Arts and Humanities Futures Studies: An Exploratory Symposium

The Arts and Humanities Futures Studies Exploratory Symposium will bring together faculty and invited experts to consider how artistic and humanistic inquiry can help society navigate long-term technological, political, environmental and cultural change. Drawing on history, philosophy, literature, the visual and performing arts, and ethics, the symposium will explore how understanding the past and critically examining the present can expand our capacity beyond just what is probable, but to imagine possible, preferable, and more humane futures.

The symposium will introduce participants to the interdisciplinary field of Futures Studies and approaches including foresight and backcasting, scenario development, systems thinking, and speculative inquiry. Rather than attempting to predict a single future, Futures Studies considers multiple trajectories and asks fundamental questions about the choices, values, institutions and ideas that shape them.

Through presentations, interdisciplinary conversations, and collaborative working sessions, participants will examine the future of democracy and civic life; artificial intelligence and the human consequences of emerging technologies; ethics, rights, and human agency; climate and environmental change; culture, creativity, and storytelling; and the changing nature of work, education, relationships, and meaningful lives.

Together, these subjects invite a larger question: How can the arts and humanities help society envision — and work toward — futures in which people and communities can flourish?

The symposium is exploratory by design. It will showcase existing faculty inquiry and creative practice, develop new connections across disciplines, and invite participants to help define the intellectual priorities and appropriate structure of a broader Arts and Humanities Futures Studies Initiative at UC San Diego. Possibilities emerging from this exploration may include interdisciplinary research collaborations, creative projects, public and community programming, international partnerships, student-learning opportunities, and new avenues for external research support.

At its center is a fundamental proposition: the future is not solely a technological question. It is also a historical, ethical, cultural and imaginative one — and the arts and humanities are essential not only to understanding what may lie ahead, but to asking what kinds of futures we should seek to create.

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026

8:15 a.m. - Check-in open8:30 a.m. - Opening remarksSchool of Arts and Humanities Dean Cristina Della Coletta and Clarion Writers Workshop Director Jac Jemc9 a.m. - Session I: The Clarion Writers' Workshop and Labé ProgramJac Jemc, UC San Diego Department of Literature and director of Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ WorkshopAlessandro Martini, Université Lyon 3 - Jean MoulinGwennael Gaffric, Université Lyon 3 - Jean Moulin (remote)Manu Braganca, University College Dublin (remote)10:15 a.m. - Break10:30 a.m. - Session II: Ethics, Collective Interest and a Meaningful LifeCraig Callender, Department of Philosophy and co-director of the Institute for Practical EthicsManuel Vargas, Department of PhilosophySamuel Rickless, Department of Philosophy11:45 a.m. - Networking Lunch1 p.m. - Session III: Searching for Utopia, Envisioning FuturesAmelia Glaser, Department of Literature and director of the Institute of Arts and HumanitiesRebecca Jo Plant, Department of HistoryMarco Wilkinson, Department of LiteratureJessica Zychowicz, UC San Diego Senior Director of Global Initiatives2:15 p.m. - Break2:30 p.m. - Session IV: Indigenous Futures InstituteKatie Walkiewicz, Department of Literature and faculty director of the Indigenous Futures InstituteChag Lowry, executive director of the Indigenous Futures Institute3:15 p.m. - Session V: Ai and New Tech: Creativity and Speculative FuturesDaisuke Miyao, Department of Literature Michael Trigilio, Department of Visual Arts and director of the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic ArtsRobert Twomey, Department of Visual Arts and director of Imagination Engineering at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination4:30 p.m. - Closing remarks and event end

Agenda and program subject to change.