Hiroshima’s Message for Tech Students and Innovators Today

Date: Tuesday 16 June 2026
Time: 16:00–18:15
Venue: Floragasse 7, 5. Stock, 1040 Wien
Format: Talk, film screening and moderated Q&A

Places are limited. Please only sign up if you genuinely plan to attend. If you can no longer make it, please cancel your ticket so that your place can be offered to someone else.

How should students, researchers and innovators think about the human consequences of technology?

Universities and research institutions are at the forefront of technological innovation. They are also spaces where we must ask difficult questions about ethics, responsibility and societal impact. As emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber systems and advanced data analytics reshape global security, students and researchers are increasingly engaging with questions once seen as belonging only to military or policy domains.

This special event will welcome Setsuko Thurlow, a Japanese-Canadian nuclear disarmament campaigner and survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. In 2017, Ms Thurlow co-accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). She has spent decades advocating for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the recognition of the human impact of nuclear weapons.

Ms Thurlow will give a short address to students, researchers and innovators, reflecting on the message of Hiroshima for younger generations and for those working at the cutting edge of technology today.

The event will also include a screening of The Vow from Hiroshima, a documentary following Ms Thurlow’s life, testimony and decades of activism, including her work towards the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The event aims to ground abstract debates about technology, security and innovation in lived human experience.

This event will invite participants to reflect on:

• the continuing relevance of Hiroshima today
• the ethical responsibilities of students, researchers and innovators
• the dual-use dilemma, where civilian research and innovation may also have military applications
• the relationship between technological progress, human security and historical memory

Priority in the Q&A will be given to student questions.

16:00–16:10 | Welcome and framing
Welcome from the organisers, with a short reflection on why this topic matters for students, researchers and innovators today.

16:10–16:20 | Address by Setsuko Thurlow
A message to younger generations and to those shaping the future of technology.

16:20–16:25 | Introduction to the film
Brief remarks from the filmmaker(s).

16:25–17:45 | Film screening: The Vow from Hiroshima

17:45–18:10 | Moderated Q&A
Interactive discussion, with priority given to student questions.

18:10–18:15 | Closing reflections
The moderator will draw together key points from the discussion and reconnect the event to Ms Thurlow’s opening message.

Setsuko Thurlow is a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and a leading international advocate for nuclear disarmament. Her testimony has played an important role in global efforts to raise awareness of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. In 2017, she co-accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of ICAN.

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