New three-day festival to tackle Liverpool's 'greatest challenges'

A new festival will examine the big issues facing Liverpool and wider society. Liverpool Hope University will host the Festival of Futures which is free for anyone to attend.

A total of 45 events will be held across a three day period at the Hope Park Campus in Childwall. Organisers say it will tackle society's "greatest challenges". They added it will be an opportunity for people from across the city to come together and explore solutions to important global issues.

The free Festival includes expert speakers and collaborative workshops covering everything from the future of work and fossil-free careers to drugs and justice. There will also be several fringe and social events led by local comedian, Henry Churney.

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One panel will look at Islamophobia and far-right extremism in the wake of the racist riots earlier this year. After the Southport stabbings, a mosque in the town had its windows smashed in.

In Liverpool, The Spellow Library on County Road was set on fire as rioters attempted to reach a mosque. Representatives from the Muslim community will share their personal experiences with Islamophobia at the event, providing a platform to understand the challenges faced by Muslims in the current social climate.

Another will ask how to make Liverpool a “child-friendly city”. The workshop will raise awareness and understanding of children's rights and UNICEF’s Child Friendly City initiative. Participants will hear from the Liverpool Child Friendly City team and have an opportunity to apply their learning and contribute to a project capturing children's voices.

There will also be a discussion on Artificial Intelligence, studying why media such as The Terminator and Black Mirror often portray AI in a dystopian way. It will explore and contrast the representations in fiction and in popular discourse with some of the facts, attempting to distinguish the real ethical and technical issues surrounding it from imagined ones. The workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss how to take action to help communities understand the real scope, limitations, and ethical challenges that AI implies as opposed to the fictional representations of its implications.

Professor Cate Carroll-Meehan, executive dean of the faculty of education and social sciences at Liverpool Hope University, said: “The Festival of Futures aims to be more than just an event. It is an opportunity to debate, discuss and learn about some of the grand challenges facing us as we head into 2025 and we hope it can spark meaningful action among our staff, students and stakeholders from across Liverpool.

“The festival underscores our commitment to engaging with the local community and we look forward to welcoming the public to experience three days of inspiring innovation and collaboration.” To find out more and to view the full line-up, you can visit the Festival of Futures website.

This is a free event. However, attendees must book onto individual sessions as part of the festival. You can claim your free ticket/s via Eventbrite.