Welcome to the 2024 Festival

A very warm welcome to everyone who will be joining us for Cardiff University’s Festival of Social Sciences 2024. This year’s festival theme is “our digital lives”, with several events exploring this area as well as others covering a wide range of social science topics.

Join us as we share Cardiff University’s impactful research and knowledge that informs the development of policies, services and innovation, and addresses major societal challenges in Wales, the UK and internationally.

Cardiff University is working with a range of community partners to host free events in the capitol and across Wales in support of the festival.

Highlights will include a creative art workshop for young adults to explore the challenges to mental health caused by our digital world, a masterclass in developing a professional Instagram profile for women in the business community, roadshows in Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea on how to stay active in the digital age, and a talk and workshop for parents and educational professionals to explore the use of national data to support children with additional learning needs in school.

We will also be hosting events for the creative, cultural and heritage sectors including a workshop for professional artists and creative practitioners to experiment with generative artificial intelligence, and explore its impact on their work; and a workshop exploring digital afterlives to help navigate the responsible use of emerging deep learning technologies that enable digital data to be changed or manipulated – such as ‘holographic’ resurrections of celebrities, deepfake historical figures, and animated archive photos.

The festival is running throughout October and November so that as many people can engage with us as possible. The festival provides an exciting opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of our outstanding social science research.

All our events engage researchers and broader communities in making a difference; in thinking and acting as advocates for change – here in Wales now and for the future – and setting agendas.

In the rapidly shifting times in which we live, social sciences research has never been more important for the benefit of our local and global communities.

I hope you enjoy the festival!

Professor Claire Gorrara