The European science engagement conference is open to all professionals who engage audiences with science and technology.
The Ecsite Conference offers an intense mix of intellectual stimulation, purposeful and creative sessions and inspiring human encounters. An annual professional development opportunity: sharpen your critical mind, recharge your batteries, harvest contacts and tools, make business and let off steam on the dance floor.
The 2020 Ecsite Conference will be taking place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 11-13 June 2020 (with pre-conference workshops on 9-10 June).
It will be hosted by the Kersnikova Institute.
Conference sessions will the taking place at the GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, where the Business Bistro will also be located.
It will be the first time in Ecsite history that Slovenia hosts the Ecsite conference. Green capital Ljubljana, its cosy atmosphere and central location on the European map will contribute to this edition's uniqueness, together with the Kersnikova Institute's edgy art & science projects.
The theme: Echoes from the future
How will climate change, big data, personalised medicine, artificial intelligence, fake news or biodiversity loss shape the future science engagement? How will our missions, discourses, tools evolve? What new skills, partnerships, management styles or collections policies do we need for the future?
Science engagement organisations could be one of the spaces where challenging ethical questions are tackled and the future anticipated and co-invented. At a time where public discourse about the future seems torn between hopeless dystopia and hopeful reliance on technology, can we empower citizens to envision, shape and demand more sustainable, ethical, human-led and human-centred technological solutions? Can we go further and create participatory situations in which citizens co-own the future's production mechanisms?
At the Kersnikova Institute, host organisation of the 2020 Ecsite Conference, scientists, artists, mediators and engineers are working together to create new meanings and visual vehicles. The "Echoes from the future" conference theme is an invitation to the wide science engagement community to dialogue with this avant-garde and to revisit its role in the fast-approaching future.
About the Host
The Kersnikova Institute serves as the institutional framework for three progressive venues: Kapelica Gallery, a world renowned platform for contemporary investigative arts; the hacker space Rampa, where relations between society, science, technology and art are being reconsidered; and the inspirational laboratory BioTehna, which focuses on the artistic research of living systems. Thanks to twenty year of strong programmatic focus, the Kersnikova Institute belongs to the few internationally known centres dealing with contemporary investigative arts, science and cutting edge technologies.
About Ljubljana
Named European Green Capital 2016, Ljubljana is a city built to the human scale, offering visitors friendly experience with a personal touch. Its attractive historical quarter has a cosy, lounge-like feel and the city offers good value for money. Ljubljana's central European location, with an eye to the south east regions, is an asset for a European conference such as the Ecsite Conference.
The call for session proposals will open soon
The call for session proposals will be opened between 16 August and 18 October. We look forward to receiving your session ideas! Sign up for events updates to stay tuned.