Tech Events at The University of Manchester, Manchester

with Dr Colin Williams (Principal Cyber Security and Resilience Specialist, CDS Defence and Security)

The November instalment of Meat the Machine, the University of Manchester's nine-part monthly seminar series on the hidden history of cybernetics and what it implies for our socio-technical futures. Dr Colin Williams - principal cyber security and resilience specialist at CDS Defence and Security, and a historian of cybernetics and its intersections with computing, AI and transhumanism - takes on the battle for the human mind. Free, in person at the University of Manchester, and open to anyone interested in where today's AI debates actually come from. Why go: a rare seminar that traces today's AI arguments back to their cybernetics roots, led by someone who works in defence cyber security and studies the history. Best for people building or governing AI who want the longer context. Free and in person.

with Drew (Rusty) Carroll (Innovation coach, Independent)

A small-group coaching session on moving an innovative idea towards an actual outcome: a new partnership, a commercial route, or a bigger funding bid. Drew (Rusty) Carroll, an external innovation coach Manchester Digital met at its Digital Environment conference, facilitates. The format is deliberately open. Attendees can listen, or put their own problem in the room and draw on the group's experience. It is the first of a planned monthly series, so expect a small, repeat-heavy room rather than a one-off audience. Two hours, free, in Room 4.204 at University Place, with capacity capped at 30. Manchester Digital asks anyone who books and then cannot attend to release their place in advance. Why go: coaching rather than content, with a cap low enough that you will actually get airtime on your own idea. Best for researchers and founders stuck between a promising idea and a route to market.

with Dr Colin Williams (Principal Cyber Security and Resilience Specialist, CDS Defence and Security)

The second of nine monthly seminars in the Meat the Machine series, on the history of cybernetics and what it implies for how people and machines end up working together. This session is on the Ratio Club - the dining and discussion group that British life scientists, mathematicians, engineers and physicists formed after Norbert Wiener published Cybernetics in 1948. Alan Turing was a member, and his engagement with the club and its people fed into his later work. Dr Colin Williams leads it; he is a principal cyber security specialist at CDS Defence and Security with around three decades in UK government and public sector, and researches the history of cybernetics alongside that. Free, in person at the University of Manchester, 1pm to 3pm, run through Digital Futures. Why go: the current argument about machine intelligence keeps rediscovering questions this group was already arguing about in 1949, in this city. Best for people who want the long view rather than another model release.

Explore a series of interconnected studies that examine human behavior and decision-making processes within social networks

Meat the Machine: or, the Hidden History of Cybernetics and the Possible Futures of Humans A series of nine monthly seminars at the University of Manchester exploring the rich and vibrant history of the radical science of cybernetics, and the potentially profound implications of this hitherto occluded history for our shared socio-technical futures.

A full-day conference from Digital Futures at the University of Manchester, exploring how digital technology shapes environmental outcomes — green computing, data centres, AI-driven sustainability. For founders and researchers at the intersection of tech and environmental impact, this is the most substantive event in Manchester this Easter week.