GESDA Summit 2026
Really delighted to be back in Geneva for this year’s GESDA Summit on 14–15 October! As always, it was such a pleasure to catch up with old friends, meet new colleagues and be part of conversations that bring together so many different disciplines and perspectives.
I was particularly grateful for the opportunity to join Sarah Pink, Juan Francisco Salazar and Markus Gabriel for the ‘Sense-Making’ session at the 2027 Science Breakthrough Radar Launch. The Sense-Making series grew out of GESDA’s Planetarised Humanities initiative, and I was very fortunate to have been part of last year’s discussions led by the amazing Rosi Braidotti. It was super lovely to have a little reunion of the group in Geneva this year! Oh, and I must add that I was SO happy to see my point about making science ‘relevant’ to the public resonate with GESDA Fellows on the second day! Sehyun, Serana and Esteban, thank you for coming up to chat with me at Les Nocturnes de GESDA. It was fun.
Another highlight was the Engineering Life session, where I had the pleasure of exchanging perspectives with Nemanja Stijepovic, Filippa Lentzos, P.T. Nhean, Stanley Qi and Alok Jha. I also came away with plenty of food for thought from the GESDA–Nuffield Council of Bioethics’ joint workshop on Anticipation Methodologies. and the CIFAR–CERN–GESDA Future of AI for Science workshop too, as well as several fascinating talks on quantum biology.
Les Nocturnes de GESDA was another memorable evening. I was initially a little surprised that all the talks revolved around the same theme — longevity! But it worked out really well, bringing together scientists, ethicists, urban studies scholars, entrepreneurs and others, each approaching the subject from a different angle. What a great way to round off the Summit.
For anyone who would like to revisit the conversations, the recordings are available here:
- GESDA Summit 2026 – Video recordings
- 2027 Science Breakthrough Radar – Sense-Making Session, which I had the pleasure of joining
- Building Life from Scratch, our Engineering Life discussion
As ever, lots of lovely memories to take home! Huge thanks and congratulations to the whole GESDA team, especially Sophie Gilbert, Manuel Gustavo Isaac, Martin Mueller, Greeta Keenan and Marion Mercier.
