Neurofutures – Promises and Perils of Neurotechnologies
Over the past eight months, the Pufendorf IAS Theme Neurotechnologies: Delivering their responsible development and use has brought together experts in neuroscience, ethics, law, sociology, technology studies and philosophy. Together, they have explored both the promises and perils of neurotechnologies – from invasive and non-invasive brain–computer interfaces to data privacy, governance models and impacts on democracy and human dignity.
The final event is an open, participatory workshop inviting researchers, students, practitioners and other curious minds to collectively imagine and interrogate possible neurotechnology futures. Under the heading Neurofutures: Who Controls Your Mind?, the workshop raises urgent questions about who designs these technologies and for whom, how they might reshape relationships, identities and freedoms, and which futures we want to avoid – or actively build instead.
Through embodied activities, storytelling and open discussion, participants are invited to step into neurofutures, critically examine their implications and reimagine what is possible. No expertise is required – only curiosity and a willingness to engage.
Read more about this open event and register
Neurofutures: Promises and Perils of Neurotechnologies
Link to the Theme’s webpage : Neurotechnologies: Delivering their responsible development and use | The Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies
International fellow connected to the Theme: Jonathan Andrew.
Future Healthscapes – Insights Around the Dinner Table
The final event of the Pufendorf IAS Theme Future Healthscapes takes the form of a typical Lund-dinner-gathering. Over a nine-month period, the group has met weekly at the Pufendorf Institute, working in an interdisciplinary setting together with many invited guests, bringing diverse perspectives. Now, these guests are welcomed back once more – this time together – to continue the conversation on future health landscapes.
The purpose of the evening is to exchange perspectives and to create space for networking across disciplinary boundaries. The dinner conversations will be documented in order to capture key insights. Discussions will focus on visions of an ideal future healthscapes, as well as on how such healthscapes might take shape in practice, with particular attention to relationships and opportunities.
The Theme brings together expertise from medicine, medical humanities, sociology, technology, design, healthcare architecture and the fine arts. Drawing on this broad knowledge base, the research group works to develop models that support a vision of compassionate, inclusive and resilient care environments, adapted to future needs. The event is open to specially invited guests with a connection to the Theme.
International fellows connected to the Theme: Liesbeth van Heel and Grant Mills.
Let’s Talk about Swedish Forests – From Polarisation to Sustainable Transition
Over the past academic year, the Pufendorf IAS Theme Let’s Talk about Swedish Forests has brought together an interdisciplinary research team from Lund University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, along with several international researchers connected to the Theme. The final event will be a workshop where the Theme presents its main ideas and preliminary results.
One aim of the workshop is to address the state and consequences of polarisation in Swedish forestry. The research group highlights that not only polarisation itself matters, but also claims that debates are polarised, as these may have significant social impacts. Such impacts can affect a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives of industrial associations, family enterprises, civil society, local communities, Sami reindeer herders and research organisations.
A further aim of the workshop is to bring together actors from different backgrounds to exchange experiences and observations, and to engage in constructive conversations in a comfortable atmosphere – allowing participants to agree to disagree and learn from one another. An international expert roundtable will place these reflections on polarisation and its impacts in a broader perspective beyond the Swedish context. The event is open to specially invited stakeholders connected to the Theme.
International fellow connected to the Theme: Daniela Kleinschmit and international guests Benjamin Cashore and Maria Brockhaus