Public panel discussion on the future of education and research in the age of AI

The panel discussion will take place on Tuesday, 20th October 2026, starting at 6 PM in the Xcenter in Nova Gorica

AI is rapidly changing the way research is conducted, how academic skills are taught and how careers are rewarded. This panel will ask the questions: What shape is academic research and teaching taking in the age of AI: What does it mean to do research - and to undertake training as a student - when allegedly super-human knowledge is all the time at your fingertips?

Panelists:

• Dr. Camille Howson, Professor of Higher Education at Imperial College London, expert in higher education research with a focus on student engagement; student outcomes and learning gain; equality and social justice; and quality, performance and accountability;

• Dr. Jana Javornik, SMASH Ethics Adviser and a founding member of UNESCO’s Women for Ethics of AI, Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of Contemporary History, and a former Director-General of Higher Education. Researches public policy, social and workplace sustainability, EDI, AI ethics, comparative methodology, and knowledge translation;

• Dr. Matjaž Ličer, researcher at the Environment Agency of Republic of Slovenia, expert in oceanography, pollutants and machine learning applications to studies of extreme weather events.

Moderator: Dr. Roberto Trotta, cosmologist and Head of the Theoretical and Scientific Data Science group at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, where he also serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory. He is the author of several popular science books and a prominent voice in the astroparticle physics community, known for critically examining the role and impact of AI in scientific research.

The panel discussion will be conducted in English. Free entry.