In this episode, Professor Kate Wright speaks openly about the uncertain future facing the media, drawing on her experience as a journalist and academic. Working as a BBC journalist, Kate spent time in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. Moving into academia allowed her to investigate how journalism is responding to the twin challenges of the new digital landscape and the changing political and cultural contexts in which news is now produced. 

Note: This podcast was recorded in late 2024.

Designing technology that humans can easily use — this is Professor John Vines' mission. He takes us through a varied career in design and explains how the field of human-computer interaction explores the ways in which people experience technology in their everyday lives. Along the way we learn about the value John places on the participation of users in design.

How do we future proof our infrastructure? This question is the key concern for Professor Sean Smith, an engineer who has worked in industry and academia. He outlines the unique expertise that pioneering research can bring to the design and construction of buildings that enable us to reduce our environment footprint. 

How does our brain explain the ways in which we make sense of the complex political worlds we inhabit? This question is explored in the Neuropolitics Lab, designed and developed by political scientist and Professor Laura Cram, where politics and neuroscience come together to answer some of the most pressing questions we face today about our politically-divided societies. 

In a frank and revealing discussion, sociologist and Professor Liz McFall charts her journey from growing up in West Lothian, Scotland, to exploring vital questions about democracy and data in the Data Civics Observatory which she leads at the Futures Institute. She also discusses her film, Closes and Opens: a history of Edinburgh’s Futures and Milton Keynes of the Mind. 

Professor Shannon Vallor, Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures and author of "The AI Mirror," explores how her background shaped her approach to research on the ethics of AI. For her, AI is a mirror to society, and she argues that we need to look to humans, not machines, for how to adapt to this emergent technology.