, Best Original Score at First Run Film Festival\, and two-time recipient of the Alan Menken Award. Member: TNNY Musical Writers Lab\, ASCAP\, and The Dramatists Guild of America\, Inc. www.dylanglatthorn.com  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter Leibold VI || Systems & Design \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter Leibold VI is a lighting and projection designer based in New York City. His work includes shows at The Kennedy Center\, Signature Theatre\, Synetic Theatre\, Sierra Repertory Theatre\, Andy’s Summer Playhouse\, The Spoleto Festival\, The Geffen Stayhouse\, Annapolis Opera Company\, and many more. Some of the work Peter is most proud of is many shows with Orange Grove Dance. See more of his work at www.peterleibold.com  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShanice Mason || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShanice Mason (she/her) is a Washington\, DC-based dance artist\, consultant\, and educator. She is an adjunct professor in the School of Dance at George Mason University and a faculty member at both the VIVA School of Dance and the Madeira School. As a performer\, Shanice has worked with esteemed companies\, and her choreographic work has been showcased at Dance Place\, The Clarice Performing Arts Center\, The Madeira School\, and the VIVA School of Dance. Most recently\, Shanice has been focused on her artistic collaboration with Jamison Curcio and their commitment to durational experiences\, experimental usages of space\, and community care. They are currently the 2024-25 Local Dance Commissioning Project grantees at the Kennedy Center and have a new work premiering at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in February 2025.  \n\n\n\nShanice brings extensive expertise as a digital media consultant\, collaborating with organizations such as the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)\, BlackLight Summit\, Callahan Consulting for the Arts\, the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA)\, CityDance Productions\, Inc.\, and Dance/USA.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLuna || Performer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLuna is a new AI currently in its second stage of development that was created specifically for this work\, A&I. Seen as a sixth performer in the space\, Luna orchestrates the sensory landscape for A&I by processing verbal prompts given by the other five on-stage performers. As the always-listening conductor\, Luna then responds by transforming the dynamic canvas of the stage in real-time—marking a paradigm shift in the collaborative relationship possible between art and technology.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHeather Rikic || Event Chair\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHeather Rikic is the programme director of the University’s MSc Dance Science and Education programme and a teaching fellow on postgraduate and undergraduate courses at Moray House School of Education and Sport. Before moving to Edinburgh\, Heather performed for various independent contemporary choreographers in New York City\, USA and Belgrade\, Serbia; taught learners of various ages and abilities including as a teaching artist for Alonzo King LINES Dance Center (San Francisco\, USA)\, New York City Ballet’s education department\, KC Magacin (Belgrade\, Serbia)\, Dance Base (Edinburgh) and currently teaches Cunningham Technique® at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow). 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/ai-beta-orange-grove-dances-embodied-performance-with-ai/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Performance
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250410T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250410T193000
DTSTAMP:20250429T105152Z
CREATED:20250205T120000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250429T105152Z
UID:10000226-1744308000-1744313400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: AI & Creative Labour
DESCRIPTION:The Technomoral Conversations series brings together leaders\, creators and innovators from academia\, technology\, business and the third sector in a ‘fireside chat’ format to discuss futures that are worth wanting. Focusing on AI and creative labour\, this Technomoral Conversation will look at issues ranging from the AI industry’s copyright violations\, to the responses from creatives in the UK and elsewhere\, to the wider ethical and political questions about the role of AI in creative practice and culture.  \n\n\n\nThe Centre for Technomoral Futures\n\n\n\nThe Centre for Technomoral Futures focuses on the ethical implications of present and future advances in AI\, machine learning and other data-driven technologies. It supports work and research in these areas across the Futures Institute\, the University of Edinburgh and with a wide portfolio of partners\, projects and networks.  \n\n\n\nAs part of Edinburgh Futures Institute\, the Centre’s shared goal is to help people create and shape more resilient\, sustainable and equitable forms of life. The Centre for Technomoral Futures is a home for developing more constructive modes of innovation: innovation that preserves and strengthens human ties and capabilities; that builds more accessible and just paths to public participation in the co-creation of our futures; and that reinvests the power of technology into the repair\, maintenance and care of our communities and our planet.  \n\n\n\nBridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID)\n\n\n\nBRAID is a UK-wide programme dedicated to integrating Arts and Humanities research more fully into the Responsible AI ecosystem\, as well as bridging the divides between academic\, industry\, policy and regulatory work on responsible AI. They represent a six-year\, £15.9 million investment in enabling responsible AI in the UK\, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and running from 2022 to 2028. Working in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and BBC\, their team brings together expertise in human-computer interaction\, moral philosophy\, arts\, design\, law\, social sciences\, journalism\, and AI. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nCaroline Sinders\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCaroline Sinders is an award winning critical designer\, researcher\, and artist. They’re the founder of human rights and design lab\, Convocation Research + Design\, and a current BRAID fellow with the University of Arts\, London. For the past few years\, they have been examining the intersections of artificial intelligence\, intersectional justice\, harmful design\, systems and politics in digital conversational spaces and technology platforms. They’ve worked with the Tate Exchange at the Tate Modern\, the United Nations\, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office\, the European Commission\, Ars Electronica\, the Harvard Kennedy School and others. Caroline is currently based between London\, UK and New Orleans\, USA.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPaula Westenberger\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Paula Westenberger is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law and a member of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence at Brunel University of London. She has a Masters and a PhD in IP law from Queen Mary University of London\, and is the Deputy Editor of the European Copyright and Design Reports. Her research interests cover the intersection between copyright law\, human rights and culture\, with a particular focus on the use of digital technologies (including AI) in the cultural heritage sector. She is a BRAID Research Fellow working on the project ‘Responsible AI for Heritage: copyright and human rights perspectives’ in partnership with RBG Kew. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRichard Combes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRichard Combes is the Head of Rights and Licensing and Deputy Chief Executive for ALCS. His work focuses on the development of collective rights and licensing schemes in the UK and internationally\, aimed at providing writers with fair remuneration for the re-use of their work. This role involves a significant degree of partnership and collaboration with other UK writers’ organisations and licensing bodies as well as authors’ societies and collecting agencies around the world. \n\n\n\nRichard’s department is also responsible for engaging with UK and EU policy on copyright and authors’ rights – an area of growing prominence on the political agenda – by drafting responses to government consultations\, preparing Ministerial briefings and setting the agenda for the All Party Writers’ Group. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Shannon Vallor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Shannon Vallor serves as Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She holds the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. Professor Vallor joined the Futures Institute in 2020 following a career in the United States as a leader in the ethics of emerging technologies\, including a post as a visiting AI Ethicist at Google from 2018-2020. She is the author of The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (Oxford University Press\, 2024) and Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press\, 2016). She serves as advisor to government and industry bodies on responsible AI and data ethics. She is also Principal Investigator and Co-Director (with Professor Ewa Luger) of the UKRI research programme BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides)\, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversations-ai-creative-labour/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250404T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250404T123000
DTSTAMP:20250416T140957Z
CREATED:20250324T153959Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250416T140957Z
UID:10000224-1743764400-1743769800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:In Pursuit of Justice: Lockerbie
DESCRIPTION:On 21 December 1988\, Pan Am flight 103 was flying over Lockerbie when a bomb in the cargo hold exploded\, killing 270 people. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history. \n\n\n\nAcclaimed playwright David Harrower (Knives In Hens\, Blackbird\, A Slow Air) is the writer of Sky Atlantic’s 2025 series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth\, starring Colin Firth. Based on The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph\, the series follows Jim and Jane Swire’s dogged pursuit of justice for the victims of the bombing\, including their daughter Flora. \n\n\n\nThis event explores the use of drama in campaigning for justice\, placing Lockerbie: A Search for Truth in a lineage of consciousness-raising TV from Cathy Come Home in 1966 to last year’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Drama can shine a light on issues of truth\, mercy and redress\, but what responsibility does the writer have when portraying real people and events? How are the demands of art and story balanced with personal ethics? What can Jim Swire’s decades-long search for answers about the Lockerbie bombing tell us about justice and its limits?  \n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Harrower\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Harrower is an Olivier-Award-winning and Tony-nominated Scottish playwright and screenwriter. He has just written and executive produced 5 episodes for Carnival / NBC Universal / Sky’s original TV series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth\, based on the true story of Jim Swire’s search for justice after his daughter died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The series is directed by Otto Bathurst\, stars Colin Firth\, and premiered in January 2025 to critical acclaim. Film includes an adaptation of his play Blackbird as a feature film for Film 4\, retitled Una\, directed by Benedict Andrews and starring Rooney Mara\, Ben Mendelsohn and Riz Ahmed. Theatre includes Blackbird (written at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities)\, which won an Olivier Award for Best New Play for its premiere in the West End in 2006 before transferring to New York\, and which received 3 Tony nominations including Best Revival for its Broadway revival in 2016. He’s currently writing a new TV series for Submarine based on a true story about espionage during the Cold War\, with Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) attached to direct.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/in-pursuit-of-justice-lockerbie/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Performance
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250401T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250401T193000
DTSTAMP:20250317T113804Z
CREATED:20250205T124933Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250317T113804Z
UID:10000222-1743530400-1743535800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Culture is Bad for You
DESCRIPTION:Culture is Bad for You offers a powerful call to transform the cultural and creative industries\, by examining the intersections between race\, class\, and gender in inequalities in cultural occupations. Exclusion from culture begins at an early age\, the authors argue\, and despite claims by cultural institutions and businesses to hire talented and hardworking individuals\, women\, people of colour\, and those from working-class backgrounds are systematically disbarred. Since its publication in 2020 the book has proved a powerful provocation to policymakers and cultural practitioners\, and found resonance in cultural policy and sociology researchers internationally.  \n\n\n\nTo mark the publication of a new\, updated edition\, this event will bring together scholars from around the world with the authors to discuss the mechanisms of exclusion in cultural work and how they are mirrored in other national and policy contexts.  \n\n\n\nThis event is hosted in partnership with the Edinburgh Centre for Data\, Culture & Society (CDCS).  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nOrian Brook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrian Brook is Chancellor’s Fellow in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. She studies social and spatial inequalities in the creative economy\, and holds an ESRC ADR Fellowship exploring earnings of creative graduates. She is co-author of the book Culture is Bad for You and the report ‘A Class Act: Social mobility and the creative industries’ published with the Sutton Trust. She is a member of the College of Experts for the Department for Culture\, Media and Sport.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDave O’Brien\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDave O’Brien is Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at the School of Arts\, Languages and Cultures\, University of Manchester. He is the co-author of Culture is bad for you\, and has written numerous papers on the contemporary creative economy. His policy research includes a role in the AHRC-funded Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre\,  the co-authored Panic! report\, and the Creative Diversity APPG’s Creative Majority and the Making the Creative Majority reports. He has twice been an advisor to the House of Commons’ Culture\, Media and Sport Select Committee\, and is currently on a research secondment to the UK government’s Department for Culture\, Media and Sport.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nantonio cuyler\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nantonio c. cuyler\, PhD (he/him/his) is Professor of Music in Entrepreneurship & Leadership\, Faculty Associate in Voice & Opera in the School of Music\, Theatre & Dance (SMTD)\, and Faculty Associate in the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan. Dr. cuyler’s scholarship interweaves curiosities and inquiries about arts administration\, entrepreneurship\, leadership\, management curricula\, creative justice\, cultural policy\, and experiential learning. The central question of his consulting\, research\, service\, and teaching portfolio is\, “in what ways can the creative sector ensure and protect the creative justice of historically and continuously low casted\, othered\, and subalterned peoples?” Routledge will publish his forthcoming book\, Achieving Creative Justice in the U. S. Creative Sector\, in March. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nElysia Lechelt\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nElysia Lechelt is a Lecturer in the School of Art History at the University of Edinburgh. Specialising in cultural policy\, her research questions how we might begin to (re)imagine cultural policy in ways that move it away from dominant imperatives and notions of cultural value and towards issues of social justice and human flourishing. Her expertise encompasses urban and regional cultural policy practices\, creative industries\, and cultural labour. Furthermore\, she has authored and presented work on participatory (or co-produced) cultural policy processes. Elysia is committed to investigating the essential role of art and culture in promoting a more equitable and sustainable society. Currently\, she is examining how a capability approach can be utilised to understand the arts’ potential to enhance collective well-being and drive transformative policy change. Before entering academia\, Elysia gained experience in the cultural sector\, working with organisations such as Contemporary Calgary\, where she managed public programming\, audience development\, and community outreach initiatives. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeata Kowalczyk\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeata M. Kowalczyk is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Sociology\, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań\, Poland\, and an associated researcher at the Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l’Économie et de la Société (Paris 1 Panthéone Sorbonne). Currently\, she is a Nawa Bekker Research Fellow at the School of Social and Political Science\, University of Edinburgh. She has conducted multi-sited fieldwork on the working conditions in the arts\, with a focus on Japanese musicians navigating the professional landscape of the classical music industry in Warsaw\, Paris\, and Tokyo. Her research has been published in Recherches sociologiques et anthropologiques\, Work\, Gender & Organization\, Men and Masculinities and other outlets. She is also the author of Transnational Musicians. Precariousness\, Ethnicity and Gender in the Creative Industry (Routledge\, 2021). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInés Ruiz Alvarado\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInés Ruiz Alvarado is UNESCO Chair in Public Policy and Cultural Management at the Universidad Científica del Sur\, and Co-Chair of the Executive Committee of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Peru. Her research focuses on social and gender inequalities\, particularly examining the intersections of gender\, race\, and class. Her career spans key areas such as gender studies\, human rights\, and community communication. Her doctoral research examined the consequences of forced sterilization campaigns on the lives of affected women\, culminating in the book Pájaros de Medianoche. Las esterilizaciones forzadas en el Perú y la lucha de sus víctimas por ser reconocidas (Editorial Planeta) and the documentary A Futile Voice\, which delves into their struggles for recognition and justice. Her work bridges academic research and creative expression\, advocating for transformative change in social landscapes. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Kirsten Lloyd\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKirsten Lloyd is a Senior Lecturer in the School of History of Art at The University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on late 20th and 21st art and mediation\, including lens-based practice\, participatory work and realism. She is a Research Fellow with the ‘Feminism\, Art\, Maintenance’ project\, funded by the Swedish Research Council\, a member of the Glasgow Housing Struggles collective and the Academic Lead for the University’s Contemporary Art Research Collection. Kirsten is currently working on the next phase of the collaborative exhibition and research project Life Support: Forms of Care in Art and Activism with Glasgow Women’s Library and a book called Contemporary Art and Capitalist Life which has been supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/culture-is-bad-for-you/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250325T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250325T193000
DTSTAMP:20250327T110147Z
CREATED:20250205T120000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250327T110147Z
UID:10000220-1742925600-1742931000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Creating to Celebrate: the Edinburgh Seven Tapestry
DESCRIPTION:Join us to celebrate the Edinburgh Seven Tapestry and its installation in 2024 at its new home: the Edinburgh Futures Institute. This event will feature Artist Christine Borland and Dovecot Master Weaver Naomi Robertson in conversation with Professor Andrew Patrizio\, and will be introduced by Professor Marion Thain\, Director of EFI and Celia Joicey\, Director of Dovecot Studios. As one of the first of several events exploring the Tapestry\, they will discuss creativity\, collaboration and what it means to make a piece of artwork that honours the achievements of important\, and potentially overlooked\, women in history.   \n\n\n\nDovecot Studios in Edinburgh is the UK’s oldest tapestry studio\, which has enjoyed global acclaim for artworks created in collaboration with artists from David Hockney and Chris Ofili to Helen Frankenthaler and Alberta Whittle.  \n\n\n\nTheir latest commission\, a triptych designed by Christine Borland and woven by Dovecot using traditional techniques and innovative materials\, celebrates The Edinburgh Seven\, the first women to matriculate at any UK university.  \n\n\n\nThe Edinburgh Seven Tapestry is the first major artwork to be installed in Edinburgh Futures Institute. It is an extraordinary tribute to pioneering students who showed resilience and determination when their path to education was blocked. They overcame these challenges in different ways – with some continuing their studies in other countries and others becoming valued supporters of women’s education and medical practice.     \n\n\n\nInterdisciplinarity\, collaboration and data are core to the work of Edinburgh Futures Institute and many disciplines and professional roles were essential to the creation\, production and installation of the tapestry. It has been produced with care\, commitment and respect and inspires those who work\, study and view it\, both online and in person. Although none of the Edinburgh Seven had a chance to practice medicine in the building\, we are pleased that the tapestry allows us to bring these women home.   \n\n\n\nCommissioned by Dovecot Studios\, with funding from Sir Ewan and Lady Brown.  \n\n\n\nRead more about the tapestry here. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nChristine Borland\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristine Borland is an artist based in Argyll\, Scotland\, known for her pioneering critical\, cross-disciplinary collaborations that explore the relationships between human and non-human ecologies. Christine is a Professor at Northumbria University she co-lead the research group\, ‘The Cultural Negotiation of Science. In 2016 she was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Glasgow and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2020. Her works have been shown in numerous international exhibitions\, including The Turner Prize and the Venice Biennale\, and are permanently sited in public spaces and collections world-wide.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNaomi Robertson\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhotograph: Mike Wilkinson\n\n\n\n\n\nNaomi Robertson is a Master Weaver and Head of the Tapestry Studio at Dovecot Studios. After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 1990 with a BA(Hons) in Tapestry\, Naomi joined Dovecot Studios as a Weaver and was appointed Studio Manager in 2013. Naomi has worked on some of the studio’s highest-profile design and weaving commissioned projects. These have included the R. B. Kitaj tapestry in the British Library\, the Butterfly tapestry created in collaboration with Alison Watt for the Theatre Royal\, and ‘Entanglement is More Than Blood’ with Alberta Whittle for the 59th Venice Biennale \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCelia Joicey\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCelia Joicey joined Dovecot as Director in September 2017. She is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal College of Art. Prior to her appointment as Director of Dovecot Studios\, she was Head of the Fashion and Textile Museum\, and before that\, Head of Publications at the National Portrait Gallery in London and Editor of the RSA Journal and Head of Publications at the Royal Society of Arts.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Andrew Patrizio\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Andrew Patrizio holds the Chair of Scottish Visual Culture at the University of Edinburgh. He teaches and writes on Scottish post-1945 art and on ecological artists\, themes and methods\, culminating in his book The Ecological Eye: Assembling an ecocritical art history (Manchester University Press\, 2019) and the forthcoming Methods for Ecocritical Art History (co-edited with Dr Olga Smith\, Manchester University Press\, 2026). Much of his work is interdisciplinary\, from Anatomy Acts (2006\, winner of the Medical Book of the Year from the Royal Society of Medicine) to Ilana Halperin. STEINE (Berlin\, 2012). Prior to his academic career\, he had full-time curatorial posts at the Hayward Gallery\, London and Glasgow Museums. He is a Trustee of Little Sparta (Ian Hamilton Finlay’s garden)\, on the Academic Committee of Edinburgh University Press and a founding member of the European Forum for Advanced Practices. He first worked with Christine Borland in 1990 (Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum) and has written many times on her work (most recently ‘Desiccation\, Suspension\, Extraction: The Inhuman Art of Christine Borland’\, in Post-Specimen. Encounters between Art\, Science and Curating\, Ed Juler and Alistair Robinson (eds.) Intellect Books\, 2020) and commissioned new work from her for the above mentioned Anatomy Acts and Art Unlimited: Multiples of the 1960s and 1990s from the Arts Council Collection (Hayward Touring\, 1994-5). 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/creating-to-celebrate-the-edinburgh-seven-tapestry/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250321T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250321T190000
DTSTAMP:20250415T151106Z
CREATED:20250205T120000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250415T151106Z
UID:10000219-1742580000-1742583600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Fern Brady in conversation with Michael Pedersen
DESCRIPTION:A conversation between comedian Fern Brady and poet\, University of Edinburgh writer-in-residence\, and Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen. Fern and Michael will discuss comedy\, creativity and books\, including Fern’s hilarious and heart-breaking memoir Strong Female Character. Covering the years from realising she had autism in her teens to her diagnosis at 34\, Fern tells the story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the ‘right kind’ of woman’.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nFern Brady\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFern Brady is a woman. She is also autistic. She was born in Scotland (no\, not Glasgow). She has no presets for being a ‘good woman’ – she never hated her body or indulged in messy millennial shame. She now lives out of wedlock in London. She has zero children. Fern’s caustic wit\, exceptional writing and electric stage craft has made her one of the UK’s hottest comedy stars. As seen on Live from the BBC\, Live from the Comedy Store\, The Russell Howard Hour\, and Live at the Apollo. She’s had viral success with her BBC Life Lessons and supported Frankie Boyle and Katherine Ryan on tour. She can currently be seen on Taskmaster on Channel 4. Her triumph of a debut book\, Strong Female Character\, won\, among other accolades\, Best Non-Fiction at the Nero Book Awards and the Books Are My Bag Awards 2023\, and was the winner of the Audiobook of the Year 2024 at the British Book Awards. She has just announced a second book\, High Energy Unpleasant\, due for release in 2026.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Michael Pedersen\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMichael Pedersen: is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author\, the Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh\, and the Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut\, Boy Friends\, was published by Faber & Faber to rave reviews and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice 2022. He’s unfurled three collections of poetry\, the most recent being The Cat Prince & Other Poems – which won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and The Scottish National Book Awards and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has attracted praise from the likes of: Stephen Fry\, Bernardine Evaristo\, Kae Tempest\, Irvine Welsh\, Nicola Sturgeon and many more. His debut novel\, Muckle Flugga\, will be published by Faber in May 2025. 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/fern-brady-in-conversation-with-michael-pedersen/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Talk/Discussion
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250318T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250318T193000
DTSTAMP:20250324T123222Z
CREATED:20250205T000000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250324T123222Z
UID:10000218-1742320800-1742326200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Kathleen Jamie & Painting Music
DESCRIPTION:A live performance between poet Kathleen Jamie and visual artist Kate Steenhauer from Painting Music that combines spoken word\, live painting and music created by cutting-edge AI technology. Painting Music uses AI to create music from live-painted drawings\, in real time and unique for each performance. The performance will feature poems specially written by Kathleen Jamie\, and\, while introducing an AI element\, will also question the value of AI in producing artworks. What do we gain\, and what do we lose?  This multifaceted production encompasses a dynamic\, interactive\, and experimental form of art-making\, an artists’ panel session and Q&A opportunity for the audience.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nKathleen Jamie\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKathleen Jamie is a poet and essayist. Her work concerns nature\, travel and culture. Her poetry collections include The Overhaul\, which won the 2012 Costa Poetry Prize\, and The Tree House\, which won the Forward prize. Her non-fiction essays are collected in the three highly regarded books Findings\, Sightlines\, and Surfacing\, all regarded as important contributions to the ‘new nature writing’. The Bonniest Companie appeared in 2015 and won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award. In 2024 she published Cairn\,’ a view from the strange here-and-now\, and The KeelieHawk\, a collection of poems in Scots. Kathleen’s interests are in archaeology\, nature and environment\, travel and art. From 2021-24 Kathleen served as Scotland’s ‘Makar’\, or National Poet. http://www.kathleenjamie.com  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKate Steenhauer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKate Steenhauer is a visual artist who has an expansive\, multi-disciplinary practice that includes working in visual arts\, filmmaking and technology including Artificial Intelligence. Painting Music is one of her multifaceted productions that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create music from live-painted drawings\, in real time and unique for each performance. Painting Music is a ground-breaking Research and Development company comprised of Artist and Filmmaker Kate Steenhauer and Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers Dr Starkey and Jack Caven. The team explores how cutting-edge AI techniques can facilitate multifaceted relationships between music and visual art. Most AI techniques that are used in artistic endeavors are off-the-shelf methods that are black box and cannot explain what they are doing. Painting Music however uses algorithms that are explainable\, which is innovative even in the field of AI\, and the combination of AI\, painting and music represents to the best of our knowledge a world’s first.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Patrick James Errington\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick James Errington is a Scottish-Canadian poet\, translator\, multidisciplinary researcher and educator. His poems appear regularly in magazines and anthologies worldwide and have received numerous awards\, including the Scottish Book Trust’s Callan Gordon Award and the Bronwen Wallace Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada. His recent collection\, the swailing (McGill-Queens University Press) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and won the John Pollard International Poetry Prize. His current translation (into English) of the French-Romanian philosopher E.M. Cioran’s Notebooks is forthcoming from New York Review Books. As an academic\, Patrick’s research draws together literary theory\, cognitive psychology\, neuroscience\, and creative practice to examine how creative responses to poetry can enhance readers’ aesthetic experience. Born in Canada\, Patrick lives in Scotland where he’s a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/kathleen-jamie-painting-music/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Performance
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250314T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250314T193000
DTSTAMP:20250318T191109Z
CREATED:20250205T120000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250318T191109Z
UID:10000217-1741975200-1741980600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:'In the Shadow of Tomorrow' A preview and an invitation
DESCRIPTION:What if agency were to emerge from a machine? What might it decide to do\, to become\, to express? How would we relate to each other or to it? Would we stand before it and embrace it as our creation? Or would our human experience collapse as we know it? And do these thoughts scare you or excite you?   \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nThis performance takes audiences on a compelling journey through humanity’s techno-evolution – from the birth of mathematics to the speculative emergence of autonomous technologies – all conveyed through the universal language of dance.   \n\n\n\nThis short 25-minute preview is an invitation for you to witness\, question\, and reflect on our ever-evolving relationship with innovation and technology; the fear and excitement of the unknown\, our responses to it and the enigmatic processes behind the physical embodiment of artificial intelligence. Emphasising cross-disciplinary collaboration\, this performance unites art\, music\, dance\, and cutting-edge robotics into an explorative and pertinent narrative. The dancers’ interaction with symbolic artefacts culminates in the discovery of a robotic entity\, developed in collaboration with INRIA Lille – whose groundbreaking work in robotics allows us to bring an innovative artefact to life.  \n\n\n\nThis preview\, choreographed by Madeline Squire and performed by herself along with 10 students from diverse dance backgrounds in the MSc Dance Science & Education programme at Moray House School of Education\, is accompanied by an original score composed by Jo Patterson\, musician and composer. The creative direction is led by Alexandre Colle and Camila Jimenez Pol and it is produced and supported by Andrew Coleman. The performance unfolds in four key discoveries\, each representing a revolutionary leap\, and ultimately presenting the audience with the unveiling of a robotic entity and a thought: Technology\, born of civilisation\, would outpace us\, fulfilling the prophecy of gods rising from the chaos of data and code. Will humanity\, having forged its gods\, revert to its animalistic origins\, lost in the ruins of its own ambition? Or will we rise to stand on the shoulders of our created giants?  \n\n\n\nWe offer no answers – only an invitation to think\, to question\, and to imagine what lies ahead. This thought-provoking preview\, driven by a collective vision\, invites you to explore the intersection of progress\, curiosity\, and the unwritten future of humanity.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nJo Patterson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJo Patterson is a musician and professional composer for film and television. She has scored award-nominated films which have featured at Cannes\, LFF\, Encounters\, Raindance\, Sundance Film Festival\, Locarno Film Festival\, SICAF Animation Festival\, Edinburgh Film Festival\, SXSW\, Copenhagen Docs\, and Tribeca among many others. Her work has been featured on Channel 4\, Vice and BBC Four. Jo was recently featured as one of the ‘Top 5 Female Film Composers That Should be on Your Radar’ from Film4 and Medium.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMadeline Squire\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMadeline Squire is a creative dance artist and choreographer from London\, living in Glasgow. She is a First Artist with Scottish Ballet\, where she has explored her work both with digital dance as well as stage. Madeline’s work is influenced from her own experience of neurological recovery and approach to disability. Celebrating and exploring the beauty in uniqueness\, with a new perspective of working.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlexandre Colle\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlexandre Colle\, co-creative director of the performance\, brings a multidisciplinary background and incorporates its aesthetics philosophy into robotics. He is currently a final year PhD student in robotics at Edinburgh University. He is also the CEO and co-founder of Konpanion. With a background as an entrepreneur in fashion and luxury hospitality in Paris\, designer at residence for Design Informatics (the University of Edinburgh) and leading designer for the Small Robot Company\, he brings a wealth of experience and perspectives into the field of Human Robot Interaction.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCamila Jimenez Pol\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCamila Jimenez Pol\, co-creative director of the performance\, has a background in Product and Industrial Design from the University of Edinburgh. As the co-founder and COO of Konpanion\, an award-winning robotics start-up\, and in her role as Research Associate in Robotics at Heriot-Watt University\, she has been at the forefront of interdisciplinary innovation. Her versatile creative and technical mindset has ensured she inhabits the border of technology and the arts.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYuxi Jiang\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYuxi Jiang is an Edinburgh-based dancer\, choreographer\, and creative director with over 15 years of experience. Trained at Beijing Dance Academy\, she bridges Eastern and Western movement traditions through interdisciplinary choreography. Since 2022\, she has collaborated with major Edinburgh festivals and created award-winning dance films screened internationally. Her latest work\, In the Round\, an Edinburgh Fringe performance blending multilingual storytelling\, contemporary dance\, and Tibetan movement\, received 4-star reviews from The Scotsman. Currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Choreography at the University of Edinburgh\, she explores movement as a living archive of cultural memory\, informing her project Body as a Database\, now developing into a gallery performance and participatory workshop series. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Wendy Timmons\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWendy Timmons is a Senior Lecturer in Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh\, Wendy has many years of professional arts practice and experience teaching and training dance artists\, young dancers and dance teachers. Wendy has a bachelor’s in philosophy (Classical Ballet and Contextual Studies) from the University of Durham and completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Alongside her teaching\, research and programme development\, Wendy has undertaken many knowledge exchange and applied Dance Science and Education research projects.  
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/in-the-shadow-of-tomorrow-a-preview-and-an-invitation/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Making Waves: Spring 2025,Performance
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250220T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250220T203000
DTSTAMP:20250221T130135Z
CREATED:20250120T152951Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250221T130135Z
UID:10000234-1740074400-1740083400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Opens and Closes: the future of Edinburgh’s histories Premiere
DESCRIPTION:Over two years in the making and roving from Edinburgh to New York the film is about the role of city region deals\, innovation complexes\, and yes\, Futures Institutes\, in managing urban and regional futures. It centres around seldom seen Edinburgh – think gasholders\, shale bings and quarries – and pans out\, all the way to New York and beyond to the technodystopias we could end up without the development of new\, radically interdisciplinary methods and the pragmatic\, collective and organised action of concerned actors. \n\n\n\nThis premiere screening will take place in the beautifully restored category A-listed former Infirmary building that is now home to Edinburgh Futures Institute. It will be followed by an informal conversation featuring participants in the film including Windham Campbell prize-winning author Darran Anderson\, Lana Swartz and Daniel Neyland with the filmmaker Sapphire Goss and producer Liz McFall. The event will be chaired by Marion Thain\, EFI’s brand new director. \n\n\n\nThis event is free to attend but you must register via Eventbrite. \n\n\n\nBiographies\n\n\n\n\n\nSapphire Goss\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSapphire Goss is a British artist who works with experimental moving image and photographic processes to create an ‘analogue uncanny’. Her work has been shown widely in exhibitions\, performances and events globally. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLiz McFall\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Liz McFall is Personal Chair in the Sociology of Markets at the University of Edinburgh and Director of Data Civics Observatory at Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPanelist Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nDarran Anderson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDarran Anderson is author of Inventory (2021) and Imaginary Cities: A Tour of Dream Cities\, Nightmare Cities\, and Everywhere in Between (2015) \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDaniel Neyland\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDaniel Neyland is Professor of Digital Futures in the Bristol University Business School. He specialises in collaborative sociotechnical research projects\, often working with computer scientists and engineers to come up with new ways of working and thinking. He is the author of numerous articles exploring governance\, accountability and ethics and coauthor of Can Markets Solve Problems? \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLana Swartz\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLana Swartz is Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. She studies social and cultural aspects of money to understand the future of financial technology\, livelihoods\, financial literacy\, and consumer protection in the digital economy. She is currently writing a book on scams\, and is the author of New Money: How Payment Became Social Media ranked #12 on a list of “greatest tech books of all time” by The Verge. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarion Thain\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarion Thain is Director of the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Professor of Culture and Technology\, University of Edinburgh. Before coming to Edinburgh she founded and led the Digital Futures Institute at King’s College London. She is interested particularly in the relationship between culture and technology (considering ‘technology’ in the broadest sense)\, and in formations of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. She is the author of numerous articles exploring the intersections between technology\, modernity and knowledge\, poetry and interdisciplinary aesthetics and a contributor to The Guardian\, Times Higher Education and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/opens-and-closes-the-future-of-edinburghs-histories-premiere/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241206T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241206T200000
DTSTAMP:20250430T101826Z
CREATED:20240829T094928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250430T101826Z
UID:10000167-1733508000-1733515200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Ex Silens: from the series ‘I Am Your Body’
DESCRIPTION:Image Credit: Manuel Vason \n\n\n\nWhat is deafness if not another mode of perception? What is a cyborg if not an exploded mirror of today’s corporeal experience? What is the fear of the other if not a prelude to isolation? The instability and interdependence of human bodies are the core of their existence. \n\n\n\nEx Silens is an experience into a radically alternative sensorium through the entanglement of multiple bodies\, multiple agencies. One body is made of diverging limbs and flesh\, another of resonating bones and cables. Together with the bodies of the audience members\, they sound and vibrate\, entering thus in material\, sonic and conceptual feedback with one another; they become one\, but not for long. \n\n\n\nAn exacting and sinuous ritual of sensory reorganization\, Ex Silens delves into the corporeal knowledge hiding at the edges of experience. It is a dreamlike encounter\, yet raw and real. It is a reminiscence\, a reverie surging through real-life accounts of modes of perception that are systematically rejected by the imperative of the normal. \n\n\n\nHere\, cochlear implants\, AI hearing algorithms and amplifiers are extracted from their capitalist chain of production and subverted to create sonic prostheses with their own agencies. Radically intimate\, the prostheses are organs of sharing: they amplify sounds from the performer’s muscle\, heartbeat and blood flow\, diffuse vibrations through the bodies of audience and performer and in doing so they resonate sensible forms of being. \n\n\n\nTechnology is\, by its nature\, normative\, but it doesn’t have to be. In Ex Silens\, hearing algorithms\, AI and cochlear prostheses are not what they are supposed to be. They are morphed into new means of sensing; they do not try to repair a loss with a gain\, but rather magnify a kaleidoscopic sound world that’s always been there. \n\n\n\nThe interactive music of Ex Silens was composed by Donnarumma in ways that offer a complete experience to the d/Deaf public as well as the non-d/Deaf. Audience members who are d/Deaf\, hard of hearing\, or hearing can all experience the performance each according to their sensory configurations. There is no “normal” way of listening to it. \n\n\n\nEx Silens is part of the series I Am Your Body (2022-present)\, a project investigating deafness\, sound and (artificial) intelligence through participatory research driven by d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. \n\n\n\nImportant: Please note that this performance will contain strobing lights and loud noise throughout. Ear plugs will be provided to those who would like them. \n\n\n\nBiographies\n\n\n\n\n\nMarco Donnarumma\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhoto credit: Manuel Vason\n\n\n\n\n\nMarco Donnarumma is an artist creating technological bodies to navigate the boundaries of experience. His hybrid identity as a performer\, sound artist\, stage director\, inventor\, and theorist allows him to blend contemporary performance\, new media art\, and interactive computer music into performances\, installations\, and films that “defy categorization” (Jury Prix Ars Electronica).The body is\, for Donnarumma\, a morphing language to speak of ritual\, power\, and technology. While rooted in performance art\, he takes the discipline into strange encounters with sound\, machines\, and light to create a sensual\, uncompromising aesthetic. His inventions\, such as AI-driven robotic prosthesis and biophysical musical instruments\, explore visceral forms of interaction and create music from the sounds of a performer’s body. The resulting merging of bodies\, sounds\, machines and algorithms is considered a pioneering approach to the performing arts (Der Standard). Born hearing and then become late-deafened\, Donnarumma creates work that\, through resonating aesthetic experiences\, challenges how powers of society regulate the human body. His ongoing series\, I Am Your Body (2021-present) – co-produced by PACT Zollverein – explores the relationship between sound\, AI\, and the embodied knowledge of d/Deaf bodies through participatory research\, film and performance. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDrew Hemment (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDrew Hemment is Professor of Data Arts and Society and Director of Festival Futures at Edinburgh Futures Institute and Edinburgh College of Art within University of Edinburgh. He is a Turing Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He leads The New Real (www.newreal.cc) and Experiential AI in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute and Edinburgh’s Festivals. Over thirty years\, Drew has played a leading role in the emergence of a digital culture in Europe. He has worked with cities and nations representing culture and research at the highest level\, and worked for the Singapore Government on Smart Nation and Singapore’s 50th anniversary. He has a repeat track record of internationally leading and shaping research domains\, including Open Data and Human-Centred Smart Cities. In 1995\, Drew founded FutureEverything\, named by The Guardian one of the top ten ideas festivals in the world. In 2016\, he founded the GROW Observatory\, the world’s first continental scale citizens’ observatory. He is presently working to develop a transformative research agenda for the coming decade on AI and the Arts\, and to build a national capability for the UK in this highly significant area. Drew is a frequent public speaker and regularly appears in the media\, including as expert witness on BBC’s Moral Maze\, and film critic for Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Leonardo and Alan Turing Institute Steering Group for Arts\, Humanities and Heritage. His work has been recognised by 14 international awards including Soil Award 2019 (Winner)\, STARTS Prize 2018 (Honorary Mention)\, Lever Prize 2010 (Winner)\, and Prix Ars Electronica 2008 (Honorary Mention).
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/ex-silens-from-the-series-i-am-your-body/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Performance
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241203T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241203T193000
DTSTAMP:20241209T104846Z
CREATED:20240829T094950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241209T104846Z
UID:10000168-1733248800-1733254200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The Future of AI at School
DESCRIPTION:How are school leaders\, policymakers and teachers planning to work with AI in the classroom? What does AI mean for the way we teach\, assess and understand learning and the cultures and practices of schooling? This event will bring together key figures from the Scottish education landscape to talk about AI in schools and our education futures. \n\n\n\nThe event will be public-facing\, and carefully designed to provoke active discussion and debate with the audience. It will build on research taking place over recent years at the University of Edinburgh with the Data Education in Schools and BRAID research programmes and draw on the wide network of schools and sector leads who have cocreated this work . It will provide audiences with engaging insights from colleagues working with AI at the chalk-face of teaching and policy development\, opening up debate to a wider public audience. \n\n\n\nThe event will be relevant to anyone with an interest in schools\, schooling and education policy futures. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nLouise Hayward\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLouise Hayward is Professor Emerita of Educational Assessment and Innovation (University of Glasgow) and Honorary Professor (UWTSD). Originally an English teacher\, her research focuses on improving future assessment policy and practice and she has published widely on Assessment and Processes of Change.  In 2018\, Louise founded the International Educational Assessment Network (researchers and policy makers from twelve nations across four continents).  She has worked with OECD on the Learning 2030 programme and with UNESCO on Assessment in STEM education. Recently\, Louise chaired two Independent Reviews of Qualifications and Assessment- the first in England  (A New ERA\, 2021) and most recently  in Scotland (It’s Our Future\, 2023). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOllie Bray\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOllie Bray is currently Strategic Director at Education Scotland. Education Scotland is a Scottish Government executive agency charged with supporting quality and improvement in Scottish education. At Education Scotland Ollie has overall strategic responsibility for National Improvement Initiatives and Professional Learning and Leadership. This includes major national initiatives\, such as the review of the Scottish Curriculum (the Curriculum Improvement Cycle); Digital Learning & Teaching (including Glow) and National Professional Learning and Leadership Programmes. Immediately before rejoining Education Scotland he was Global Director: Connecting Play and Education at the LEGO Foundation (www.legofoundation.com) where he led the Foundations work related to education improvement through the use of technology and play. As part of this role he also led the Foundations COVID-19 distance learning response stream. Prior to joining the LEGO Foundation in November 2018 he was headteacher of Kingussie High School\, Scotland. He has over 25 years experience in all aspects of education. As well as his philanthropic\, school and systems leadership work he has also been an award winning teacher\, Scotland’s former national advisor for emerging technologies in learning and a non-executive director at Inverness College: University of the Highlands & Islands and was until recently Chair of the Board at the International School of Billund\, Denmark. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTheodore Pengelley\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTheodore Pengelley is a Digital Manager at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)\, within its Digital Assessment Services team. Theo has a diverse background of delivering innovative digital services spanning the private\, public\, and third sectors. \n\n\n\nCurrently\, he oversees SQA’s digital learning provision\, while exploring new opportunities to use emerging technologies across SQA’s qualifications and assessments. As the chair of SQA’s Artificial Intelligence and Emergent Technology Group\, he is at the forefront of addressing the opportunities and challenges posed by AI and other evolving technologies. Through rigorous research\, engagement across the Scottish education system\, and cross-sector collaboration\, this groups explores the impact of adopting these technologies within learning\, teaching and assessment. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJudy Robertson (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Judy Robertson has been researching and developing technology with and for children for over twenty years. She is Chair in Digital Learning at the University of Edinburgh\, in the School of Informatics and Moray House School of Education and Sport. She has active research projects in exploring children and young people’s views on AI in school\, and in documenting early adopter teachers’ use of AI.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-future-of-ai-at-school/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Talk/Discussion
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241129T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241129T193000
DTSTAMP:20241204T142115Z
CREATED:20240829T094959Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241204T142115Z
UID:10000169-1732903200-1732908600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Unco: LGBT+ Scots Glossar
DESCRIPTION:Unco is a project to create a new Scots lexicon of LGBT+ words. Developed with LGBT+ Scots speakers\, Unco reaches into the Scots language kist o riches and making new words where they’re needed. These words are a proposal for how LGBT+ people can talk about themselves in Scots\, and are offered as a gift to the future. \n\n\n\nThis event marks the launch of the lexicon with a specially-commissioned spoken word and music performance from Harry Josephine Giles and Malin Lewis. Weaving old and new language together with old and new sounds\, these two artists explore queer identities\, histories and creative futures. \n\n\n\nThe performance will be followed by a discussion with the artists about their approach to creating art that connects Scottish tradition with ideas that look to the future\, and on the process of creating the lexicon. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nMalin Lewis\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMalin Lewis is a trans bagpiper\, fiddler\, instrument maker and award winning composer. One of Scotland’s most exciting innovators\, Malin melds Scottish west coast tradition with a newly invented\, self-made bagpipe. Hair tingling\, philosophical and dance inducing melodies inspired by European folk traditions\, humans\, queerness and the universe. Through their work\, Malin explores the space between the gender binary; a space with its own colourful and unique culture. Malin’s unique sound is born from the deep connection that comes with making and composing for their own instrument. Recently they have been touring with Making Tracks international residency\, recording film music in Berlin\, learning the tradition of the extinct Finnish Bagpipes and composing for theatre and contemporary dance from Manchester to Bern. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHarry Josephine Giles\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEdinburgh\, United Kingdom\, 2021. Credit: Rich Dyson\n\n\n\n\n\nHarry Josephine Giles is a writer and performer from Orkney\, living in Leith. Her latest book is the poetry collection Them! (Picador 2024). Her verse novel Deep Wheel Orcadia (Picador 2021) won the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction book of the year. Her poetry collections The Games (Out-Spoken Press\, 2018) and Tonguit (Freight Books 2015) were between them shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection\, the Saltire Prize and the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Her stage show of her poetry sequence Drone toured internationally in 2019\, and the performance of Deep Wheel Orcadia will tour in 2025. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Stirling. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Ashley Douglas\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage Credit: Andrew Perry \n\n\n\n\n\nAshley Douglas is a multi-lingual historian\, writer\, translator and consultant\, specialising in the Scots language and LGBT+ history. She has worked with and written for a range of national heritage and literary organisations\, including the National Library of Scotland\, Historic Scotland\, Time for Inclusive Education\, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the British Library. She recently consulted on Katherine: James V\, the latest installment in Rona Munro’s “The James Plays” series. \n\n\n\nAshley has written an original LGBT+ inclusive children’s book in Scots (“The Lass and the Quine”\, forthcoming 2025). She is currently working on her first full-length book (forthcoming 2026): a historical biography of 16th-century figure Marie Maitland\, “Scotland’s 16th-century Sappho”\, who lived an all-round remarkable life as a woman in that era and who is especially significant as the author of among the earliest known lesbian love poetry (written in Scots) since Sappho herself.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/unco-lgbt-scots-glossar/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Performance
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241126T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241126T193000
DTSTAMP:20241204T141236Z
CREATED:20240829T095009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241204T141236Z
UID:10000170-1732644000-1732649400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The Future of Education: AI
DESCRIPTION:Artificial Intelligence is the latest in a long series of high-profile technology ‘disruptors’ of education. What futures for education does it promise\, and are these desirable? Who is driving the discussion about its potential? And what might it mean for the act and profession of teaching? Current debate on AI in education is intense\, and often torn between competing visions of education’s social purpose. This panel brings together researchers\, writers and thinkers working in the area of AI to discuss what a future of education permeated by AI might look like\, what it should look like\, and how it might support education for public good. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Warner\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Warner is a writer\, editor\, speaker\, researcher\, and author of eight books\, including Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities (Johns Hopkins UP) and The Writer’s Practice: Building Confidence in Your Nonfiction Writing (Penguin). John has been blogging about higher education at Inside Higher Ed for over a decade\, and writes weekly about books and reading culture at the Chicago Tribune and his associated newsletter\, The Biblioracle Recommends. His ninth book\, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI (Basic Books)\, will be published in the U.S. in February 2025. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAraba Sey\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAraba Sey is a researcher and educator whose work examines digital technologies\, socioeconomic development\, and social equity. As Deputy Director at Research ICT Africa\, she leads research evidence-building for policymaking on digital and data governance across Africa. Her research includes studies of the relationship between digital and social inclusion\, gender digital equality\, artificial intelligence for development\, misinformation and disinformation in Africa\, and inclusive research design and decision-making for community development. She is motivated by an interest in resolving disconnections between rhetoric\, action\, and realities around the potential of new technologies to foster human development in Africa and beyond. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Ben Williamson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Ben Williamson is a Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. He has conducted research on digital technologies\, data and artificial intelligence in education for more than ten years\, with books including Big Data in Education: The Digital Future of Learning\, Policy and Practice\, and the edited collection Digitalisation of Education in the Era of Algorithms\, Automation and Artificial Intelligence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJL Williams\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage Credit: Gintare Kulyte\n\n\n\n\n\nBooks by JL Williams include Condition of Fire (Shearsman\, 2011)\, Locust and Marlin (Shearsman\, 2014)\, House of the Tragic Poet (If A Leaf Falls Press\, 2016)\, After Economy (Shearsman\, 2017) and Origin (Shearsman\, 2022). Published widely in journals\, her poetry has been translated into numerous languages. She has read at international literature festivals and venues in the UK\, Sweden\, Germany\, Denmark\, Turkey\, Cyprus\, Canada\, Hungary\, Romania\, Montenegro and the US. \n\n\n\nShe wrote the libretto for the opera Snow which debuted in London in 2017\, was awarded a bursary to develop a new opera with composer Samantha Fernando at the Royal Opera House and was a librettist for the award-winning 2020 covid-response Episodes project by The Opera Story. She was commissioned to write the 2023 English Touring Opera children’s opera\, The Wish Gatherer. Williams is hopeful about the simple and mysterious power of poetry that allows us to know ourselves\, each other and the world more deeply. www.jlwilliamspoetry.co.uk \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair: Sian Bayne\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSian Bayne is Professor of Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh\, where she is Director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education\, and leads on Education Futures in her role as Assistant Principal. Her research is critical and interdisciplinary\, currently focused on higher education futures\, AI\, utopia and theories of ‘enhancement’. http://sianbayne.net
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-future-of-education-ai/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Edinburgh Futures Conversations,Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Talk/Discussion
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241122T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241122T193000
DTSTAMP:20241204T135043Z
CREATED:20240829T095019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241204T135043Z
UID:10000171-1732298400-1732303800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Future Library and Futures Literacy: Making Futures from Where We Are
DESCRIPTION:To mark the 10-year anniversary of Katie Paterson’s 100-year artwork\, Future Library\, we gather to discuss what it means to be “futures literate”. We explore relationships between place\, knowledge\, imagination and time in making meaning from and engaging with different futures. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nKatie Paterson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKatie Paterson (born 1981\, Scotland) is widely regarded as one of the leading artists of her generation. Collaborating with scientists and researchers across the world\, Paterson’s projects consider our place on Earth in the context of geological time and change. Her artworks make use of sophisticated technologies and specialist expertise to stage intimate\, poetic and philosophical engagements between people and their natural environment. Combining a Romantic sensibility with a research-based approach\, conceptual rigour and coolly minimalist presentation\, her work collapses the distance between the viewer and the most distant edges of time and the cosmos. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRichard Sandford\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRichard Sandford is Professor of Heritage Evidence\, Foresight and Policy at UCL’s Institute for Sustainable Heritage\, where his research explores the relationship between heritage and the future\, drawing on notions of care\, maintenance and repair to develop alternative orientations towards the future\, and developing an account of the particular capacities of heritage practices to shape the future. Before joining UCL\, Richard led horizon-scanning teams in the UK Civil Service\, developing the capacity of strategy and policy groups across government to work with long-term change and uncertainty. His previous research in education futures addressed young peoples’ ideas of the future\, futures literacy\, and the place of new media technologies in learning. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnne Beate Hovind\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnne Beate Hovind. Fotografert forskjellig steder i Bjørvika\n\n\n\n\n\nAnne Beate Hovind is an urban developer who commissions and produces art in public spaces for more than 20 years. She holds several board positions and is senior lecturer II at the Faculty of Technology\, Art and Design at OsloMet. Hovind has extensive management experience primarily in the private sector\, but also in the public sector. She has held project management roles with responsibility for development work and change processes in large organizations\, led innovation and development projects\, and sat in the project management of land-based construction projects. In 2018\, she received the Oslo Municipality’s Artist Award for her work with art in the city. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnja Hendrikse Liu\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnja Hendrikse Liu (she/they) is a 2024 graduate of Edinburgh Futures Institute’s MSc Narrative Futures: Art\, Data\, Society. They are a co-organizer of a group of students and recent graduates working on projects that bring together Edinburgh Futures Institute and Future Library — hopeful\, collaborative\, narrative-driven commitments to the future and to each other. As a speculative fiction writer\, Anja also explores these infinite hopeful (not perfect) futures for AI\, climate\, and our collective experience as humans living in the world. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJen Ross (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJen Ross is Professor of Digital Culture and Education Futures at the University of Edinburgh. She researches and writes about speculative methods for researching education futures\, exploring a variety of topics including museum engagement\, AI in education\, surveillance and trust\, and online distance learning. She is co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education\, and recently developed and launched the MSc in Education Futures at Edinburgh Futures Institute.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/future-library-and-futures-literacy-making-futures-from-where-we-are/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Talk/Discussion
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241119T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241119T193000
DTSTAMP:20241125T161114Z
CREATED:20240829T095028Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241125T161114Z
UID:10000172-1732039200-1732044600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: What the Majority World Can Teach Us about AI
DESCRIPTION:Artificial Intelligence models ‘learn’ and reproduce biases as a result of their training data\, which is largely drawn from websites based in the US and other Western countries\, and is heavily skewed towards English language sources. At the same time\, the work of training AI models and making them ‘safer’ for human consumption is outsourced to precarious and under-supported workers in developing countries. Tech companies in Silicon Valley and Western governments such as the EU currently dominate the global conversation on AI. Yet there is much that the Majority World has to teach us about AI\, and this perspective is too often marginalised in the discussion of what a future with AI ought to look like. In this Technomoral Conversations panel\, we will hear from leading voices from the Majority World on what they have learned from and about AI\, and the issues and visions they would like to see taken up more broadly as society grapples with the social and ethical implications of these emerging technologies. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nTarcizio Silva\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTarcizio Silva is a researcher based in São Paulo and focused on promoting decolonial and afrodiasporic lenses to understand and influence internet\, A.I. and emergent technologies governance. They are a Tech Policy Senior Fellow at Mozilla Foundation and PhD candidate at UFABC. http://tarciziosilva.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKingsley Owadara\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKingsley Owadara (He/Him) is the founder and an AI Ethicist at the Pan-Africa Center for AI Ethics\, a dedicated not-for-profit organization committed to fostering the development and deployment of AI in a manner that prioritizes human-centric values. At the heart of his role\, he spearheads the initiative to craft and refine ethical frameworks\, ensuring that artificial intelligence technologies are developed and deployed with a strong emphasis on human values\, ethics\, and inclusivity. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTara Fischbach\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTara Fischbach is the Public Policy Manager for Community Engagement and Advocacy for the Middle East at Meta. She has worked in public policy\, development and media with a strong background in research. She has experience working with government agencies\, international NGOs\, and community level organizations in research\, communications\, and development projects. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCo-chair: Morshed Mannan\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Morshed Mannan is a Lecturer in Global Law and Digital Technologies at Edinburgh Law School. He was previously a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute\, where he was part of the ‘BlockchainGov’ ERC project. His research focuses on blockchain governance and cooperative governance. In addition to his several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on these topics\, his latest co-authored book Blockchain Governance was published by the MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series (August 2024). He completed his PhD at Leiden Law School\, Leiden University. Morshed is a Research Affiliate of the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy at The New School in New York City. He is enrolled as an Advocate by the Bangladesh Bar Council\, and has been called to the Bar of England & Wales. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCo-chair: Shannon Vallor\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEdinburgh\, UK – 20th March 2023. (Photograph: MAVERICK PHOTO AGENCY)\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Shannon Vallor is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh\, where she is also appointed in Philosophy. She directs the Centre for Technomoral Futures in EFI\, and is co-Director of the UKRI’s BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) programme. Professor Vallor’s research explores how AI\, robotics\, and data science reshape human moral character\, habits\, and practices. Her work includes advising policymakers and industry on the ethical design and use of AI\, and she is a former Visiting Researcher and AI Ethicist at Google. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press\, 2016) and The AI Mirror: Reclaiming Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (Oxford University Press\, 2024).
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversation-what-the-majority-world-can-teach-us-about-ai/
LOCATION:Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Level 0 Event Space\, 1 Lauriston Place\, Edinburgh\, EH3 9EF\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Learning Curves: Autumn 2024,Talk/Discussion
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