Lovelace-Hodgkin Symposium 2026

Symposium programme

Making the Invisible, Visible: AI, Stories Power & Participation

Artificial intelligence often appears as a seamless technology, yet beneath the surface lie hidden systems, unseen assumptions, missing voices and unequal distributions of power. This year's symposium follows a journey from understanding how AI works, to uncovering what it obscures, to exploring how communities can reclaim visibility, agency and participation.

 

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Introducing the theme Making the Invisible, Visible and setting the scene for a day of critical exploration, creativity and participation.

 

Part I: How AI Works

Lifting the Veil on LLMs

Dr Jake Lever – The Nuts & Bolts of LLMs, interactive session

A guided exploration of large language models, revealing what happens behind the interface and challenging common assumptions about how AI systems generate text, knowledge and meaning.

Exploring the Journey of an AI Prompt

Prof. Anna Feigenbaum – interactive game

Tracing the path from prompt to output, examining the hidden infrastructures, decisions and labour involved in producing AI-generated responses.

 

Part II: What AI Obscures

AI Cyber Resilience: Broken Canvas

Dr Tim Peacock – interactive game

Exploring the unintended consequences of AI systems, from vulnerabilities and misuse to the broader challenges of building trustworthy and resilient technologies.

Missing Data in Healthcare

Speaker tbc – interactive session

Examining the ethical and social implications of absent, incomplete and invisible data, and how these gaps can shape healthcare outcomes, research and policy.

 

Part III: Who Gets to Tell the Story?

Storytelling, Memory and Power

Emma Robertson – interactive session

How stories shape our understanding of the past and present, and how power influences which voices, experiences and histories are remembered or forgotten.

Drone Ethics

Speaker tbc – interactive session

Considering how aerial and remote sensing technologies shape perception, knowledge and authority, raising questions about who sees, who is seen and who controls the view.

 

Part IV: Reclaiming Visibility and Participation

Exploring participatory mapping, Indigenous knowledge and community-led monitoring as powerful examples of making people, places and perspectives visible on their own terms.

Film Screening: Mapping & Monitoring in Indigenous Territories

A documentary from LifeMosaic exploring Indigenous-led approaches to mapping, monitoring and protecting territories in the face of environmental and political challenges.

Michael Watts – Q&A with the producer

A discussion on participation, representation, knowledge and power, drawing together the themes of the day.

 

Closing Reflections

From algorithms and data to stories, maps and communities, the symposium concludes by asking how we can make AI and its impacts more visible, understandable and open to participation by all.

Conference venue:

Debates Chamber, Glasgow University Union (32 University Ave, Glasgow G12 8LX), follow Google maps. Parking in the area is very limited, however, there are a number of spaces for Disabled Badge Holders near the venue. Public transport access is excellent, with links via train, subway and bus. 

There are numerous hotels around the University. These include:

• Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel (10 min walk from the venue)

• Argyll Guest House (15 min walk from the venue)

• Argyll Western Hotel (15min walk from the venue)

• Argyll Hotel (15 min walk from the venue)

• The Alamo Guest House (15 min walk from the venue)

• Crowne Plaza Glasgow (30 min walk from the venue)

• Campanile Hotel Glasgow SECC Hydro (30 min walk from the venue)

• Radisson RED Hotel, Glasgow (30 min walk from the venue)