Two more QED 2025 panels announced: weight stigma, and AI

With just two weeks to go until QED returns for the final time, we have two more panels to add to our packed line-up, exploring the impact of weight and weight stigma on health, and the ever-expanding role of AI in our lives.

The Fat of the Matter: Health Claims, Human Costs - Fat bodies are subject to a whole host of social and medical commentary, often thinly-veiled under the guise of concern for individual or even national health. Yet it is those same people who are subject to significant stigma in general society and medical stigma which contributes to poorer health outcomes. With GLP-1 agonists dominating the discourse in recent years, and celebrity weight-loss the focus of the media, are we really seeing a positive impact or do the human costs outweigh any perceived benefits? Join host Alice Howarth as she discusses the impact of weight stigma on health, wellbeing and even body weight itself, with medical doctor Asher Larmie, dietitian Maeve Hanan and social psychologist Angela Meadows.

From Autocomplete to Apex Intelligence - At QED 2024 we asked, ‘do robots dream of ethical sheep?’, but twelve months is a long time when talking about the development of artificial intelligence. Twelve months is also a drop in the ocean across the course of AI history. What can we learn from the cybernetics that gave rise to artificial intelligence? What are the biggest concerns with the present forms and use of AI? And how can we use deeper thinking on these topics to shape the future of artificial intelligence? Joining host Rick Owen is Head of AI and Innovation at Manchester University, Ciaran Talbot, transdisciplinary researcher and cybernetics expert Mark Johnson.

While in-person tickets to this final QED are now sold out, all of our content from the panel room will be available via an online streaming ticket, alongside our main stage and podcast rooms - pick up yours today!