Post-Detection Futures
The Second Meeting of PD-Futures 24-26 June, 2026
Embedded Files
June 2026
June 2026
Times in UTC+1 - to convert to your timezone: worldtimebuddy.com
Day 1, 24th June
Day 1, 24th June
Teams Link: Post Detection Futures Workshop 2026 - Day 1 | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
9:00 - 9:30 : Registration
9:30 - 9.45: Opening Remarks (John): online access starts
Note: the separate Zoom link is needed to join the first session: 9.45 - 11:00:
https://zoom.us/j/8206036235?pwd=bjZSajdTN1B0SUZ1dlhKRWw4Sm5OQT09
9.45 - 11:00: Futures Performance Workshop: Al Worlds, All Times Zoom (Kate & Angelica)
please bring computers for this session and a willingness to improvise/role-play - more info: allworldsalltimes.online
11:00 - 11.30: Coffee Break
11.30 - 12.30: Post Grad Research Paper Session: 2 papers x 30 mins
From Signal to Story: Communication Gaps and Narrative Dynamics in SETI Post-Detection Contexts. (Konstantin)
Cosmic Contemporary and Cosmic Fantasy: Evaluations of Contact Narratives for Extraterrestrial Preparation. (Edward)
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch
13.30 - 15.30: Risk Session:
Part 1 - Risk / Science Communication and Management (Andreas)
Part 2: - The Risk Register (David)
15.30 - 16.00: Coffee Break
16.00 - 17.00: Factor Affecting Post Detection (Daliah & Edward)
Day 2, 25th June
Day 2, 25th June
Teams Link: Post Detection Futures Workshop 2026 - Day 2 | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
9:30 - 11:00: Storytelling & Imaginations WG: Last call for the Scenarios Toolkit before IAC Antalya (Kate, & on behalf of George)
11:00 - 11.30: Coffee Break
11.30 - 12.30: Storytelling as Preparedness - Post-Detection Infrastructure (Carol)
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch
13.30 - 14.30: SETI and Literature: Shifting from Speculative Content to Experimental Language. (Armando)
14.40 - 15.30: Post Detection Regulations Working Group Session (Les + Georgia + Aure)
15.30 - 16.00: Coffee Break
16.00 - 17.00: Sociosignatures (Anamaria)
Day 3, 26th June
Day 3, 26th June
Teams Link: Post Detection Futures Workshop 2026 - Day 3 | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
9:00 - 11:00: AI Powered Simulation (Andrew & Calum)
Note: Unfortunately, constraints on the Lab we need to use for the AI system means that this session cannot be hybrid. Apologies to all those who are joining the workshop remotely. Online access will therefore start at 11.30am, using the Teams link for day 3.
11:00 - 11.30: Coffee Break
11.30 - 12.30: SETI & International Relations (Tony)
12.30 - 13.30: Lunch
13.30 - 15.30: Human Factors Working Group Session - Post Detection Matters (Chelsea)
15.30 - 16.00: Coffee Break
16.00 - 17.00: Next Steps, Funding & Summing Up (John & Angelica)
Workshop Aims
Workshop Aims
The Workshop aims to grow understanding between Working Groups, support healthy collaborative relationships within the research community and with real-world institutions, to address the urgent challenges and emerging opportunities of post-detection.
Actively work together to develop interdisciplinary frameworks; create tools for supporting analytics, decsion making, and scenario-building, public engagement, and readiness across sectors.
Advance plural and inclusive approaches to questions of intelligence, communication and risk.
Post-Detection Scenario Toolkit: A flexible framework for exploring future discoveries, designed to handle uncertainty and highlight the significance of context, governance, and international collaboration. Tested during the workshop, the toolkit uses a four-scenario method (from Dator's futures methods) to intentionally maximise difference between plausible futures. By enabling work with divergent possibilities, including those beyond current expectations, it helps build collective capacity for response across varied publics and disciplines.
Post-Detection LARP: A participatory scenario tool using Live Action Role Play (LARP) to test and share the Post-Detection Scenarios Toolkit. It invites diverse participants into structured, speculative play, through improvisation, collective sense-making, and problem-solving under time pressure to engage with the uncertainty and ambiguity of post-detection as a process.
Post-Detection Risk Register: An extension to the UK National Risk Register, designed to integrate scenarios involving the discovery of extraterrestrial life. It adapts existing civil contingency frameworks to account for high-uncertainty, low-probability events, outlining protocols for governance, communication, and public response in the event of confirmed or ambiguous signals.
Diagnostic AI tool for post-detection scenarios: An AI-driven scenario tool modeled on clinical diagnostic systems. It uses anomaly detection and protocol logic, similar to those in medical imaging, to identify, categorize, and guide responses to unexpected findings in post-detection contexts. Designed for training and decision support, the tool draws from forensic and clinical practice to provide structured pathways for interpreting novel signals and coordinating appropriate follow-up actions.
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