Professor Sian Bayne, Dr Michael Gallagher and Dr Jen Ross from the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh unsettle assumed futures and imagine new, desirable ones for universities. The speakers share their new speculative scenarios for Higher Education Futures in an event that is a mix of research-sharing, storytelling and collaboration. They work with the audience to build visions of what higher education could look like in the context of expansive artificial intelligence, amplified social activism, cognitive enhancement, changing human-machine relationships, climate crisis, unbundling and ennui.

Event Miroboard

Jen Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education, and the MSc in Education Futures at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. Her research interests include cultural heritage futures and learning, online distance education and digital cultures. Her recent book, Digital Futures for Learning (2023), explores speculative approaches to researching and teaching about the future.

Michael Gallagher is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Education, a member of the Centre for Research in Digital Education, and Programme Director of the MSc in Digital Education. He works with UNHCR, Mastercard Foundation, and the British Council on digital education research in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly with forcibly displaced populations.