Storytelling in the age of AI | In-person

Join us for an open conversation on how artificial intelligence is changing the way we read, write, learn, and translate. Our panel brings together speakers with different backgrounds and viewpoints to explore the practical, ethical, and creative sides of using AI in cultural and educational settings.

Together, we’ll look at some big questions:

• How do humans and AI work alongside each other?

• Are we co-creators, careful adopters, or sceptics?

• And where might AI tools lead us next?

This event is suitable for anyone interested in how AI is shaping our grasp on language and translation today. This discussion-style event features a 10–15-minute talk from each panel speaker, followed by time for an audience Q&A.

Note for audiences: This panel may cover topics that some attendees find distressing, including descriptions of violence, persecution, and trauma in the context of the Holocaust. Attendees are free to step out at any point and return when ready.

This event is part of RSE Investigates - a yearly programme of free public events that look closely at a new topic each year. Through research-led insights and personal perspectives, the series explores the nuances and real-world implications of issues that shape our understanding of society.

This year, the focus is on language – how it connects us, how it shapes our identities and the environments, and how language can be a vital lens for examining some of today’s most pressing issues.

Speakers:

Dr Sharon Deane-Cox

Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde

Sharon Deane-Cox is senior lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Strathclyde. Her interdisciplinary research focus is on how translation mediates memory on textual, interpersonal, intersemiotic, and ethical levels. She has published widely on literary retranslation, Holocaust testimony translation, museum audio-guide translation, heritage translation, and trauma translation. She is co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Translation and Memory (2022) and is currently co-editing a new edition of the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Translation Studies. She is also a member of the Young Academy of Scotland and the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies.

Prof. Pàdraig MacAoidh / Peter Mackay

Professor in Literature, School of English, University of St Andrews

Peter Mackay / Pàdraig MacAoidh is a poet, lecturer and broadcaster. He has two collections of poems, Nàdur De (Some Kind of, 2020) and Gu Leòr (Galore, 2015), published by Acair, and a pamphlet, From Another Island, with Clutag Press (2010). He writes in Gàidhlig and English, and his work has been translated into Czech, French, German, Irish, Occitan, Macedonian, Scots, Slovakian and Welsh. His academic work includes This Strange Loneliness: Heaney’s Wordsworth (2021) and Sorley MacLean (2011); he is a Professor in Literature at the University of St Andrews, and has been an AHRC / Radio 3 New Generation Thinker. In 2024 he was appointed Scottish Makar.

Dr Carolina Orloff

Co-founder and Editorial Director, Charco Press

Carolina is an experienced translator and researcher in Latin American literature, with a vast list of publications. In 2016, after obtaining her PhD in Latin American Literature at the University of Edinburgh, she co-founded Charco Press where she acts as editorial director. She is also the co-translator of several books including Ariana Harwicz’s Die, My Love, longlisted for the Booker International Prize and now a major film directed by Lynne Ramsay. Charco Press has received many awards and nominations including the British Book Award (2019, 2020, 2021), and three shortlistings for the Booker International. In 2018, Carolina was named Emerging Publisher of the Year by the Saltire Society.

Prof William Lamb BA, MSc, MSc, PhD

Personal Chair in Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics / University of Edinburgh

Professor William Lamb holds a Personal Chair in Gaelic Ethnology and Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. A leading figure in Gaelic linguistics and digital humanities, he has significantly advanced research on Gaelic folklore, morphosyntax and language technology. He recently published Scottish Gaelic: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge, 2024) and completed further postgraduate studies in Speech and Language Processing with distinction. He leads major AI-driven projects funded by the AHRC, Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the Scottish Government on Gaelic speech recognition and language modelling. A fellow of the University’s Generative AI Laboratory (UoE), he also serves on several Gaelic culture executive boards.

Important points to note

• This event is suitable for age 16+
• Accessibility Statement: We aim to make events as accessible as possible. If you have any accessibility requirements or any questions about how we can support this event, please contact the RSE Public Engagement team on [email protected]

• COVID-19: In order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 we kindly encourage participants to continue to wear face masks if they feel comfortable to do so; use the hand sanitisers provided at the venue; and to stay at home if they have Covid symptoms or have tested positive for Covid-19.

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Host or Publisher The Royal Society of Edinburgh