Announcing Inspace Autum-Winter 2026 Creative Programme

We are delighted to share the upcoming series of exhibitions and events taking place across the next few months. This programme invites staff, sutdents and local edinburgh community to come together to connect with, better understand and take part in dicussion around current challenges and opportunities surrounding technology and data.

For our first event this September, we are deligthed to launch Design Informatics Research Seminar Series, taking place across Sept-Dec, providing the opportunity to hear from and meet Design Informatics invited guest speakers from near and far, hosted by members of our research community.

This is followed by our pop-up exhibition for Edinburgh Doors Open Day presenting several visual and interactive displays inviting you to experience technology driven research project: meet our new robotic gallery assistant Bluebelle, and chat to researchers about current projects Mapping Imaginaries, The cybersyn archives and ekip.

Finally for this years’ Festival of Social Science and Being Human Festival, the national Festivals celebrating hummanities research we are delighted to announce Mapping the Anthropocene: hopeful futures, a creative programme exploring the role of data and mapping to make things visible, particularly in the context of the climate emergency.

Programme overview

DI Seminar & Launch: Introspection, Neurotechnology and Interactive Systems

15:30-17:00, THURS 24 SEPT, 2026 [Free/Ticketed]
Read more: DI Seminar & Launch: Introspection, Neurotechnology and Interactive Systems
‘Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine’ Inspace Research Pop-up

26 Sept 2026 [Free/Drop-in]
Read more: ‘Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine’ Inspace Research Pop-up
Doors Open Day 2026 Tours

10:00-14:00, SAT 26 SEPT, 2026 [Free/Ticketed]
Read more: Doors Open Day 2026 Tours
Mapping the Anthropocene: hopeful futures

4-15 Nov, 2026 [Free/Drop-in]
Read more: Mapping the Anthropocene: hopeful futures
Mapping the Anthropocene: Exhibition Late and Panel Discussion

18:00-20:00, THURS 5 NOV, 2026 [Free/Ticketed]
Read more: Mapping the Anthropocene: Exhibition Late and Panel Discussion
Mapping the Anthropocene: Designing for Hope

13:00-15:00, SAT 7 NOV, 2026 [Free/Ticketed]
Read more: Mapping the Anthropocene: Designing for Hope
Mapping the Anthropocene: Guided Lunchtime Tour

13:00-14:00, THURS 12 NOV, 2026 [FREE/TICKETED]
Read more: Mapping the Anthropocene: Guided Lunchtime Tour
DI Seminar: Justice-led Conservation Technology

16:00-17:00, THURS 19 NOV, 2026 [Free/Ticketed]
Read more: DI Seminar: Justice-led Conservation Technology

About the Institute for Design Informatics

In the Institute for Design Informatics, we fuse design and creative methodologies with data, data science and data-driven technologies. We create prototypes and experiences that make real to people the ideas that underpin the data society, and aim to ensure that new technologies sustain and enhance human values.

DI Seminar & Launch: Introspection, Neurotechnology and Interactive Systems

Join us on Thursday 24th September for Design Informatics Research Seminar Series Launch, featuring a welcome from Institute for Design Informatics directors John Vines and Frauke Zeller, and to welcome our first speaker Roel Heremans, who uses neurotechnology, data visualisation and game systems to explore how interactive systems can create moments of introspection

Event Details

Roel Heremans, Transdigital Artist and Entrepreneur
Talk title: Introspection, Neurotechnology and Interactive Systems
Talk host: Anna Talley
Date: Thurs 24 Sep, 2026
Time: 15:30-17:00 (this first talk will feature a welcome from Institute Directors)
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, EH8 9AB

Inspace Access Info

Roel Heremans’ practice explores how interactive systems can create moments of introspection. In this talk, he traces the development of his work from sound-based compositions toward installations using neurotechnology, data visualisation and game systems. Through projects including The NeuroRight Arcades, Resonance of Renewal and Server in Space, he will look at how different technologies can shape personal experiences and ways of reflecting.These works ask visitors to listen, make choices, interpret data or become part of the system themselves. In The NeuroRight Arcades, this leads to questions around neurodata, mental privacy and neurorights.Across his works, introspection remains a recurring method: technology is used to redirect attention toward the participant and create space for reflection.

Bio

Roel Heremans (1990, lives and works between Brussels and Stockholm) is an artist and keynote speaker working with sound, composed introspection and neurotechnology, often through interactive systems shaped by video game culture.

He develops works in which technology functions as a tool for introspection rather than distraction. Recent projects such as The NeuroRight Arcades and Server in Space explore questions of mental privacy, digital identity and the future of human rights.

He creates commissioned sound-based artworks for organisations and institutions, translating complex societal systems into personal, embodied experiences. Alongside his artistic practice, Heremans is an active keynote speaker and host of television, radio, and conference programs.

His work has been presented internationally at Ars Electronica (AT), Sónar Barcelona (ES), Art Dubai (AE), Espacio Fundación Telefónica Madrid (ES), K11 Art Foundation / ArtReview (CN), Science Gallery Monterrey (MX), M HKA Antwerp (BE) and FIBER Festival Amsterdam (NL)

Running Order
15:30 – Welcome from Frauke Zeller and John Vines
16.00 – Introduction by Anna Talley and Talk by Roel Heremans
16.40 – Q&A
17.00 – End

In-person: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Please note limited seats are available at Inspace for in-person audiences, so please book tickets in advance.

For inquiries about accessibility, please contact the DI team at designinformatics@ed.ac.uk or visit the Access webpage for more information about the venue: https://inspace.ed.ac.uk/venue-access/. If you have any enquiries about Inspace programming and the venue, please contact us at designinformatics@ed.ac.uk.

Data Protection Statement

How we use and store your data – In providing this information, you are giving explicit consent for us to use your data in our programme and event monitoring, reporting and evaluation processes. The data is managed confidentially. Your data will be collected and held by the Institute for Design Informatics, University of Edinburgh (who operate Inspace), it will also be shared with partner organisations for this event/talk. Your data will only be reported or published in anonymous aggregated forms and will always be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore also in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Data retention period – We will hold this information for a maximum period of 5 years from the date of the event, after which it will be disposed of. Please read the University’s privacy and Data Protection notice (https://data-protection.ed.ac.uk/notice) for further information.
Opt out – If you do not wish to share your information, or would like to modify your consent to collection and processing of personal information, please email us at: designinformatics@ed.ac.uk

About Design Informatics

The Institute for Design Informatics is a joint institute between Edinburgh College of Art and the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Our mission is to bring design and data together to create a world that is socially just, where people live well, have agency and autonomy, and are able to adapt and transition how they live to ensure the planet flourishes. We seek to have a transformational impact on society by creating alternatives to dominant models of technology design and development, and to shape ethical and responsible data futures through applied research and practice.

Announcing Design Informatics Autumn-Winter Research Seminar Series

We are delighted to announce our upcoming research seminars, open to anyone, and taking place in Inspace, at the Institute for Design Informatics and kicking off later this month on Thursday the 24^th of September.

This series runs bi-weekly and is in-person only, so save the dates below and don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to hear from and meet Design Informatics invited guest speakers from near and far, hosted by members of our research community.

This talks series takes place in Inspace, Design Informatics’ public facing venue, and will be recorded where possible, so if you are not able to make the talk do keep an eye out for recordings which will be published after the event. Details of new speakers and recordings will be released on this webpage across the series, so do check back regularly for updates.

Seminars usually feature works-in-progress or new projects exploring design, data and technology from different perspectives. We encourage speakers to share new methods and techniques that use data in design/creative processes in innovative ways, and/or look at the agency, autonomy and power of data in how we design systems and experience the world.

This upcoming series brings together international, national and local practitioners and researchers, creating an open environment for anyone to get involved in current research discussion and debate. Topics coming up span a variety of interests and fields including; composed introspection, neurotechnology and interactive systems, justice-led conservation technologies, information and graphic data visualization.

We are delighted to announce Roel Heremans, Transdigital Artist and Entrepreneur as our first speaker. Alongside this first talk, we would like to invite you to an introduction and welcome from Design Informatics directors John Vines and Frauke Zellar, launching this series and taking place at 15:30 on 24^th of September.

This series will take place Sept– Dec 2026, more speakers to be announced soon:
Thurs 24 Sep, 2026 / Roel Heremans / Introspection, Neurotechnology and Interactive Systems
~~Thurs 8 Oct, 2026~~ / Cancelled due to strike action
Thurs 22 Oct, 2026 / Speaker to be announced soon…
Thurs 5 Nov, 2026 / Speakers to be announced late September… / 2026 Festival of Social Science Panel Event
Thurs 19 Nov, 2026 / Joycelyn Longdon/ Justice-led Conservation Technology
Thurs 3 Dec, 2026 / Ricardo Vega-Mora / Information and graphic data visualization

We look forward to seeing you there!

Seminar Speakers

About the Institute for Design Informatics

‘Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine’ Inspace Research Pop-up

Presenting a pop-up exhibition of current research, in Inspace at the Institute of Design Informatics. Design Informatics brings design and data together to create a world that is socially just, where people live well, have agency and autonomy, and are able to adapt and transition how they live to ensure the planet flourishes.

Join us at Inspace to experience technology driven research projects that explore the future of creative practice alongside generative AI and look into the archives of the “cybersyn” project. Meet our new robotic gallery assistant Bluebelle, and chat to researchers about current projects Mapping Imaginaries, The cybersyn archives and ekip.

Exhibition details

Date: Saturday 26th September 2026
Time: 10:00 – 14:00
Location: Inspace, 1 Crichton St, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Scroll down to read more about featured projects

Mapping Imaginaries: Futures of Creative Practice with AI

What will creative work look like in 2030? We asked 70 artists, designers, and creative professionals to imagine the future of their craft alongside generative AI.

Rather than choosing between hype and fear, they mapped a spectrum of possible futures: from radical change to a return to hands-on, analogue craft. This pop-up exhibition brings their visions to life through the original illustrations of illustrator Chris Day. Journey through the debate, meet six “creative-AI archetypes,” explore a spectrum of possible futures, and confront the tensions still to be resolved.

This research is part of the BRAID Fellowship CREA-TEC, supported by the BRAID program, with funds from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) [grant AH/X007146/F], and the support of the Edinburgh Futures Institute for their support. Link to website:

CREA-TEC website

The Cybersyn Archives. An Exploratory Visualisation

This visualisation prototype focuses on the archives of the “Cybersyn” project—part of the Stafford Beer Archive held at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in England. The archive contains diverse materials, ranging from photographs, handwritten documents, and diagrams to official records.

The system was based on the ideas of British scientist Stafford Beer (1926–2002), who believed that cybernetics could reveal commonalities in the complex functioning of social systems (organisations), biological systems (organisms), and mechanical systems (machines).

The “Cybersyn” project (also known as “SYNCO”) was an economic planning initiative developed in Chile during the administration of Salvador Allende Gossens (1971–1973). It consisted of a network of teletype machines connecting the country’s factories to a computing centre in the capital, Santiago; there, information regarding factory production was received, processed, and analysed using the principles of cybernetics.

Stafford Beer and this project are of great significance to the history of computing in Latin America—particularly regarding the interplay of power, economics, politics, and technology—and are also considered a precursor to today’s data culture.

Meet Bluebelle, our new robotic gallery assistant in Inspace!

You can meet, greet and help design Bluebelle during our Doors Open Day event

Bluebelle can show you around Inspace and introduce some of its exhibitions, but it mostly needs help from everyone as it wants a new ‘look’. Visitors to the Inspace Open Doors event will have the opportunity to come up with design ideas for Bluebelle, ranging from giving it a human or animal design, picking colours, fabrics and more…

Bluebelle is a sibling of hitchBOT, the famous hitchhiking robot!

ekip: DI’s Contribution to the European Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Policy Platform

This exhibit summaries the DI team’s contributions to the EU Horizon-funded project ekip: The European Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Policy Platform.

The project is formed of 17 organisations across Europe and seeks to boost development of innovation capacity in open innovation ecosystems to include the Cultural and Creative Industries. This showcase celebrates how the values of DI were brought to this collaboration through participatory design activities and creative approaches to innovation and policy making.

Grasping Data: Tangible Activities for Young Children’s Understanding & Reflection on Personal Data

Personal data and digital technologies shape children’s daily experiences, but in particular younger children are seldom presented opportunities to reflect on their perspectives on personal data.

The Grasping Data project explores ways of engaging children between the age of 5 to 8 with personal data in formal and non-formal learning environments. In partnership with local schools, the Glasgow Science Centre, and the Edinburgh Zoo, we design activities and toolkits aimed at helping children explore what counts as personal data for them, and how to collect and represent their personal data for storytelling and reflection.

This event is part of Doors Open Day 2026.

Design Informatics

Website: designinformatics.org

Instagram: designinformatics

Twitter: @DesignInf

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Facebook: designingwithdata

Vimeo: Design Informatics

Flickr: design_informatics

Inspace

Website: inspace.ed.ac.uk

Instagram: inspacegallery

Twitter: @InspaceG

Doors Open Day 2026 Tours

This September, for Edinburgh Doors Open Day and marking European World Heritage Days 2026, we invite you to join us at The Bayes Centre and the Institute for Design Informatics to celebrate data and technological heritages.

Located within the University of Edinburgh’s city centre campus, as part of Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2026 programme, ‘Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine’, this event invites you to explore the buildings and spaces across these two locations, where researchers, students and businesses work across AI, data science, design and industry to develop impactful projects and solutions for the good of society.

Come along to experience guided tours, view pop-up displays and hear stories about The Bayes Centre and the Institute for Design Informatics over the years. Gain insights into a snapshot of current innovative projects that seek to use digital technologies for good, that encourage new ways of thinking and that reimagine their role to ensure positive societal impact while supporting current and future innovation.

The Bayes Centre is the University of Edinburgh’s Innovation Hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. The technical strengths brought together in the Bayes Centre build on world-leading academic excellence in the mathematical, computational, engineering, and natural sciences in the University of Edinburgh’s College of Science and Engineering. The Bayes Centre offers a new kind of collaborative, multidisciplinary proving ground where we develop innovative technological solutions for the benefit of society.

Inspace is a dynamic exhibition and events space, part of the Institute for Design Informatics, which focuses on fusing design and creative methodologies with data, data science and data-driven technologies. Learn about the cutting-edge facilities at Inspace, including interactive technologies and pioneering design features that inspire creativity and exploration through connecting art, design, research and technology. Venture behind the scenes to visit our studio and workshop where student and staff create prototypes and experiences that make real to people the ideas that underpin the data society, and engage with multimedia displays and hands-on activities that highlight a snippet of the Institutes research.

Event details

Date: Saturday 26th September 2026
Time: 10:00 – 14:00
Locations: Bayes Centre, Inspace, Design Informatics Studio and Workshop

Exhibitors

As part of Doors Open Day 2025, Inspace will present a selection of research projects, these exhibits will be excerpts of current research being explored by researchers at the Institute for Design Informatics. More details to be announced in September.

Tours

First tour 10.15 am
Last tour 1.15 pm
Tours begin every 45 minutes

Schedule:

10:15 [Bayes] / 10:35 [Inspace]
11:00 [Bayes] / 11:20 [Inspace]
11:45 [Bayes] / 12:05 [Inspace]
12:30 [Bayes] / 12:50 [Inspace]
13:15 [Bayes] / 13:35 [Inspace]

The loop takes approx. 40 minutes. Book tickets using the link below.

Book Tickets

Access Info

Drop-in visitors are welcome to visit displays, interactive activities and exhibitions across both venues, but please note, that official tours have a maximum capacity and attendance without a ticket cannot be guaranteed.

Route: Starts at the main entrance to the Bayes Centre. Attendees are taken up to the Bayes Centre roof top and then will be guided back downstairs while being provided with a brief history of the Centre before arriving in the Atrium with the robotics lab. Attendees are then taken for a Tour of Inspace, the Design Informatics studio and workshop. Attendees are welcome to stay in Inspace to view pop-up displays.