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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T203000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
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SUMMARY:Speaking Towards One Another Opening Performance
DESCRIPTION:Speaking Towards One Another project is created and performed by Stephanie Lamprea (soprano)\, Yuki Neoh (performer)\, Megan McArthur (performer)\, Oana Stanciu (video art)\, Jen McGregor (dramaturg)\, Anne Kjær (video dramaturg and performer)\, and Tim Cooper & Alistair MacDonald (live electronics). \n\n\n\nSpeaking Towards One Another is a series of interdisciplinary staged performances for voice\, live electronics\, video\, wearable performance technology\, and British Sign Language. The first full performance will be premiered in Inspace in May 2025 as part of a video and sound installation. \n\n\n\nThis unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice\, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music\, a live BSL translator\, and printed programmes with all texts spoken\, sung\, and signed in the performance. \n\n\n\nExhibition Details\n\n\n\nSpeaking Towards One Another installation is co-created by Oana Stanciu\, Anne Kjær\, Stephanie Lamprea\, and Yuki Neoh. It features multi-screen projections of ‘moving portraits’ and a music composition by Wende Bartley\, performed by Stephanie Lamprea. By exploring images of public identity\, gender performativity\, female presence\, expression\, and testimony\, the moving images seek to subvert the male gaze and become figures of power in the public space. \n\n\n\nDates: 23-28 May 2025Times: 10:00-17:00 daily  | Free/Drop-inLocation: Inspace\, 1 Crichton St\, Newington\, Edinburgh EH8 9AB \n\n\n\nAbout the Project\n\n\n\nThis project will feature two newly commissioned musical works by composers Laura Bowler and Amble Skuse\, and recent works by composers Rebecca Saunders\, Stuart Macrae\, and Tom W. Green\, setting texts by writers and artists Alwynne Pritchard\, Carol Ann Duffy\, Gertrude Stein\, Adah Isaacs Menken\, and Hannah Siddiqui. These works create a theatrical narrative addressing topics of women’s testimony\, language and the body\, gender representation\, and resilience within disability. \n\n\n\nThis unique opening performance will use live electronics to transform and digitise the singing and speaking voice\, and wearable digital technologies to transform British Sign Language into live sounds and visuals. The concert will be accessible to hearing and D/deaf audience members via visual interpretations of the music\, a live BSL translator\, and printed programmes with all texts spoken\, sung\, and signed in the performance.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/speaking-towards-one-another-opening-performance/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Performance
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Copy-of-Untitled-2_Roxanne-Wong.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241212T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241212T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20241104T132954Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241105T142219Z
UID:10000212-1734022800-1734033600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:How to Find the Soul of a Sailor: Artist Talk and Opening Event
DESCRIPTION:Kasia Molga\, an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist\, designer and storyteller invites you to explore her first iteration of How to Find the Soul of a Sailor\, a deeply personal and innovative project that fuses the past\, present\, and future through the lens of artificial intelligence and memory. This work is the result of The New Real 2023-2024 commission “Uncanny Machines” supported by the Scottish AI Alliance. Hosted at Inspace Gallery with additional support from Arts Council England\, this unique early access version runs from December 12-21\, 2024\, and January 6-11\, 2025. \n\n\n\nImmerse yourself in a deeply personal journey to the future of our oceans and sailors’ time at sea. Experience the Mediterranean sea through the eyes of Molga’s late father\, Tadeusz Molga\, a devoted sailor. During his voyages\, he meticulously documented his passion for the ocean\, a love he shared with young Kasia as she accompanied him on his ship. Fifteen years after his passing\, Molga is left with a profound sense of loss and a collection of his cherished diaries. When the memories of their time together begin to fade\, she turns to these diaries\, clinging to the remnants of his voice and their shared experiences at sea. Molga’s work captures an emotional and environmental journey highlighting the fragility of our oceans\, the ever-changing work conditions of sailors\, and speculates on the future and what her father would say. \n\n\n\nMolga uses The New Real’s specialised experiential AI platform\, The New Real Observatory\, to reimagine her father’s words\, projecting them 50 years into the future. This project is a powerful fusion of memory and technology\, blending generative AI tools with climate data to create an emotionally charged narrative that visualises both the past and future of our oceans. \n\n\n\nMolga’s exhibition uniquely combines English and Polish\, creating a bilingual experience that delves into the profound topics of personal connection to climate change and the digital afterlife. Her work not only honours the enduring power of memory but also showcases the potential benefits and drawbacks of various artificial intelligence tools to preserve and transform our personal histories. \n\n\n\nThis exhibition is a must-see for those interested in the intersections of art\, technology\, and the environment\, offering a poignant reflection on the future of our planet and the boundless possibilities of human-AI collaboration. \n\n\n\nArtisit Talk and Opening Event Details\n\n\n\nThis event will feature an Artist Talk and light refreshments will be provided. Tickets are limited. Please reserve a ticket here. \n\n\n\nExhibition Details\n\n\n\nDates: Thurs – Sat| 12-21 Dec 2024 ; Mon – Sat | 6 -11 Jan 2025 (closed on Sundays)Time: 10:00 – 17:00 | Free/Drop-InLocation: Inspace\, 1 Crichton St\, Newington\, Edinburgh EH8 9AB \n\n\n\nArtist\n\n\n\nKasia Molga (UK/PL) has refused to be labelled – design fusionist\, artist\, environmentalist\, creative coder and technologist who for over a decade has sought ways of collaboration with nature\, predominantly focusing on the ever-changing human relation to and perception of the natural environment and fellow ‘earthlings’. Her award winning work has been exhibited worldwide (i\,e. Ars Electronica\, Tate Modern\, MIS (BR)\, Centre Pompidou and more). Kasia has taken part in many international art & science residencies and has lectured and mentored regularly in the EU and UK. An affinity with the ocean is evident in Kasia’s work\, born from her time growing up on merchant navy vessels with her sailor father and she is the proud holder of a diving licence. studiomolga.com \n\n\n\n*Please register your seat for the Artist Talk and Opening Event. The exhibition is open to drop-In. \n\n\n\nFor more information\, please contact Courtney Bates\, Project Manager of The New Real at c.bates@ed.ac.uk. \n\n\n\nFor inquiries about accessibility\, please contact the DI team at designinformatics@ed.ac.uk or visit the Access webpage for more venue information: https://inspace.ed.ac.uk/venue-access/ \n\n\n\nAbout The New Real:\n\n\n\nThe New Real is a leading research hub on arts and AI at The University of Edinburgh\, fostering innovative projects at the intersection of technology\, creativity\, and society. The New Real explores how AI impacts life at a profound level\, often interacting with us in fascinating and unanticipated ways\, and illuminates how emerging technology can become a creative\, playful and deeply impactful part of everyday living. The New Real is developed in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute\, Edinburgh College of Art\, and The Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\nAbout Scottish AI Alliance:\n\n\n\nScotland’s national Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy was launched in March 2021 and set out a vision for Scotland to become a leader in the development and use of trustworthy\, ethical and inclusive AI. \n\n\n\nThe Scottish AI Alliance is tasked with the delivery of the vision outlined in Scotland’s AI Strategy by empowering Scotland’s people\, supporting Scotland’s businesses and organisations\, and influencing policy impacting Scotland. The Scottish AI Alliance is a strategic collaboration between The Data Lab and the Scottish Government and is led by a Minister-appointed Chair and overseen by Senior Responsible Officers from The Data Lab (CEO) and the Scottish Government (CDO). Its activities are overseen and advised by governance and outcomes focussed advisory groups with representation across society and Scotland’s AI community. \n\n\n\nAbout Inspace:\n\n\n\nInspace is part of the Institute for Design Informatics and is a collaborative hub\, commissioning and producing creative activity. Our public programme connects data\, research and creative talent. We host events and exhibitions where people can explore\, learn\, debate and create. Our programme unlocks digital technologies\, tools and data and explores their role in society through a creative lens. We are home to Inspace City Screens\, a unique seven screen street front projection space visible from Potterrow in Edinburgh. \n\n\n\nAbout Arts Council England : \n\n\n\nArts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. They help people in every corner of the country to experience and benefit from creativity. They do this by investing in artists and organisations that make and deliver exceptional\, inspirational work for our communities.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/how-to-find-the-soul-of-a-sailor-artist-talk-and-opening-event/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Kasia-Molga-eNew-real-event.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240725T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240725T190000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20240710T125515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240710T125759Z
UID:10000149-1721926800-1721934000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Citizens Data Agency Exhibition Opening Event
DESCRIPTION:Join us to explore the Citizens Data Agency\, a fictional service provider proposing five speculative data support services. This interactive exhibition showcases the outcomes of a series of co-design workshops which were part of a year-long research project which aims to spark conversations about the challenges people will face around data privacy in the future and what kinds of support services we might need. \n\n\n\nThe Citizens Data Agency is a project by researchers in the Institute for Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh and seeks to explore what current and future data privacy support might look like for people from marginalised communities. We partnered with two community partners – Amina and Datakirk – who provide support for people from minority ethnic backgrounds. Through a series of participatory and co-design workshops the aim was to explore possible future speculative data support services designed around their experiences and needs. \n\n\n\nDatakirk is an Edinburgh based social enterprise that aims to empower people from disadvantaged groups in the data economy by providing learner-centred training in data literacy and analytic skills. \n\n\n\nAmina is a Scottish wide charity that empowers and supports Muslim and BME women by serving as a vital link between them and the barriers they face every day. \n\n\n\nThe project is funded by the UKRI National Research Centre on Privacy\, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN) and Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\nCitizens Data Agency Exhibition Opening Event: \n\n\n\nDate: Thursday 25th July 2024 \n\n\n\nTime: 5 – 7pm \n\n\n\nExhibition continues: \n\n\n\nDate: Friday – Sunday\, 26th – 28th July 2024 \n\n\n\nTime: 10am – 5pm every day \n\n\n\n*Please register your seat for the Opening Event. The exhibition is open to drop-In. 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/citizens-data-agency-exhibition-opening-event/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Exhibition
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CDA.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240605T153000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240605T183000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20240514T143327Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105212Z
UID:10000140-1717601400-1717612200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Where are AI’s publics?
DESCRIPTION:Image credit: Anton Grabolle / Better Images of AI / AI Architecture / CC-BY 4.0 \n\n\n\nNoortje Marres\, Bettina Nissen and Alison Powell will invite discussion on the public’s role in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Through prompts and engagements with a diverse audience\, they’ll discuss tilting the balance away from those actors and agencies who usually wield the power. Opening a space for alternatives\, they’ll explore possibilities for involving the public in the developments and uses of AI and how it is governed and regulated. \n\n\n\nAbout this event\n\n\n\nWhat role should the public have in shaping Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Should the public have a voice in how AI is being developed and used\, and how it’s governed and regulated? And how might a diverse cross section of the public be involved in the decisions made by big tech\, regulatory bodies\, and local and national government? \n\n\n\nAI is having an undeniable impact on daily life. From the apps and services we use on our digital devices to the infrastructures that surround us in our built environments\, AI is being deployed to categorise and classify complex information and in some cases make decisions on people’s behalf. Take\, for example\, the role of AI in healthcare and medical diagnosis\, the use of AI in self-driving cars and transport infrastructure\, or wider civic or urban planning policies being informed by AI. The range of innovations that fall under AI are cutting across all walks of life. \n\n\n\nGiven this widespread and pervasive presence of AI in the everyday\, what’s startling is the absence of a public voice in decision making\, and in particular decisions being made about AI safety\, governance and regulation. The social and ethical challenges arising from AI continue to attract attention\, but commentary and decisions are circling amongst sector leaders\, policy makers\, and politicians. The question increasingly being asked is “where are the public?” \n\n\n\nThis open event will invite discussion on the public’s role in AI. How should the public be involved in AI’s development and use\, and in what ways might the public be consulted and engaged in the decisions likely to have significant impacts on their lives. Our speakers\, Noortje Marres\, Bettina Nissen and Alison Powell will respond to prompts and engage with a diverse audience around questions of public involvement and participation in AI. The aim will be to shift the focal point of decision making away from the usual actors\, and make the space for alternative voices and ideas in AI. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n15:30 – 17:30 In conversation: Noortje Marres\, Bettina Nissen and Alison Powell17:30 – 18:30Reception\n\n\n\nLimited seats at Inspace are available\, please book tickets in advance. \n\n\n\nContributors\n\n\n\n\n\nNoortje Marres\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNoortje Marres is Professor in Science\, Technology and Society in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick (UK). She studied sociology and philosophy of science and technology at the University of Amsterdam\, and has conducted extensive research on participation and publics in technological societies. Noortje is currently developing new work in the area of AI and Society\, with a special focus on the curation of environments for AI innovation in society and the implications for public participation. She just completed a Leverhulme Fellowship on intelligent technology testing beyond the laboratory\, and is the project lead for the scoping project “AI in the street” as part of the AHRC-funded BRAID programme for Bridging Divides in Responsible AI. Noortje also is a Visiting Professor in the Media of Cooperation research centre at the University of Siegen (Germany) and an external faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Study\, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands). She has published three books Material Participation (2012)\, Digital Sociology (2017) and Inventing the Social (2018\, co-edited with Michael Guggenheim and Alex Wilkie). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Bettina Nissen\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Bettina Nissen is a Lecturer in Interaction Design and researcher in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. With a background in product and interaction design\, digital fabrication and data physicalisation\, her practice-based research focuses on engaging audiences with complex technological concepts and data through tangible means and makings. Bettina completed her AHRC-funded PhD in Human Computer Interaction at Newcastle University in 2018 and has recently worked on a series of RCUK-funded research projects spanning topics of trust and consent in pervasive environments (part of EPSRC-funded PACTMAN) and the future of value(s) (part of ESRC-funded collaboration After Money with the Royal Bank of Scotland and New Economics Foundation). Bettina is currently working with the People’s Bank of Govanhill and artist Ailie Rutherford in Glasgow to explore feminist economic approaches to cryptocurrencies through craft and knitting. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Alison Powell\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Alison Powell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE\, where she also serves as Programme Director for the MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society). She researches rights\, ethics and values in technology design – focusing on living well together in cities and imagining alternative media futures. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is organised by the AHRC BRAID Programme funded project\, AI in the Street: Scoping everyday observatories for public engagement with connected and automated urban environments. The event has been supported by the AHRC BRAID Programme in conjunction with the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Inspace\, part of the Institute for Design Informatics. \n\n\n\nAI in the Street is a collaborative project exploring the divergences between principles of responsible AI and the messy reality of AI as encountered in the street\, in the form of automated vehicles and surveillance infrastructure. The aim is to ground understandings of AI in lived experiences. The project’s collaborators are based at the University of Warwick\, University of Edinburgh\, King’s College London\, Cambridge University\, Monash University and Careful Industries.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/where-are-ais-publics/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Where-are-AIs-publics.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240510T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240510T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20240422T092707Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240725T095236Z
UID:10000134-1715360400-1715371200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Creative Feedback: The Feats and Failures of Technology
DESCRIPTION:To what extent can human creators exercise control on the technological tools they are using? And how does the control that technology exerts on them influence the creative process? \n\n\n\nThis event will feature two audiovisual performances – Figure Infinity by Louis McHugh and Jung In Jung and Traumgraz by Jung In Jung and Lynda Clark – which reflect on issues around the platformisation of labour\, communication dynamics between humans and Artificial Intelligence\, disinformation\, and creative agency. The performances will be followed by a panel discussion where artists\, technologists\, and researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Abertay University will engage in conversations on the interplay between technology\, creativity\, and human agency. The aim of the event is to foreground the opportunities and limitations of the feedback between humans and machines and to suggest creative directions to promote human expression in the digital age. \n\n\n\nThe event will also mark the launch of the new research cluster “Creativity\, AI\, and the Human”\, led by Caterina Moruzzi. \n\n\n\nThe panel will be followed by a reception in the Inspace Gallery. \n\n\n\nImage credit: Still from Figure Infinity performance\, xCoAx 2023\, photo by Caterina Moruzzi \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRunning order:\n\n\n\n17:00Doors open17:30Traumgraz17:50Welcome + break18:10 Figure Infinity18:30Panel19:00Reception20:00End\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPerformers and Speakers:\n\n\n\n\n\nLouis McHugh\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLouis McHugh\, is a sound and new media artist and engineer currently based in Glasgow. Often generating bespoke software and hardware for his projects\, he works with sound\, video and lighting to create site-specific installations\, fixed-media work\, theatrical design and live improvisational performances. He is currently exploring ideas to do with emergent systems\, taking inspiration from biological structures\, social media interactions and artificial intelligence. He currently works as Audio Studio Manager at the Edinburgh College of Art and is a resident DJ with Radio Buena Vida\, Glasgow where he host’s a monthly experimental music show; The Rhizome. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJung In Jung\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJung In Jung\, is a Lecturer in Creative Computing at the School of Design and Informatics\, Abertay University. She is a sound artist and researcher. She has produced interactive sound and dance collaborations with contemporary dancers and presented them at various international festivals and conferences. She explores various ways to create interactive forms of performance using game technologies and AI/ML tools. In the last recent years\, she has investigated anonymous play in a VR platform using hand gestures and sound as a method to deviate from biases for her post-doc research at InGAME. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlex McCabe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlex McCabe\, is a Glasgow-based performer\, performance maker and facilitator in dance and music. With this dual specialisation he has worked extensively and internationally in choreography for opera (Wexford Festival Opera; Teatro Reggio; Scottish Opera) and experimental interdisciplinary projects (British ParaOrchestra\, Marc Brew; Fattoria Vittadini). Alex works with various organisations in Scotland towards broadening access to experiences and careers in dance and music\, most significantly through his project SIIATE\, supported by the Scotland-Europe Fund. Trained in dance and choreographic practice through Dance Base Edinburgh’s DEBS\, Alex also holds an MA\, PhD and Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Glasgow. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLynda Clark\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLynda Clark\, is Lecturer in Creative Writing (Interdisciplinary Futures) and Programme Director of the Narrative Futures MSc at the University of Edinburgh. She is a novelist\, short story writer and creator of interactive narratives. Lynda is primarily interested in how new technologies shape us and the world around us. This manifests in her prose\, interactive stories and video game work. She also has a keen interest in depicting unusual and disordered voices in creative forms. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJadgeep Ahluwalia\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJadgeep Ahluwalia\, is a Research Fellow at Abertay University\, specialising in the fields of image super-resolution\, image generation\, and the optimization of deep learning algorithms. His research draws inspiration from the human visual system\, guiding the adaptation of artificial intelligence models to create super-resolution images with remarkable perceptual accuracy. He also has experience in the research & development of machine learning algorithms for research startups and charity organisations particularly in the fields of material sciences\, health and social care and bioinformatics. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMartin Zeilinger\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMartin Zeilinger is Senior Lecturer in Computational Arts and Technology at Abertay University. His work as a researcher and curator focuses on artistic and activist experimentation with emerging technologies\, and on exploring the cultural and societal impacts of such technologies. He has published widely on AI in digital culture\, and is the author of the monograph Tactical Entanglements: AI Art\, Creative Agency\, and the Limits of Intellectual Property (2021). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPanel chair: Caterina Moruzzi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPanel chair: Caterina Moruzzi\, is a Chancellor’s Fellow in the Institute for Design Informatics\, School of Design at the University of Edinburgh. Her research lies at the intersection between the philosophy of art\, history and philosophy of human and artificial creativity\, and the philosophy of AI. In her ongoing projects\, she collaborates with researchers\, artists\, and technology companies to investigate modes of shared agency and creativity between humans\, data\, and technology. She is lead of the new research cluster “Creativity\, AI\, and the Human” at the Edinburgh Futures Institute\, University of Edinburgh. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPerformances:\n\n\n\nTraumgraz (audiovisual performance with interactive story)\, by Jung In Jung and Lynda Clark\n\n\n\nThe work is inspired by the anthropomorphism term ‘hallucination’ used for artificial intelligence’s confident response but unjustified false information. An interactive story is written between a large language model and Lynda Clark based on pictures sent from Graz by Jung In Jung during her Styrian Artist in Residency (St.A.i.R) and is set in a building with escalating levels of weirdness. Jung performs live with the randomly generated story by choosing paths along with sound materials she generated by experimenting with various AI models. \n\n\n\nFigure Infinity (audio-visual performance)\, by Louis McHugh and Jung In Jung\n\n\n\nFigure Infinity is an audio-visual performance project that connects human performers in a self-reflexive network of control and communication with Artificial Intelligence. It responds to recent narratives surrounding “AI”\, which largely obscure the collective human endeavour that produced the data these systems are built on\, by inviting audiences to partake in the development of a real-time performance data set. Encountered uncannily through absurdity and play\, audiences can experience some of the creative possibilities and limitations of AI systems. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease note limited seats are available at Inspace\, so please book tickets in advance. \n\n\n\nThis event is supported by Creative Informatics and the Edinburgh Futures Institute. \n\n\n\n*Important Notice* This event will be photographed and recorded and the data published online and used for research\, promotional and reporting purposes by the Edinburgh Futures Institute\, University of Edinburgh. For further information please contact the organisers. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/creative-feedback-the-feats-and-failures-of-technology/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Performance,Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Still-from-Figure-Infinity-performance-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240322T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240322T170000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20240226T161744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240318T152521Z
UID:10000124-1711119600-1711126800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Datafied Publics: Inaugural Event for EFI Critical Data Studies Cluster
DESCRIPTION:At this event speakers will explore how civil society politically mobilises when citizens are subject to data systems that algorithmically govern them but remain opaque. From ad-driven platforms to digital labour and border control\, collectives have formed to understand the ways people are sorted\, shaped and targeted and to demand greater control over these processes. The panel will present cases across a range of domains showing how datafied publics take shape\, the forms of participation they engage in and new modes of political accountability as a result. \n\n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\nBen Collier – University of Edinburgh\, School of Social and Political Sciences\n\n\n\nJamie Duncan – University of Toronto Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies\n\n\n\nKaren Gregory – University of Edinburgh\, School of Social and Political Sciences\n\n\n\nGavin Sullivan – University of Edinburgh\, Law School\n\n\n\nAlex Taylor – University of Edinburgh\, Design Informatics\n\n\n\n\nThe event will be followed by a catered drinks reception.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/datafied-publics-inaugural-event-for-efi-critical-data-studies-cluster/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240206T043000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240206T183000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20240125T151822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105226Z
UID:10000115-1707193800-1707244200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Music\, Copyright & Generative AI: Social\, Ontological & Legal Perspectives
DESCRIPTION:“Music\, Copyright & Generative AI: Social\, Ontological & Legal Perspectives” is the second in a series of 4 public seminars taking critical and creative perspectives on the current state of AI in music; it is organised by the MusAI research programme in collaboration with the ‘AI and the Arts’ group at The Alan Turing Institute. The speakers address the challenges posed by generative AI to existing music copyright regimes. Born’s presentation draws on anthropological literature to highlight key ontological categories underwriting property and ownership. Drott’s presentation focuses on automatic music generation services\, asking whether copyright’s commitment to the individual author is called into question by the distributed nature of machine learning. Haworth examines the use of AI-based vocal cloning and source separation methods in official and unofficial productions of the Beatles’ and Beach Boys’ music. He highlights the moral anxieties that cluster around the use of vocal likenesses in pop\, and the artist-led initiatives being developed to address these––many of which are in advance of copyright law. \n\n\n\nFeaturing an electronic music performance by Owen Green (Max Planck Institute) and Jules Rawlinson (University of Edinburgh). Owen Green’s research centres on live electronic music\, with focuses on playing with and designing semi-autonomous performance systems\, and the philosophy of technology as it relates to music. \n\n\n\n\n\nGeorgina Born\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGeorgina Born is Professor of Anthropology and Music at University College London. She directs the MusAI research programme\, and previously held Professorships at the Universities of Oxford (2010-21) and Cambridge (2006-10)\, as well as having a professional life as a musician in experimental rock\, jazz and free improvisation. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEric Drott\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEric Drott is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Texas at Austin. His research spans contemporary music cultures\, streaming music platforms\, music and protest\, genre theory\, digital music and AI music\, and the political economy of music. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristopher Haworth\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristopher Haworth is Associate Professor in Music at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on electronic and experimental musics; British popular music; music and politics; the theory and analysis of music technology; AI music\, and music and the internet.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/music-copyright-generative-ai-social-ontological-legal-perspectives/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Talk/Discussion
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/New-Real-0602.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231120T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231120T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230817T083810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105237Z
UID:10000074-1700503200-1700508600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: The Geopolitics of AI
DESCRIPTION:The geopolitics of AI is one aspect of the dynamic interplay between nations as they vie for technological supremacy\, economic dominance\, and strategic advantage. Countries are investing heavily in AI research and development to harness its potential across various sectors\, including defence\, economy\, healthcare\, and more. This competition is driven by the recognition that AI can revolutionise industries\, enhance military capabilities\, and reshape global power dynamics. The landscape is marked by a race to attract AI talent\, secure intellectual property rights\, and establish AI-friendly regulatory frameworks. But the whole edifice is built on critical minerals\, including cobalt\, lithium\, silicon\, and rare earth elements.  \n\n\n\nWhile the United States and China have emerged as key contenders\, other nations\, including the European Union\, Canada\, and Israel\, are also striving to establish themselves as AI leaders. Ethical considerations\, data privacy\, and the potential for job displacement add complexity to the geopolitical AI landscape\, leading to discussions around international cooperation\, norms\, and regulations. As AI’s influence grows\, navigating its geopolitics becomes increasingly crucial for shaping the future of nations and their global relationships.  \n\n\n\nThis panel brings together six experts in the field of AI and geopolitics to address some of these issues for a lay audience.  \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 us know at the event.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Zerilli (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Zerilli is a philosopher with interests in cognitive science\, artificial intelligence\, and the law. He is the Chancellor’s Fellow (Assistant Professor) in AI\, Data\, and the Rule of Law at the University of Edinburgh\, a Research Associate in the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford\, and an Associate Fellow in the Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge. Before taking up his current post\, he was a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Oxford. He was also called to the Sydney bar in 2011. His published work appears in such journals as Philosophy of Science\, Behavioral and Brain Sciences\, and Synthese. His two most recent books are The Adaptable Mind (Oxford University Press\, 2020) and A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence (MIT Press\, 2021).  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKate Kaye\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKate Kaye has investigated data use in relation to emerging technologies and their impacts on people\, society and government for more than 20 years as an award-winning journalist\, author and researcher. As Deputy Director of World Privacy Forum\, a nonpartisan\, nonprofit public interest research organization\, Kate researches AI and data governance issues with a special focus on AI ethics. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKerry McInerney\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Kerry McInerney is a Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI)\, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies\, UCL\, an AI Now Research Fellow\, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. She is the co-chair of the LCFI’s Global Politics of AI project. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHaydn Belfield\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHaydn Belfield is a Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence\, and has been Academic Project Manager at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) for the past six years. In that time the Centre tripled in size\, and he advised the UK\, US\, and Singaporean governments; the EU\, UN and OECD; and leading technology companies.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversations/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Power Trip: Autumn 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231110T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231110T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230822T100850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231116T105142Z
UID:10000071-1699639200-1699646400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:New Real Salon: “We Speak For...”
DESCRIPTION:Artists help us to navigate profound change surrounding new and emerging technology\, including the most current developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Long before the current generative AI boom\, a community of artists were changing the way we think of AI\, combining powerful activism with inventive exploration. They devise alternative futures\, and champion ethical and community-led approaches to generative AI. This is a vital source of collective sense making and distributed\, bottom-up leadership. \n\n\n\nThe New Real champions the voice of artists in informing AI policy and development. In this event\, The New Real’s Creative Agent\, Caroline Sinders\, convenes a group of practitioners who work on and with AI\, to explore how to navigate these turbulent times. Together they will explore future landscapes for creative AI and what co-creation between AI and artists will look like in the future. \n\n\n\nCritical AI artists provide an essential reference point and source of inspiration\, and yet these voices do not always reach policy makers\, commercial developers\, or scientists in the lab. At this critical moment in generative and creative AI\, it is important to reflect on who and how is included and excluded from its development and how art can help establish new modes of inclusive and collective leadership in this field.  \n\n\n\nThis event will also introduce The New Real’s vision for the coming decade of transformative AI Art\, and launch The New Real Editions\, an exciting new online magazine format for critical and creative exploration of AI\, that includes a reference guide for cultural organisations on working with AI. The New Real Editions’ editor\, journalist\, researcher and author\, Gemma Milne\, will introduce key insights from the first edition and frame the plans for the future ones.  \n\n\n\nAlongside the Salon\, we will host an afternoon workshop to support artists\, curators\, technicians\, festivals\, venues\, funders and audiences in the uptake of actionable insights and strategies for navigating generative AI. The workshop will disseminate best practice\, strategies\, recommendations and signposts to practitioners new to AI\, and promoting legible\, accessible\, open tools and models for artists\, through The New Real’s concept of Experiential AI. If you are interested to participate in the workshop\, please email newreal@ed.ac.uk as soon as possible; we will finalise the participants list by 20th October 2023. \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 us know at the event. 
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/we-speak-for-the-new-reals-autumn-2023-salon/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Power Trip: Autumn 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231106T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231106T153000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230822T100158Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105237Z
UID:10000078-1699279200-1699284600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Making Space: Creating a Culture of Listening in Healthcare
DESCRIPTION:Far too often these days we feel the pressure in our work lives to be busy with tasks\, to get stuff done. We don’t seem to have enough time to make meaningful connections with each other\, and we’re not hearing enough of each other’s ideas\, concerns\, and diverse perspectives. We rush ahead to offer solutions before we’ve had a real chance to pause\, take stock\, listen more to each other. What if we could find a bit more space for listening? \n\n\n\nIn this session we are going to explore what it takes to listen more\, and what happens when we do. We’ll explain what is involved in ‘spaces for listening’\, and share something about the value and the potential of listening – gathered through experiences in around 350 of such spaces convened weekly since May 2020 and involving more than 1600 people from across the UK and beyond. \n\n\n\nWe’ve found that it’s very possible for a small group to meet\, quickly establish enough safety and trust in a relatively short space of time\, and have a meaningful exchange of views and real experiences. And there seems to be a real yearning out there to participate in\, and create\, such spaces. \n\n\n\nBuilding from these many individual and collective experiences of listening\, we’d like to consider what this could mean for how we create and sustain a culture of listening. Our belief is that listening is far more than a set of skills or specific interventions; it’s a way of being with each other. How might this quality of listening and relational connection enable a more open dialogue across our organisations and wider communities? The kind of meaningful and real conversations we all need to be having with each other about the weighty issues facing us all in healthcare and beyond. \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 us know at the event.  \n\n\n\n\n\nKristy Docherty\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKristy is the Director of Public Services and Sector Engagement Lead at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.  She is responsible for leading on strategy and engagement with public\, private and third sector organisations involved in the delivery of public services. Kristy has a PhD in Collaboration and wicked issues\, her research is focused on how best to work\, lead and collaborate across organisational and disciplinary boundaries.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLiz Grant\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLiz is Assistant Principal Global Health and Professor of Global Health and Development. She directs the University’s Global Health Academy and is on the Advisory board of the Academy of Sport. Liz co-directs the Global Compassion Initiative which explores the science and practice of compassion. Her research spans global and planetary health and healthcare in contexts of poverty and conflict – and compassion as the value base of the Sustainable Development Goals. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Deputy International Director of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh (RCPE)\, and sits on the Scottish Government NHS Global Citizenship Board. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBrigid Russell\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBrigid is a coach and facilitator who works alongside people in the public and third sectors across Scotland. She believes in a relational approach to coaching and development. Over the past 3 years she has collaborated with Charlie Jones in convening weekly #SpacesForListening over zoom\, listening to and connecting with many hundreds of people across the UK and beyond. She is undertaking a professional doctorate with HULT Ashridge using an action research approach. Her area of interest in research and practice is around how we bring ourselves into working in a truly relational and collaborative way in community.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCharlie Jones\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCharlie did his undergrad studies at University of Edinburgh and was awarded the Drever Prize for Psychology in 2000. He went on to do a D.Phil. at University of Oxford\, and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at University of Plymouth. He has worked in the NHS since 2004. Charlie currently leads a clinical psychology team in Southmead Hospital in Bristol. He has a passion for systemic and relational approaches to working in healthcare\, and how we can create sustainable conditions for safe\, honest conversations with both colleagues and patients. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Diamond (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Diamond is an Emeritus Professor of Public Policy and Professional Practice at Edge Hill University in the UK. He works as a critical friend to leaders and practitioners in the not for profit and university sectors. Central to his approach is the active use of conversations and dialogue as a way of developing and strengthening the power of relational practice and learning . He is a co-editor of the internationally focussed Handbook of Teaching Public Administration (2022) and is co-editor of two book series – University-Community Policy Connections and Critical Perspectives in International Public Sector Management .
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/making-space-listening-and-relational-leadership-in-public-services/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Power Trip: Autumn 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231027T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231027T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230822T100231Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105238Z
UID:10000075-1698429600-1698435000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Black History Month: Leaning into the Meta-Physics of Liberation 
DESCRIPTION:This Black History Month event will take on a long-discussed topic in the Black and Afrocentric movements across the world: the challenged idea and risks of leadership. The panel will explore different contexts in which Black people have made expressions of change and strategic collective work towards anti- and de-colonial liberations.  \n\n\n\nThis event was programmed in collaboration with RACE.ED. \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 us know at the event.  \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nTiffany Holloman\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Tiffany R. Holloman\, FRSA is the project manager for Brad-ATTIAN and YCEDE in the Centre for Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Bradford. She is co-founder and co-director of Same Skies Think Tank\, as well as a consulting lecturer at RADA in early modern history. Her sociological research examines race and education in the UK and US and her historical research investigates King James VI&I in Early Modern Britain. She is the author of several articles\, chapters\, as well as a co-editor of two books. Her activism stems from a desire to work with community members in the elevation of human development. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhoenix Nacto\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhoenix Nacto – Traore is currently the Research Impact Officer at the University of Huddersfield’s School of Arts and Humanities. Phoenix’s academic journey has seen her deeply engaged in advancing the understanding of underrepresented narratives. Her insights contribute to fields such as Black Queer Theory\, Black Feminist Decolonial Thought\, and Popular Culture. With a B.A in Women’s Studies from Spelman College (U.S) and an M.A in Gender and International Development from the University of East Anglia (U.K)\, Phoenix integrates academic insight into her dedication\, effectively wielding the power of storytelling and theory through poetry. This approach fosters innovation in her work that reaches far beyond traditional academia.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSharon Anyiam\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSharon is a passionate Lecturer pursuing a PhD in Sociology\, her research delves into contemporary Black activism\, investigating millennial narratives of criminalization and resistance. Her academic passions intersect at the crossroads of race/ethnicity\, (anti)racism\, and social justice\, unravelling intricate intersections within these domains. \n\n\n\nBeyond academia\, Sharon’s journey extends into community organizing\, where she has a rich background as a community facilitator. Engaging in grassroots anti-racist campaigns on local\, regional\, and global levels\, she collaborates with activists and researchers globally\, including the United States\, Brazil\, and Kenya. Currently certifying as a Doula\, she advocates for maternal health in marginalised groups\, embodying her commitment to community well-being. Sharon’s commitment extends beyond her professional pursuits. As a mother to young children\, she is dedicated to fostering meaningful dialogues and spaces for early engagement with social justice thought and practices. This drive led to her co-founding Cultivate—an anti-racist agency providing targeted impactful training\, workshops\, and consultations for individuals and organisation closely interacting with young children. Sharon’s fusion of academic prowess and community-driven activism exemplifies the potential for transformative change through research and community building \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDimah Mahmoud\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Dimah Mahmoud is a humanist by practice\, actionist by choice\, and passionate change-maker by learning. Dimah uses her words – written & spoken – as sacred medicine drawing on the HER in HERitage to activate the EYE in Collect-i-ve. With 15+ years of facilitating order by manipulating chaos\, she excels at co-creating grassroot sustainable solutions by leveraging knowledge\, skills and expertise to build alliances for inclusive collective growth with a deliberate focus on the holistic liberation of people of African and Indigenous Ancestry. Dimah holds a PhD in Sudanese Foreign Policy and international legitimacy from the University of Exeter.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKatucha Bento (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Katucha Bento is a Lecturer in Race and Decolonial Studies\, Co-Director of Race.ED Network at the University of Edinburgh\, and the co-founder of the Free Afro-Brazilian University (UNAFRO). She is associate editor of the journal “Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power”. Her main inspirations are in quilombo and samba communities’ epistemologies and praxis\, reaching out to Black feminists and Queer subversive language to promote ethics of caring and power to the people.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/black-history-month-leaning-into-the-meta-physics-of-liberation/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Power Trip: Autumn 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231013T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231013T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230817T153452Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105250Z
UID:10000080-1697220000-1697225400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Edinburgh Futures Conversations: A Performance
DESCRIPTION:This performance is part of our Futures Conversations series on the Future of Leadership.   \n\n\n\nHow does activism function beyond emergency? What does it take to work collectively towards a better future? Who/what should the “legislators of the world” “look to […] for guidance”? Through animal stories\, crowdsourced autobiographies\, works by women and nonbinary writers of colour\, this poetry and music collaboration will explore the emotional structure of alternative organisations.  \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned.  \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 us know at the event.  \n\n\n\n\n\nPippa Murphy\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPippa Murphy is an award-winning composer and sound designer known for combining orchestras\, singers and instrumentalists with ambient soundscapes\, electronic music and creating bespoke sound palettes. She works with writers\, film-makers and choreographers as well as Folk\, Jazz and Classical musicians. Pippa is known for her stylistic breadth\, depth\, and originality\, as well as a unique cross-disciplinary understanding of storytelling and creative collaboration. Pippa’s works are multi-layered and multi-sensory. She is particularly interested in vocal techniques\, phonemes and ‘found’ sound. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTim Tim Cheng\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTim Tim Cheng is a poet from Hong Kong\, currently based between Edinburgh and London. Her pamphlet Tapping At Glass (VERVE\, 2023) explores womanhood\, multilingualism\, and psychogeography. Her poems are published or anthologised in POETRY\, The Rialto\, Poetry London\, Our Time Is A Garden\, and elsewhere. Her latest appearances include the StAnza Festival\, Hidden Door festival\, Singapore Writers Festival\, and BBC Scotland. She is a WrICE fellow (awarded by RMIT University)\, an Ignite fellow (Scottish Book Trust)\, a member of Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective 2022/23\, and a mentee under the Roddy Lumsden Memorial Mentorship scheme. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick Errington (chair)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick James Errington is a Scottish-Canadian poet\, translator\, and interdisciplinary researcher. His poems have won numerous awards\, including the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the Poetry International Prize; they appear in journals and anthologies worldwide as well as in the chapbooks\, Glean and Field Studies\, and in the recent collection the swailing (McGill-Queens University Press\, 2023). As a translator\, Patrick has brough the poetry of singer-songwriter PJ Harvey into French\, and is currently translating works by the French-Algerian poet and painter Hamid Tibouchi and the French-Romanian philosopher E.M. Cioran into English. Originally from Alberta\, Canada\, Patrick now lives in Scotland where he’s a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and an affiliate of the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH)\, teaching and researching across fields like literature\, creative writing\, translation\, and cognitive psychology.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/edinburgh-futures-conversations-performance/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Power Trip: Autumn 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231009T093000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231009T113000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230918T133721Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230918T140328Z
UID:10000092-1696843800-1696851000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Human-Centric Finance
DESCRIPTION:Fintech companies are constantly innovating and developing new products and services. However\, while many of the technological solutions are user-centred\, they are not necessarily human-centred. They typically focus on process\, user experience and scalability\, but often neglect the deeper needs\, emotions\, instincts\, and social factors that impact people’s financial wellbeing. This event challenges fintech leaders to think about their products at a deeper level\, through a human-centred lens. Please join us for a very insightful programme. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\nDr Thomas Mathar\, AegonThomas is an internationally experienced customer and behaviour researcher. He currently leads initiatives at Aegon’s Centre for Behavioural Research\, with a focus on identifying tools\, techniques\, rules-of-thumb and other interventions that help people make better long-term decisions. Thomas’s book\, “Financial Wellbeing”\, has recently been published\, bringing to the German-speaking world the Money and Mindset concept that he helped to develop at Aegon UK more than 3 years ago. \n\n\n\nProfessor Tina Harrison\, University of EdinburghTina is Professor of Financial Services Marketing and Consumption. Her research interests are in the areas of financial wellbeing\, consumer use and understanding of financial services\, and the use of technology in enabling and empowering financial capability and financial wellbeing. Tina’s recent projects have focused on young people’s financial capability and school-based financial education in collaboration with Young Enterprise and the Money and Pensions Service and. She recently collaborated with Sopra Steria to develop a tool to support financially vulnerable individuals.Tina and Thomas are leading a two-year Innovate UK KTP funded project\, a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Aegon UK\, to develop a tool to enable longer term planning and saving.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/human-centric-finance/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Financial Services & FinTech,Talk/Discussion
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230505T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230505T210000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105251Z
UID:10000037-1683313200-1683320400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The New Real Salon: Exploring the Future of AI and the Arts
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the opening of the second New Real Salon\, which kicks off a series of events across the weekend of 5-7 May 2023: \n\n\n\nThe New Real Expose: The Algorithmic Turn (ticketed\, 5 May 2023\, 7-9pm\, Inspace)\n\n\n\nThis event brings to light the relationship between the artist and AI technology. At times of upheaval\, artists are at the forefront\, helping to illuminate the ways emerging technology impacts on life at a profound level. The New Real’s research themes look to reimagine interactions between humans and machines\, increase accessibility and interpretability for artists\, and foster transformative intelligent experiences for audiences. \n\n\n\nThe New Real’s research team and our newly commissioned artist will present insights into what is happening in this area and new work currently in development using The New Real Observatory Platform\, an unboxed AI tool created with and for artists. This tool provides artists with access to directly manipulate a model\, in order to enable profound artistic experiments with AI. We believe this can lead to better art\, and also provides a basis to probe and question urgent issues of today. \n\n\n\nThe New Real Hackathon: Turning the Algorithm (drop-in\, Inspace)\n\n\n\nIn the first ever The New Real Hackathon we are inviting developers\, creatives and scientists\, and digital explorers of any kind – to rapidly and collaboratively articulate and engineer a response to the set challenge of developing understanding between machine learning algorithms and their human users. \n\n\n\nTeams will have about 24 hours to analyse\, probe\, work with and break generative machine learning tools\, both those openly available online as well as The New Real Observatory platform (image and text processing). Some preparatory work is envisaged. Mentors from The New Real will be on hand to help with any questions and arising issues. \n\n\n\nApplications will open on The New Real’s website: https://newreal.cc/events/hackathon\, where you can now register to receive updates and a reminder when the application opens. *Sign up for this Hackthon is by application\, which will launch 2 months prior to the event. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Drew Hemment \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Drew Hemment is The New Real’s founder and principal investigator. Drew is an artist\, designer and academic researcher\, who over 25 years has been one of the key figures who has shaped the field of digital art and culture. He is Professor of Data Arts and Society\, Chancellors Fellow and Director of Festival Futures at Edinburgh Futures Institute and Edinburgh College of Art within University of Edinburgh. He presently leads The New Real and Experiential AI in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute and Edinburgh’s Festivals\, supporting significant new artistic works\, and exploring new paradigms for creative\, fair and inclusive AI. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMatjaz Vidma\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMatjaz Vidmar is The New Real’s co-investigator\, an interdisciplinary researcher\, lecturer and strategist at the University of Edinburgh. He is an (Astro)Physicist by training\, now examining innovation processes and (inter-)organisational learning and change\, as well as other social dimensions of emerging technologies. He has an interest in using experiential Ai to create intimate interpretations of global datasets\, in particular from Space & Satellite data\, to influence sustainable development through futures thinking/literacy tools. He co-leads the delivery of the research portfolio of The New Real programme. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Partners\n\n\n\nThe New Real \n\n\n\nEstablished in 2019\, The New Real is a unique hub for AI\, creativity and futures research. It is a partnership between the University of Edinburgh\, Alan Turing Institute\, and Edinburgh’s Festivals. Its research explores how AI impacts on life at a profound level\, often interacting with us in fascinating and unanticipated ways\, and illuminates how emerging technology can become a creative\, playful and deeply impactful part of everyday living. \n\n\n\nThe New Real team believes that art and creativity can help to radically change how we think about AI design\, moving beyond the current paradigm of learning patterns from large amounts of data\, to embrace human traits such as bias\, disagreement\, and uncertainty as a signal with creative potential rather than noise that needs to be removed. They devise imaginative ways to experiment with new experiences\, practices\, infrastructures and business models\, and to empower people be agents of positive change. See more at: www.newreal.cc \n\n\n\nThe Alan Turing Institute \n\n\n\nThe Alan Turing Institute is the national institute for data science and artificial intelligence\, with headquarters at the British Library. \n\n\n\nThe Scottish AI Alliance \n\n\n\nDelivering Scotland’s AI Strategy Scotland’s AI Strategy. It was launched in March 2021 with a vision for Scotland to become a leader in the development and use of trustworthy\, ethical and inclusive AI. The Scottish AI Alliance is the body tasked with delivering this vision and the actions outlined in the strategy. It is a partnership between The Data Lab and the Scottish Government. \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be lived-captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-new-real-salon-exploring-the-future-of-ai-and-the-arts/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Creative Industries,Love Machine: Spring 2023,Tourism & Festivals
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230503T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230503T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140324Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105251Z
UID:10000036-1683136800-1683142200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Antagonistic Sextet: A Performance by Raw Green Rust
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the final event of the Love Machine season with a performance by Raw Green Rust! \n\n\n\nRaw Green Rust are an improvising laptop trio that make abstract glitch-dub that draws on wide ranging musical interests and interconnectedness. They share networked audio and control data between performers to allow for complex chains of generation and processing that are an articulation and exploration of interface\, shared gesture and distributed creativity. \n\n\n\nFor this event\, the trio will perform as an ‘Antagonistic Sextet’ with and against their own history. An archive of some of their previous performance has been strained through a neural network to prompt\, provoke\, inform and interfere with action and reaction in and across our various networks of agency. \n\n\n\nAccording to the trio: \n\n\n\n“An important part of our playing is to constantly sample\, transform and process each other in real-time\, in pursuit of an organic\, shifting sound mass. We embellish this basic approach with tools that\, for instance\, (mis)use machine listening and machine learning to promote or disrupt our continual co-tuning in fluid and responsive ways. \n\n\n\nEnforced separation underscored how much we take for granted our regular co-presence as an ongoing preparation for being unprepared. At the same time\, though\, there’s been a space to re-listen and imagine certain kinds of preparation that might push us towards exciting new mess.” \n\n\n\nPerformer Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nJules Rawlinson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJules Rawlinson is a composer and improviser that works with electronic sounds and digital visuals in solo and collaborative settings to explore performance practices with live electronics across a range of different themes and material. His most recent work was An Island of Sound with writer and artist JR Carpenter\, an assemblage of found images\, algorithmically generated texts\, spoken word and live sound design. Other recent outputs make use of archival material coupled with machine learning and AI processes in corpus-based aesthetics of transformation. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Reid School of Music at Edinburgh University. For more information visit http://www.pixelmechanics.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\nOwen Green\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOwen Green is a composer-improviser\, theorist and builder of strange\, hybrid instruments/pieces that try\, playfully\, to adapt to their surroundings. Most recently\, Owen has worked as a Senior Research Fellow in Creative Coding at the Centre for Research in New Music\, University of Huddersfield\, working on the ERC-funded FluCoMa project that puts machine listening and machine learning tools into the hands of musicians. In Spring 2023 will join the ERC-funded MusAI project at University College London\, investigating the cultural implications of AI through critical studies examining its relationship with music. For more information visit http://owengreen.net/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\nDave Murray-Rust\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDave Murray-Rust explores the messy terrain between people\, data and things through a combination of making and thinking. Musically\, he tries to make computer performance as responsive and generous as possible and has recently released a number of solo and duo recordings on international netlabels. His research investigates the ways in which we can work with things that have an increasing sense of agency\, from sensing to responding to shaping the world around them. He is currently an Associate Professor in Human-Algorithm Interaction at TU Delft. For more information visit https://dave.murray-rust.org/ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRaw Green Rust have been invited to perform at international festivals and conferences including Sonorities Festival\, BEAST\, xCoAx\, Convergences and Beyond Future Design\, and have been featured on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now programme. After performing together for 14 years\, they recently released their first album\, Inability To End\, on the by-invitation Superpang label. For more information visit https://rawgreenrust.bandcamp.com/ \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be lived-captioned. \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 us know at the event. \n\n\n\nImage credit: Teresa Hunyadi
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/antagonistic-sextet-a-performance-by-raw-green-rust/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230428T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230428T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140321Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105251Z
UID:10000034-1682704800-1682710200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Catharsis In the Age of the Metaverse
DESCRIPTION:The transformative power of art has been acknowledged and debated since the fourth century BC\, when Aristotle theorised the concept of “katharsis” in his Poetics to describe our emotional change through the aesthetic experience of tragic theatre. In his view\, the process involved a first phase of mimesis\, namely the identification with the characters through the empathic experience of pity and fear\, which subsequently led to a ritual purification of toxic\, harmful elements for both the mind and the body. Throughout the centuries\, other theorists have demonstrated that the same process can be experienced through various forms of art\, including literature\, cinema\, and the visual and performing arts. \n\n\n\nThe rise of Virtual\, Augmented\, and Extended Reality (AR/XR) with their applications\, ranging from the performative to the therapeutic and political realms\, and\, especially the vision of a fully immersive experience in the metaverse\, a platform where the virtual dimensions of fiction and performance meet our real life experiences\, urge us to investigate whether “catharsis” is still conceivable\, in hybrid or entirely artificial environments; and how a reconfigured concept of “catharsis” can be envisioned as part of the co-evolution of human\, natural\, and artificial life forms. What forms will cathartic experiences take in the new fictional dimension of the metaverse? More specifically: how can new forms of storytelling and performance in VR\, AR\, or XR help us address the most pressing societal challenges of our time? \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nShane Casey\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShane Casey is a creative technologist and creative director with 20 years’ experience in advertising and digital communications. His work fuses innovation and interactivity to help businesses use digital media and emerging technologies to inspire\, intrigue and engage. He leads the Creative team in the Human Sciences Studio of The Dock\, Accenture’s global flagship innovation centre. Before joining the Studio\, Shane worked as Creative Director and Creative Technologist at Boys+Girls\, Publicis Dublin and Mason Zimbler. Shane holds a Masters in Design for Digital Media and has won multiple awards from D&AD\, Kinsale Sharks\, Effies\, ICAD and more. He was recently awarded a Silver Cannes Lion for creative effectiveness\, adding to the previous Gold and Bronze Lions\, for ‘The Connected Island’ campaign for Three Ireland. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMartina Mendola\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMartina Mendola has a Masters in Comparative Literature from The University of Turin (Italy)\, a Postgraduate Certificate in Innovation and a PhD in Contemporary Literature from Trinity College Dublin. Since 2019 she is a Researcher in the Human Sciences Studio at The Dock\, where she explores societal challenges at the intersection between business and technology. Because of her blended research experience in both industry and academia she has been invited to champion the role of Arts and Humanities in forums such as The Future Jobs Ireland 2019 and the campaign Creating our Futures 2021. Among her research interests are coming-of-age stories\, youth studies\, identity and liquidity. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFederica Pedriali \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFederica Pedriali is Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and Research Affiliate at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Her work intersects Biopolitics\, Cognitive Narratology\, Continental Philosophy\, Decolonial Studies\, Migration and Diaspora Studies\, the Environmental Humanities\, Performance Studies\, and Political Theory. She is currently working on biopower\, dissonant heritages\, and the future of change\, having worked\, among other things\, on the spatialities of war\, totalitarian Europe\, and the digital humanities also through several ongoing public engagement projects. She is the author or editor of 24 volumes. Her recent books include: (ed)\, Roberto Esposito’s Italian Thought (Edinburgh University Press – in press); (co-ed)\, Mobilizing Cultural Identities in the First World War (Palgrave\, 2020); (ed)\, Gadda: interpreti a confronto (Cesati\, 2020). She was recently elected to the Italian Ambassador’s Scientific Council\, London\, and is a member of the UKRI Talent Panel College. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMassimo Riva\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMassimo Riva is Professor of Italian Studies and Modern Media at Brown University. He is the author of several books on melancholy and other literary maladies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries\, post-humanism and the hyper-novel\, the future of literature in the digital age. He is the editor of Italian Tales\, an anthology of contemporary Italian fiction\, and the co-editor of the Cambridge U.P. edition of Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on Human Dignity. Since the late 1990s\, his pioneering work in the digital humanities has led to the creation of several projects\, including the Decameron Web\, recipient of two major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities\, the Virtual Humanities Lab\, recipient of a two-year NEH grant\, and the Garibaldi Panorama and the Risorgimento Archive\, recipient of a Digital Innovation award from the American Council of Learned Societies. For his engagement with research-based teaching\, he was nominated Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence (2015-2018). His most recent project\, a digital monograph entitled Shadow Plays. Virtual Realities in an Analog World was published in June 2022 by Stanford University Press. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nChair\n\n\n\n\n\nEmanuela Patti\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmanuela Patti is Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She holds an MA in Comparative Literature from UCL and a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Birmingham. After her doctoral studies\, she was Senior Research Fellow in the collaborative AHRC-funded research project ‘Interdisciplinary Italy 1900-2020: interart/intermedia’. Her research lies at the intersection of literary\, media\, and cultural studies\, and has received prestigious grants from the AHRC and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She has published widely on experimental literature and how stories travel across arts and digital media\, including the monograph ‘Opera aperta. Italian electronic literature from the 1960s to the present’ (Peter Lang\, 2022)\, two special issues ‘Experimental narratives: from the novel to digital storytelling’ (Comparative Critical Studies\, 2016) and ‘Reading practices in experimental narratives: a comparative perspective across cultures’ (Romance Studies\, 2016)\, and the co-edited volume ‘Transmedia. Storia\, memoria e narrazioni attraverso i media’ (Mimesis\, 2014). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/catharsis-in-the-age-of-the-metaverse/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230426T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230426T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105251Z
UID:10000032-1682532000-1682537400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Speculative Forensics: Machine Learning and the Rise of Vocal Portraiture
DESCRIPTION:As part of Adversarial Acoustics Unit Test (Martin Disley) will screen their new short film\, investigating the relationship between vocal forensics and machine learning through a mix of critical and speculative aesthetic practice. Whilst the rise of machine learning models has led to an increased awareness of the ways in which sociocultural biases are often embedded into their construction\, this session explores how an investigative practice can reveal points of fragility in these system in order to develop new methods for resisting their application. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nMartin Disley\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMurad Khan is a course leader and senior lecturer at UAL’s Creative Computing Institute. His research explores the relationship between pathology\, perception and prediction across cognitive neuroscience and computer science\, outlining a philosophy of noise and uncertainty in the development of predictive systems. \n\n\n\nThe collaborative research studio\, Unit Test\, explores the place of investigative methods in counter data-science practices. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVlad Afanasiev\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVlad Afanasiev is a designer and researcher from Ukraine who works across a broad range of spatial and visual practices. He serves as a strategic designer in Dark Matter Labs where his work focuses on urban and environmental governance\, the use of forecasting technics\, predictive simulation and modelling. Besides that\, he was a part of The Terraforming interdisciplinary research program and currently serves as a City & Technology program tutor at IAAC in Barcelona. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/speculative-forensics-machine-learning-and-the-rise-of-vocal-portraiture/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230424T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230424T190000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230504T135618Z
UID:10000031-1682359200-1682362800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: Technologically Mediated Intimacy
DESCRIPTION:Part of the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Love Machine event season. \n\n\n\nThe 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. Our conversation for the “Love Machine” EFI event season will focus on intimate relationships with machines\, from robot pets and therapeutic companions to apps for dating and romance\, to technologies embedded in our bodies. How can we navigate the complexities of technologies that are entangled with both our bodies and our emotions? \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\nThis will be updated in due course. \n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversations-technologically-mediated-intimacy/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230419T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230419T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140311Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105303Z
UID:10000028-1681927200-1681932600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:It’s All About the Feelings...
DESCRIPTION:Come and join us for a performance event that takes a peek inside AI and emotion recognition. \n\n\n\nEmotional\, empathic\, sentiment recognition systems\, is an area of AI of significant implication for our current and near future lives. Pitched as capturing ‘real-time emotion’ and ‘non-conscious responses’\, they have been developed as a method to measure and map our emotional expressions. Current real world use cases include HR\, market research\, post-natal parenting and education\, near future uses include potential use within border control and a planned integration within the production of all new cars in the EU from 2024. \n\n\n\nHowever\, there are serious concerns about both the efficacy of these technologies and the ethics of use. In October 2022\, the UK Information Commission warned companies to steer clear of emotional analysis technologies or face fines\, due to “pseudoscientific” nature of the field as well as citing the potential of technology to breach people’s rights and break laws (see report here). Central to these concerns is the reductive nature of these systems and the problematic standardised categorisations embedded within their databases\, which present serious issues of representation and bias\, with the potential to reinforce inequalities\, including racism\, sexism\, ageism and ableism.   \n\n\n\nBut how does sentiment recognition technology actually work and how accurate is it? This performance will reveal how emotional AI databases actually work\, behind the smoke and mirrors. It will tease out the affect these technologies might have on our near futures and behaviours\, and present an opportunity to think about appropriate\, fair real-world application and uses of AI technologies. \n\n\n\n‘It’s All About the Feelings…’ is a creative research project led by Beverley Hood\, an artist and Reader in Technological Embodiment & Creative Practice at the University of Edinburgh\, featuring actor\, Pauline Goldsmith. \n\n\n\nThis event is presented by the Centre for Data\, Culture and Society\, and supported by The New Real\, Tramway Supports\, Edinburgh College of Art\, the Edinburgh Futures Institute\, Creative Informatics and Cove Park. \n\n\n\nPerformer Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nBeverley Hood\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeverley Hood is an artist and Reader in Technological Embodiment and Creative Practice. Her creative research work interrogates the impact of technology on the body\, relationships and human experience through the creation of digital media and performance arts projects\, and writing. She has extensive experience of collaborative work and project development involving a range of practitioners\, including medical researchers\, scientists\, writers\, technologists\, dancers\, actors and composers. Beverley’s work has been performed\, screened and exhibited at leading international venues.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPauline Goldsmith\n\n\n\n\nPauline Goldsmith is a Glasgow based actor\, writer\, director and theatre maker from Belfast. She is also an occasional stand-up comedienne\, creating and performing her own shows. Her critically acclaimed production – Irish wake\, Bright Colours Only\, continues to tour at home and abroad – in a hearse. She has worked with Vanishing Point Theatre for over twenty years as an actor and creative associate working most recently on Interiors\, Wonderland\, Tomorrow\, The Destroyed Room and Tabula Rasa which she co-wrote and performed with Scottish Ensemble. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Karen Gregory\n\n\n\n\nDr Karen Gregory is a digital sociologist\, ethnographer\, and Senior Lecturer in the department of sociology at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently at work on a research project that examines workers’ conceptualizations of risk in the on-demand platform economy and has particular interest in digital worker inquiry and the uses of digital and creative methods to understand the experience of platform work. She is author of many articles on our relationship with technology including ‘Anger in academic Twitter: Sharing\, caring and getting mad online‘ (2018) and ‘Delivering Edinburgh: Uncovering the digital geography of platform labour in the city‘ (2020)\, and she is co-editor of Digital Sociologies (Polity Press\, 2016). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nImage credit: Chris Scott
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/its-all-about-the-feelings/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230324T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230324T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140251Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105304Z
UID:10000016-1679680800-1679686200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:LIMBIC: Ego\, Elegy\, Ecstasy
DESCRIPTION:This audio-visual performance by composer Philly Holmes responds to Limbic\, a poetry collection by Peter Scalpello. Through words\, sound and imagery\, the performance traces a personal narrative exploring intimacy and queer discovery\, enacting the confusions and graces of a queer life through hybridity of storytelling forms. Experiences of desire reflect the interconnectedness of mediums\, sharing a dialogue between what can be written\, heard and felt. The audio performance blends experimental AI music with tape recordings\, combining digital and analogue into something unique – the sound of the love machine. \n\n\n\nPerformer Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter Scalpello\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPeter Scalpello is a queer poet and therapist from Glasgow. Their work has appeared in Five Dials\, Granta\, The London Magazine and The New York Times\, among other publications. Their first collection\, Limbic\, was published by Cipher Press in 2022. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhilly Holmes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhilly Holmes (he/they a.k.a. sweet philly) is a 23-year-old\, Irish\, multidisciplinary\, creative\, music producer and DJ currently based in Edinburgh. They seek the sublime\, the ritualistic\, the divine and the queer. Their current practice involves using AI tools to generate new sounds from old fragments – communing with the digital black box. As sweet philly\, they embody immaculate\, queer-centred club vibes\, smoothly bouncing between genres\, creating eclectic club soundscapes. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair\n\n\n\n\n\nAndrés N. Ordorica \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAndrés N. Ordorica (he/him) is a queer Latinx poet\, writer\, and educator based in Edinburgh\, Scotland. Drawing on his family’s immigrant history and his own third culture upbringing\, his writing maps the journey of diaspora and unpacks what it means to be from ni de aquí\, ni de allá (neither here\, nor there). His writing often addresses themes of queerness\, liminality\, and concepts of belonging. He has published personal essays and creative journalism on the arts\, mental health\, sexuality\, and immigration. He is a graduate of Ithaca College and The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/limbic-ego-elegy-ecstasy/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230310T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230310T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105305Z
UID:10000012-1678471200-1678476600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Tell Me What You Want\, What You Really\, Really Want
DESCRIPTION:Everyday technologies shape our sexual desires. Whether it’s online spaces where sexuality is the focus (think dating websites\, hook-up apps and porn) or a more conspicuous presence (think social media\, shopping and entertainment)\, the design of these platforms determines what bodies are presented to us as desirable and what is precluded from view. \n\n\n\nIn an attempt to condense messy questions of love\, lust\, and sex into a machine-readable format\, technologies have produced categories of desire and fed this information back to us as if this were what we really wanted. This translation process does not treat all experiences equally\, with implications for expressions of desires that challenge the norms of white\, male\, heterosexuality. Sexuality is also mediated through a prism of capitalism\, where ideal consumers are those with desires that are fixed\, static and classifiable. \n\n\n\nWe might not know what we really\, really want. When we are repeatedly told who and what to desire by apps\, platforms and websites the relationship between technology and sexuality feels impossible to escape. \n\n\n\nIn this panel\, speakers will briefly showcase their work on the intersection of technology and sexuality\, discussing a range of interrelated topics: race and the fetishisation of certain bodies\, LGBTQ+\, young people and access to online information about sex and sexuality\, apps and the solidification of sexual categories\, the experiences of asexual and aromantic people online\, the ‘manosphere’ and misogynist hate groups\, the navigation of identities\, behaviours and desires\, dating apps and the fine line between sexual preference and sexual discrimination\, and the exacerbation of sex panics and the surveillance of sexual behaviours and actions. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nKevin Guyan\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKevin Guyan is a writer and researcher whose work explores the intersection of data and identity. He is the author of Queer Data: Using Gender\, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action (Bloomsbury Academic)\, which examines the collection\, analysis and use of gender\, sex and sexuality data\, particularly as it relates to LGBTQ people in the UK. Kevin is a Research Fellow in the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow. In 2016\, Kevin is a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland\, sits on Young Scot’s Data Advisory Group and the boards of Evaluation Support Scotland and the Equality Network. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEris Young\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEris Young is a queer\, transgender author of fiction and nonfiction. Their short stories have appeared in Pseudopod\, Fusion Fragment\, Escape Pod and Metastellar\, as well as anthologies such as Uncanny Bodies from Luna Press Publishing. Their nonfiction books They/Them/Their: A guide to nonbinary and genderqueer identities (2019) and Ace Voices: What it means to be asexual\, aromantic\, demi or gray-ace (2022)\, are published by Jessica Kingsley Publishing. They also edit fiction at Shoreline of Infinity magazine\, were the writer-in-residence at Lighthouse Bookshop from 2019 – 2022\, and in 2020 received a Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award for fiction. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair\n\n\n\n\n\nHemangini Gupta\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHemangini Gupta has a PhD in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and research and teaching interests in transnational feminisms\, postcolonial and decolonial theory\, and gender and sexuality in the South. Her current research explores histories of scientific knowledge-formation that shape cities of the South by combining imperial ideas about the environment\, health\, and progress with racial neoliberalism. At the University of Edinburgh\, she is Associate Director of GenderED\, building university-wide collective expertise and explorations around interdisciplinary questions of gender and sexuality. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \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 us know at the event.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/tell-me-what-you-want-what-you-really-really-want-2/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230308T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230308T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230214T140241Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105305Z
UID:10000010-1678298400-1678303800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Edinburgh Futures Conversations – Between Two Waters: A Performance
DESCRIPTION:This performance is part of the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Conversations series. \n\n\n\nThis show is part of our Futures Conversations series – Shaping our AI Futures – and explores the delicate and intricately evolving relationship between humans and machines\, through a dynamic dance between a dancer and a soft robot as the focal point. The representation of robots in art and media is often limited to their portrayal in science fiction\, but this performance aims to challenge that narrative by depicting robots in unconventional\, non-technological forms. \n\n\n\nThe performance delves into the complex process of human-machine coexistence and understanding\, exploring the relationship between the dancer and the robot as one of continuous learning\, acceptance\, rejection\, and reunion. Through this process of navigating each other’s spaces and understanding their unique capabilities\, the audience is offered a powerful metaphor for how humans and machines can learn to coexist and accept one another in the world. \n\n\n\nThis thought-provoking performance is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Lille INRIA Centre. \n\n\n\nPerformer Biography\n\n\n\n\n\nMadeline Squire\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImage from ‘The Shimmering Extraordinary’\n\n\n\n\n\nMadeline Squire is a choreographer and dance artist based in the UK. She explores how her own experience with disability can stimulate creative approaches to her work. Madeline trained at Highgate Ballet School\, Cecchetti Associates\, Central School of Ballet Associates and was part of the CAT program at The Place\, London Contemporary Dance School. At sixteen\, she started at the English National Ballet School. She joined Scottish Ballet two years later in 2014 and began her professional career. \n\n\n\nIn 2017\, Madeline had a sudden isolated neurological attack and became unable to feel her hands and lost motion in her legs. Through rehabilitation she regained movement and returned to the stage. Some “limitations” remain in her left leg\, but rather than looking at these negatively\, Madeleine uses this experience to explore creativity and versatility into her work. \n\n\n\nIn 2019 Madeline was commissioned to choreograph Scottish Ballet’s first digital season\, in collaboration with artist in residence Zachery Eastwood-Bloom. In 2021\, she became the first Female Drosselmeyer in the Scottish Ballet’s Nutcracker\, a role normally performed by a male dancer. Find out more about Madeline’s work at https://www.madelinesquire.com/. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChair \n\n\n\n\n\nLynne Craig\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLynne Craig’s practice connects design\, technology\, education\, and business development; exploring the frontiers of emergent technologies and cultural change. Throughout her career she has built businesses\, created products\, designed systems for global audiences\, and continues to reimagine what the role of ‘making’ in design\, education and business looks like for tomorrow. Current roles include Senior Lecturer and Programme Director MA Design Informatics at University of Edinburgh. Previously Founder and Director of Digital Anthropology Lab\, London College of Fashion\, University of the Arts London\, UAL\, where she pioneered novel play-based design and engineering programs for fashion\, launching industry challenges\, investigating\, ‘draped interfaces\,’ IoT and collaborative digital performance. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease note this is a hybrid event. Streaming will be live captioned. \n\n\n\nStrobe lights will be used in the performance. \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 us know at the event. \n\n\n\nEvent image features Madeleine Squire from ‘The Shimmering Extraordinary’
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/edinburgh-futures-conversations-between-two-waters-a-performance-2/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Love Machine: Spring 2023
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230130T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230130T200000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230117T161818Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230118T111029Z
UID:10000002-1675101600-1675108800@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Love Machine: Spring 2023 EFI Event Season Launch
DESCRIPTION:This event marks the opening of the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Spring 2023 season and is by invitation only. After this event\, bookings will officially open to everyone for our Spring 2023 programme of events\, created in collaboration with partners across the Edinburgh Futures Institute\, will run from March to May 2023! \n\n\n\nOur title for this season is Love Machine and focuses on interdisciplinarity of artificial Intelligence\, data and machine learning technologies. This theme aligns with the University of Edinburgh’s fourth Futures Conversation as well as celebrations of 60 years of AI at the University. Through it we will explore the interconnections of AI\, data and machine learning with other disciplines\, including the arts and humanities. And we will invite\, provoke and convene open discussions and thinking from students\, researchers\, different disciplines\, industry and business\, and communities from across the University and beyond.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/love-machine-spring-2023-efi-event-season-launch/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221202T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221202T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T164223Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105316Z
UID:10000064-1670004000-1670009400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:An Island of Sound: J. R. Carpenter with Jules Rawlinson
DESCRIPTION:From the classical period through the early modern\, tales abounded of distant islands inhabited by demons\, devils\, evil spirits\, and all manner of winged creatures. The Sirens lured sailors to shipwreck with singing voices. The sprite Ariel conjures up a storm. The stories we tell ourselves to make sense of wind. \n\n\n\nAn Island of Sound is a new browser-based work by J. R. Carpenter exploring phantom islands as weather phenomenon through an assemblage of found images\, algorithmically generated texts\, live performance\, and sound. The sound-world created by Jules Rawlinson for the live performance of this work responds to\, supports\, and transforms J R Carpenter’s visual and textual imagery. Field recordings\, wind synthesis\, generative sample streams and data-driven sound processing are collaged and combined with spoken word to create ambiguous and shifting sonic narratives and spectral resonances. \n\n\n\nSpeaker/Performer Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nJ. R. Carpenter\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJ. R. Carpenter is an artist\, writer\, and researcher working across performance\, print\, and digital media. Questions of place\, displacement\, migration\, and climate change have long pervaded her work. Her web-based work has been presented around the world and is widely taught. Her digital poem\, The Gathering Cloud\, won the New Media Writing Prize 2016. Her debut poetry collection\, An Ocean of Static\, was highly commended for the Forward Prize 2018. Her web-app\, This is a Picture of Wind\, won the Dot Award for Digital Literature 2015. A print collection by the same name was listed in The Guardian’s Best Poetry Books of 2020 and longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2021. For more information visit: https://luckysoap.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJules Rawlinson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJules Rawlinson is an audiovisual composer\, improviser and designer working in solo and collaborative settings within international networks of practice\, and a Senior Lecturer in Digital Design at Edinburgh College of Art in the University of Edinburgh. Jules’ solo works are characterised by filigree layers of detail and texture in sound design\, images and musical material such as that in Interval and Instance (2018-22)\, an audiovisual exploration of speed\, motion and scale in archival material from pioneering scientific filmmaker Eric Lucey\, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2018. Recent outputs make innovative use of machine learning and AI design in corpus-based aesthetics of transformation\, such as in wnd (2020)\, a rich and immersive audiovisual experience in a first-person virtual environment. Other projects include multimedia works for New Media Scotland\, Glenmorangie\, and the New Radiophonic Workshop. For more information visit http://www.pixelmechanics.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChaired by Maria Fusco.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/an-island-of-sound-j-r-carpenter-with-jules-rawlinson/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221129T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221129T190000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T164133Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231012T082450Z
UID:10000062-1669744800-1669748400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:The Fight for Climate after Covid-19 - A Watch Party
DESCRIPTION:This is an opportunity for the EFI and its extended community to come together and join a live viewing of the online event\, ‘The Fight for Climate after Covid-19: A conversation with Alice C. Hill‘ in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/the-fight-for-climate-after-covid-19-a-watch-party/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221121T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221121T190000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T164046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105317Z
UID:10000060-1669053600-1669057200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Technomoral Conversations: Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence
DESCRIPTION:What is the impact of AI on the planet? There are reasons to hope that data-driven efficiencies and insights can help produce innovative solutions to the climate emergency\, touching areas such as energy\, biodiversity monitoring and conservation\, transportation\, water conservation\, and agriculture\, among others. On the other hand\, there are also real concerns about the climate cost of producing AI models in the first place. Researchers have found that training a single AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes. Will AI turn out to be a net negative or a net positive for the sustainability of life on the planet? \n\n\n\nJoin us for a conversation on sustainability and AI\, featuring a panel of experts who are tackling different facets of this challenge. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\nChair\n\n\n\n\n\nProfessor Shannon Vallor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShannon Vallor is the Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She is the Baillie Gifford Chair in Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She also holds an appointment in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy and chairs the University’s AI and Data Ethics Advisory Board. Shannon’s research explores the philosophy and ethics of emerging science and technologies. Current projects focus on the impact of emerging technologies – particularly those involving automation and artificial intelligence – on the moral and intellectual habits\, skills and virtues of human beings: our character. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\n\nMirella Lapata\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMirella Lapata is Professor of natural language processing in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on getting computers to understand\, reason with\, and generate natural language. She is the first recipient (2009) of the British Computer Society and Information Retrieval Specialist Group (BCS/IRSG) Karen Sparck Jones award and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh\, the ACL\, and Academia Europaea. Mirella has also received best paper awards in leading NLP conferences and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research\, the Transactions of the ACL\, and Computational Linguistics. She was president of SIGDAT (the group that organises EMNLP) in 2018. She has been awarded an ERC consolidator grant\, a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award\, and a UKRI Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowship. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Ronita Bardhan\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Ronita Bardhan is Associate Professor of Sustainable Built Environment at the Department of Architecture\, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on data-driven design for built environments that respond by reducing health and energy burdens in the warming climate. She currently works on humid heat health and energy burdens due to the built environment design. Bardhan combines architectural engineering\, AI and machine learning with social sciences to develop built environment design solutions. She has developed novel methods to inform building and city design by combining physics-based building design optimisation with qualitative socio-economic\, socio-cultural norms\, occupant behaviour and community norms data. She has conducted heat-health & energy research in diverse socio-economic settings in the United Kingdom\, India\, Ethiopia\, South Africa\, Indonesia etc. Bardhan specialises in data-driven design for developing context-specific solutions in the affordable housing sector. Bardhan is the Director of MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies (MAUS) and leads the Sustainable Design Group at the university. Her impactful work on developing design solutions for reducing the burdens of tuberculosis\, heat health and poor indoor air quality in slum rehabilitation housing has received immense traction from policymakers. Bardhan currently advises government agencies on energy efficiency and heat health in affordable housing and has written over 130 academic articles on the health and environmental design of the affordable residential built environment. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Ramit Debnath\n\n\n\n\nDr Ramit Debnath is a computational social scientist and a Gates Scholar based at the University of Cambridge. He is passionate about energy and climate justice. Ramit is the inaugural Cambridge Zero Fellow and a visiting faculty associate in Computational Social Science at Caltech\, and a sustainability fellow at Churchill College\, University of Cambridge. Ramit works at the intersection of data science and public policy to support climate action\, primarily focussing on developing novel approaches to natural language processing\, machine learning\, AI and qualitative analysis to enable a people-centric and just net-zero transition. He is passionate about energy and climate justice as well as countering misinformation. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Bean\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Bean is a physicist\, engineer and CEO of Materials Nexus\, a deep-tech start-up that originated at Cambridge University and within the Carbon13 Venture Builder. His ground-breaking\, AI-enabled Materials Discovery Platform transforms the way that new materials are designed using a rapid automated process and advanced quantum calculations that give high accuracy at larger scales. He work with partners to accelerate development of next-generation materials to reduce global CO2e emissions. Jonathon is a trustee at the charity Science Projects and has teaching roles at Trinity College Cambridge and London South Bank University.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/technomoral-conversations-sustainability-and-artificial-intelligence/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221118T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221118T180000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T164011Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105317Z
UID:10000059-1668790800-1668794400@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Nomad Century: Gaia Vince in conversation with Elizabeth Cripps
DESCRIPTION:Author Gaia Vince draws attention to mass migration and climate change at a time when huge swathes of the world are becoming uninhabitable. \n\n\n\n‘Gaia Vince’s new book should be read not just by every politician\, but by every person on the planet\, because it lays out\, much more clearly than any existing scientific assessment\, the world we are creating through global heating’ – Observer \n\n\n\nWhile the climate catastrophe is finally getting the attention it deserves\, the inevitability of mass migration has been largely ignored. While we must do everything we can to mitigate the impact of climate change\, the truth is that huge swathes of the world are becoming uninhabitable. \n\n\n\nIn Nomad Century\, Gaia Vince provides an examination of this most pressing issue facing humanity. In conversation with Elizabeth Cripps\, Vince discusses how migration brings benefits not only to migrants themselves\, but to host countries\, many of which face demographic crises and labour shortages. \n\n\n\nSpeaker Biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nGaia Vince\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGaia Vince is a journalist\, writer and broadcaster\, and an honorary senior research fellow at UCL. She writes for publications including the Observer and Guardian\, and presents programmes on BBC R4. She is the author of the ground-breaking work Adventures in The Anthropocene for which she spent two and half years travelling to over 50 countries to map the ways humans are changing the planet forever. She draws on this\, along with a wealth of eye-opening data and original reporting\, and her own first-hand experience of the state of the planet. Gaia shows how migration brings benefits not only to migrants themselves\, but to host countries\, many of which face demographic crises and labour shortages. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Elizabeth Cripps\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr Elizabeth Cripps is a writer and philosopher. She is a senior lecturer in political theory at the University of Edinburgh and the author of What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care (Bloomsbury\, 2022)\, as well as the forthcoming Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher’s Guide to Doing Right by your Kids – and Everyone Else (MIT Press). Elizabeth has written opinion pieces for the Guardian\, the Herald and the Big Issue and appeared on podcasts and radio shows\, including for BBC Radio\, WBAI\, and Newstalk. As a former journalist\, she worked for the Financial Times Group. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBook details: \n\n\n\nNomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/nomad-century-gaia-vince-in-conversation-with-elizabeth-cripps/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221116T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221116T193000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T163945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105317Z
UID:10000058-1668621600-1668627000@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:What My Body Can/t Remember
DESCRIPTION:Since 2014\, Palestinian dancer and choreographer Farah Saleh has been creating an Archive of Gestures through the re-enactment\, transformation\, and analyses of bodily gestures and movements. In What My Body Can/t Remember\, Saleh explores what her body can and can’t remember of her life in Ramallah in 2002 when\, living under curfew\, she returned to dancing after years of interruption. Working with filmmaker Owa Barua\, Saleh recalls the daily gestures of her life exploring her memory of a period when her domestic space was her only site of physical freedom. First commissioned by The Fruitmarket Gallery and Dance International Glasgow in 2019\, What My Body Can/t Remember interrogates the retrieval\, integrity\, and degradation of embodied memory. \n\n\n\nThis performance is supported by the Centre for Data\, Culture & Society. \n\n\n\nPerformers\n\n\n\n\n\nFarah Saleh\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFarah Saleh is a Palestinian dancer and choreographer active in Palestine\, Europe and the US. She has studied linguistic and cultural mediation in Italy and in parallel continued her studies in contemporary dance. Since 2010 she has taken part in local and international projects with Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Company (Palestine)\, the Royal Flemish Theatre and Les Ballets C de la B (Belgium)\, Mancopy Dance Company (Denmark/Lebanon)\, Siljehom/Christophersen (Norway) and Candoco Dance Company (UK). Saleh teaches dance\, and coordinates and curates artistic projects with the Palestinian Circus School\, Sareyyet Ramallah and the Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival. In 2016 she co-founded Sareyyet Ramallah Dance Summer School. She was an Associate Artist at Dance Base in Edinburgh 2017-2021. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOwa Barua\n\n\n\n\nOwa Barua is an Edinburgh-based moving image artist\, freelance videographer and editor\, workshop facilitator and community worker. His work has been selected and awarded at several international film festivals\, and also installed at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne)\, Southbank Centre (London)\, and at the University of Bath Mediawall. As a freelancer filmmaker he has created documentary and promotional films for London arts organisations such as East London Dance\, Stratford Circus Arts Centre\, Move The World and Sadlers Wells. He has produced and directed community-based film projects for organizations such as Rathbone Society and Diverse Dance. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe event will be chaired by Lucy Weir.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/what-my-body-can-t-remember/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221114T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221114T160000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T163912Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230224T112656Z
UID:10000057-1668438000-1668441600@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:EFI Student Photography Competition: The Future of Climate Justice
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a drink and delicious\, celebratory treat as we reveal the winners of the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Student Photography Competition and view a selection of the submitted photographs. \n\n\n\nProfessor Liz Grant\, Assistant Principal (Global Health) and Director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh\, will announce the winners and speak to the themes raised in the submissions. \n\n\n\nThis competition has asked University of Edinburgh Students to respond creatively to the theme of this year’s University of Edinburgh Futures Conversations – The Future of Climate Justice and the challenge: What does climate justice look like to you? \n\n\n\nWe hope this collection of images will stimulate further conversation and action following on from the Edinburgh Futures Conversations\, and will chime with important work taking place at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). \n\n\n\nImage credit: Gintare Kulyte
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/efi-student-photography-competition-the-future-of-climate-justice/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20221111T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20221111T140000
DTSTAMP:20260512T112957
CREATED:20230220T163845Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240711T105317Z
UID:10000056-1668164400-1668175200@efi.ed.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Utopia Lab
DESCRIPTION:Utopia is a ‘no-space’ for contemplation\, innovation and collaboration. The term utopia was coined from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia\, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The word comes from Greek: οὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”) and means “no-place”\, and strictly describes any non-existent society ‘described in considerable detail’. \n\n\n\nOur Utopia Labs are ‘no-spaces’\, places where everyone is welcome to join us in dreaming futures that inspire our experience of the present. Our labs curate interactions between academics\, artists\, entrepreneurs\, students and audiences in person and online globally. We are interested in that which is provocative and irreverent as well as that which is nurturing and joyful. Utopia questions are catalysts for inquiry\, learning and creativity. With an emphasis on innovative and experimental ways of communicating\, we will explore meditation\, dialogue and co-creation with the help of a facilitator. Participants consist of University of Edinburgh staff and students\, and non-University practitioners. \n\n\n\nIn this Utopia Lab session\, invited speakers will present visions of their Utopia\, which we will (individually or in groups\, as preferred) respond to by creating our own artistic and creative mini-Utopias. We will consider what Utopia means and how it could be a useful crucible in which to explore positive change. \n\n\n\n\n11am-12pm: Introductions and Presentations\n\n\n\n12pm-1pm: Lunch and Dreaming/Making\n\n\n\n1pm-2pm: Sharing\n\n\n\n\nLunch and materials for creating will be provided. The lab will also include meditation\, poetry reading/listening and simple movement and breathing exercises. All body types and levels of experience welcome. \n\n\n\nSpeaker biographies\n\n\n\n\n\nGareth Williams\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nComposer and songwriter Gareth Williams lives in Edinburgh\, where he makes work that ranges from opera\, theatre and songwriting to chamber and orchestral music. He is a Chancellor’s Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art\, where he lectures in composition. He seeks to find new participants and audiences for opera and music theatre with his work\, and to shed light on stories and communities that have been overlooked\, exploring ideas of identity and vulnerability in his vocal writing. His music is often site-specific and responsive\, with performances happening in lighthouses\, whisky distilleries\, nuclear bunkers\, and libraries. He creates award winning work for companies such as Scottish Opera\, Red Note Ensemble\, National Theatre of Scotland\, Ulster Orchestra\, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra\, Tapestry Opera\, Theatre Passe Muraille\, Bridge Theatre\, Hebrides Ensemble\, Chamber Music Scotland\, and Noise Opera. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSufee Yama\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSufee Yama is a Creative Technologist specialized in immersive media storytelling. Sufee works across Interactive AR\, Interactive VR film and animation\, 360 video\, Mixed Reality Performance and Mixed Reality video. Her personal R&D experiments are brought to use for brands’ commercials\, documentaries\, movies\, events and exhibitions with clients like Meta\, Snap Inc.\, The Guardian US\, The Japan Foundation\, Goethe-Institut\, FABLAB \, Thailand Government Agencies and were mentioned on platforms like The Museum of Other Realities\, Snap AR\, FritzAI and Lenslist. Being an active member in the creative VR/AR community\, Sufee hosts workshops and activities for cultural organizations and Universities. Passionate about the future of storytelling and new media\, Sufee thinks major parts of current Fine art industries will unavoidably needed to transform their work format to thrive. She founded Utopia Lab Studio(www.utopialab.co)\, an experimental creative AR/VR studio focusing on the future of storytelling based on the intersection of Fine Art\, Design and Business in the hope that she can help bring real world Fine Art including performing art into AR/VR space. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSargent\, Lyman Tower (2005). Rüsen\, Jörn; Fehr\, Michael; Reiger\, Thomas W. (eds.). The Necessity of Utopian Thinking: A cross-national perspective. Thinking Utopia: Steps into Other Worlds (Report). New York: Berghahn Books. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-57181-440-1.
URL:https://efi.ed.ac.uk/event/utopia-lab/
LOCATION:Inspace\, 1 Crichton Street\, Edinburgh\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:First Breath: Autumn 2022
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