Events

CRI Deputy Director Eleanor Hadley Kershaw was the invited speaker at the UKRI Engineering Biology Mission Hubs and Awards Science Showcase, 18-19 September 2025, Manchester. Her presentation on ‘Social science in engineering biology: challenges and opportunities’ introduced the findings and recommendations of the ESRC-funded Social Science in Engineering Biology project. The presentation was followed by a lively workshop session on Responsible Research and Innovation in Engineering Biology. In closing the event, BBSRC Executive Director for Research Strategy and Programmes Amanda Collis thanked Eleanor for her thoughtful presentation and provocations and affirmed the research councils’ commitment to work together to build interdisciplinary capacity at the intersection of engineering biology, social science, and society.

On 11 September, the Centre for Responsible Innovation and the Environmental Intelligence Research Network hosted an interdisciplinary panel ‘Social Science Dimensions of Environmental Intelligence.’ Our panellists raised important questions and provocations surrounding the ethical and political dimensions of using AI to understand and address environmental challenges.

This event features a networking reception with drinks and canapés followed by a keynote public lecture by Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé – Lecturer in Ethics, AI and Society, Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London – exploring AI's environmental impacts and grassroots resistance.

Dr. Lehuedé’s talk will explore AI’s environmental footprint through fieldwork in Chile, where local communities resist water-intensive data centres and lithium extraction. He will highlight the ethical and political dimensions of these developments and argue for more place-sensitive and just approaches to AI innovation.

This one-day interdisciplinary workshop brings together researchers, technologists, policymakers, and civil society actors from the UK and Ireland through a series of interactive panels and discussions to understand the environmental impacts of AI and identify the knowledge gaps.

We scope out potential solutions that are sensitive to politics and power structures that shape AI development and deployment and move beyond narrow technical fixes to think about questions of justice. We seek to raise awareness of AI’s environmental and societal impacts and help shape more responsible, transparent, and sustainable approaches to AI development.

On 29 July, the Centre for Responsible Innovation and Environmental Intelligence Research Network hosted ‘Social and Computer Science: Interdisciplinary Conversations on AI.’ The event highlighted emerging concerns—including non-representative training data, the energy demands of large-scale models, and the influence of big tech—that are driving new interdisciplinary collaborations. It brought together diverse perspectives to explore future pathways and shared challenges for cross-disciplinary research.

From 29 June to 1 July 2025, the University of Exeter hosted the annual meeting of the New Carbon Economy Consortium, an alliance of universities, national labs, and NGOs working in partnership with industry leaders to build a carbon conscious world. CRI Deputy Director Eleanor Hadley Kershaw delivered a talk on ‘Why responsible innovation is vital for the new carbon economy’, as part of a panel exploring the social dimensions of the carbon economy.

The Centre for Responsible Innovation, in collaboration with the Environmental Intelligence Network, organised an interdisciplinary panel at the Machine Learning for Earth Observation (ML4EO) Conference in June 2025. ML4EO is a three-day event which brings together participants from industry, academia, and the public sector to explore the latest advancements and future directions in earth observation.

Panel members addressed a range of topics, including the ethical implications of ML4EO, the role of responsible innovation, and sustainability considerations—key issues essential to the ethical, sustainable, and responsible use of machine learning in this rapidly evolving field.

The recording of this Panel can be seen here

On 22 May 2025, Eleanor Hadley Kershaw, Angela Cassidy and Astrid Schrader convened a workshop to map and plan science and technology studies (STS) research across the University of Exeter. Building on monthly STS Brown Bag Lunches held since 2023, the workshop brought together 25 participants from across the University of Exeter to map the diversity of STS(-related) research at Exeter, open dialogue across these strands of STS thought, and explore intersections, shared dispositions, and points of unification. Fantastic provocations were provided by Mike Michael, Gail Davies, Steve Hinchliffe, Ernesto Schwartz Marin, and Rebecca Lynch, and the community collectively proposed an exciting range of STS activities for the immediate, medium and long-term.

Please email e.hadley-kershaw@exeter.ac.uk if you would like to join the Exeter STS Network – open to any interested University of Exeter staff, students or visitors – all welcome!

Developed with students from BEM3055: Ethics and Responsible Innovation, Rethinking Innovation: Alternative Approaches for People and Planet was published as a comprehensive guide to navigating the dilemmas of 21st-century innovation. Recognised for its value to both educators and innovators, the textbook encourages reflection on how we create value and for whom, while equipping readers to critically evaluate innovations and guide them toward more just and equitable futures.

ASU Winter School on Emerging Technologies

Eleanor Hadley Kershaw was an invited presenter at a special edition of the Arizona State University NNCI Winter School on Emerging Technologies in January 2025, having participated as a postdoc in 2019. The 2025 “All Stars” edition convened notable alumni from previous years alongside faculty from the ASU School for the Future of Innovation in Society and US Government Agencies to deliver training sessions for the 2025 cohort and to contribute to a workshop about the future of the Winter School. Eleanor co-delivered a session on RI in policy and institutional design with fellow alumni Rob Smith (University of Edinburgh), Cian O’Donovan (UCL), and Shih Hsin Chen (National YangMing ChiaoTung University, Taiwan).