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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T113000
DTSTAMP:20260704T040539
CREATED:20260625T115259Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260625T115301Z
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\nFilippo Menolascina\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFilippo Menolascina holds the Chair of Engineering Biology at the University of Edinburgh. An Electrical Engineer and Computer Scientist by training (BSc ’06\, MSc ’08)\, Prof Menolascina obtained his PhD in 2011 by defending a thesis that provided the first demonstration of in vivo real-time control of a complex synthetic gene network. His doctoral work pioneered the field now known as cybergenetics. As a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prof Menolascina extended these results to the control of complex traits emerging from biomolecular networks\, providing the first demonstration of real-time control of aerotaxis in B. subtilis.   \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:20260917T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T153000
DTSTAMP:20260704T040539
CREATED:20260625T115413Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260702T092130Z
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\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:20260917T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260917T193000
DTSTAMP:20260704T040539
CREATED:20260625T115514Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260625T115517Z
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: Shannon Vallor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Shannon Vallor FRSE serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures at Edinburgh Futures Institute\, and 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/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:20260918T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T153000
DTSTAMP:20260704T040539
CREATED:20260625T115932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260626T081021Z
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\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:20260918T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260918T191500
DTSTAMP:20260704T040539
CREATED:20260625T120033Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260625T120036Z
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
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