CHINA | 中国

21-25 April 2025, Beijing | 4月21–25日,北京

FOCUS GROUPS

(Im)mortality over Dinner

焦点小组

席间谈生(死)

The idea of „(Im)mortality over Dinner” refers to the well-established concept of „Death over Dinner,” initiated by Michael Hebb in 2013. These “dinners” provide a pretext to discuss the often-taboo topic of death and dying in a relaxed, inclusive, open, and respectful atmosphere. This unique gathering will be an opportunity to reflect on what a good death might be, including digital death. Would you like to have the possibility to meet online with your deceased loved one? Would you want your data to be used to create your postmortem bot for future generations? Or would you prefer to disappear from virtual space without leaving any trace? The dinner is hosted by Anja Franczak, Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska, and Tomasz Siuda. The meeting will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation into Chinese on Wednesday (Focus Group 1, 23.04) and in English without translation on Friday (Focus Group 3, 25.04). The number of places is limited.

“席间谈生(死)”的想法借鉴了迈克尔·赫布(Michael Hebb)于2013提出的“席间谈死”这一成熟的概念。这些“晚餐”提供了一层缓冲,让人们在一个放松、包容、开放和相互尊重的氛围中讨论死亡和临终这个往往是禁忌的话题。这次独特的召集将提供一个机会,让大家反思一种美好的死亡,包括数字化的死亡会是什么样子。您希望有机会与已故的亲人在网络空间重逢吗?您希望您的数据被用来为后代创建您的死后机器人吗?还是说您更希望从虚拟空间消失,不留下任何痕迹?晚餐将由Anja Franczak、Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska和Tomasz Siuda主持。4月23日(周三)的焦点小组1将以英语进行,并提供中文同声传译;4月25日(周五)的焦点小组3亦将以英语进行,但不提供翻译。名额有限。

Instructions for Participants

  1. To participate, you need to attend the screening of the documentary “Eternal You” 
  2. Choose a date for the “(Im)mortality over Dinner” (you can find the program below) and submit your application.
  3. If accepted, you will receive a confirmation email.
  4. If accepted, you will be asked to bring a photo of a close deceased person who will symbolically participate with us in the meeting.
  5. Casual attire is suggested—your comfort and convenience are most important!
  6. “(Im)mortality over Dinner” is not a support group and is not recommended for people in acute grief or who have lost a loved one in the last 6 months.
  7. The meeting will be recorded, and the collected material will be analysed for research. Your data will be hosted at the Cambridge University digital servers. 
  8. Any information you share will remain anonymous. However, video recordings will be used to create a short promotional clip for the project. Unfortunately, we cannot include you in the project if you do not consent to being videotaped.
  9. Following the “(Im)mortality over Dinner” event, there will be an opportunity for a personalised photo session. Participation is voluntary, but we warmly encourage you to participate if you feel ready and willing. The brief session will last just a few minutes, resulting in a unique black-and-white portrait (you can view previous examples here). As a gesture of appreciation, you will receive the portrait in digital format as a gift from us.
  10. All online communication with you (emails, application form, post-event survey) will be held in English. However, you can choose whether you would like to attend a dinner with simultaneous translation into Chinese (available on Wednesday) or if you feel comfortable attending the event conducted in English (on Friday).

参与者须知

  1. 晚餐前,您需要参加纪录片《永恒的你》的放映活动。
  2. 请选择“席间谈生(死)”活动的场次(活动日程见下方)并提交申请。
  3. 如入选,您将收到一封确认邮件。
  4. 如入选,请您携带一位逝世亲友的照片,他/她将象征性地与我们一起聚会。
  5. 建议您着便装——舒适和方便最重要!
  6. “席间谈生(死)”不是一个支持小组,不建议处于急性悲伤期或在过去6个月内失去亲人者参加。
  7. 聚会将被录音,所收集的资料将用于研究分析。相关数据将托管在剑桥大学的数字服务器上。
  8. 您分享的任何信息都将保持匿名。不过,录制的视频将用于制作项目宣传短片。假如您不同意被录像,很遗憾,您将无缘此次活动。
  9. “席间谈生(死)”活动后,我们将为您提供一次个人定制的拍照机会。您可以自愿参加,但我们诚挚鼓励您参与。拍照过程将很简短,只需几分钟,您将获得一张独一无二的黑白肖像(您可以在这里查看之前的范例)。为了表示感谢,您将获赠电子版肖像。
  10. 所有与您的在线交流(电子邮件、申请表、会后调查)均将以英语进行。不过,您可以选择参加有中文同声传译的晚宴(4月23日,周三),或者以英语进行、无中文传译的晚宴(4月25日,周五)。

The detailed program

Monday, April 21: EXPERTS WORKSHOP (part 1)

No. 54 Yannan Garden, Peking University

5:30 PM – Screening of the film “Eternal You” (87 minutes)
8:00 PM – Welcome dinner for experts (invitations only)

Tuesday, April 22: EXPERTS WORKSHOP (part 2)

No. 54 Yannan Garden, Peking University

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Workshop activities (invitations only)

Wednesday, April 23: FOCUS GROUP 1     ENROLL

Yuhuazhai (Zhongguancun Branch): 178-205 Zhongguancun North Street

This focus group will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation into Chinese.

4:00 PM – Screening of the film “Eternal You” (87 minutes) 

The film is available with English subtitles.

5:45 PM – (Im)mortality Over Dinner (approximately 3-4 hours)

Thursday, April 24: FOCUS GROUP 2

No. 54 Yannan Garden, Peking University

4:00 PM – Screening of the film “Eternal You” (87 minutes)

The film is available with English subtitles.

5:45 PM – (Im)mortality Over Dinner” (approximately 3-4 hours)

Friday, April 25: FOCUS GROUP 3       ENROLL

Yiyuan Chinese restaurant, Zhongguanyuan Global Village PKU

This focus group will be conducted in English without simultaneous translation into Chinese.

4:00 PM – Screening of the film “Eternal You” (87 minutes)

The film is available with English subtitles.

5:45 PM – (Im)mortality Over Dinner” (approximately 3-4 hours)

详细日程

4月21日(星期一):专家工作坊(上)

北京大学燕南园54号

下午5点30分    纪录片《永恒的你》放映(87分钟)
下午8点    专家欢迎晚宴

4月22日(星期二):专家工作坊(下)

北京大学燕南园54号

上午9点—下午5点 工作坊(仅限受邀者)

4月23日(星期三):焦点小组(1)     报名

雨花斋(海淀区中关村北大街178号205室)

此次焦点小组将以英语进行,并提供中文同声传译。

下午4点 纪录片《永恒的你》放映(87分钟)

影片配有英文字幕。

下午5点45分 席间谈生(死)(约3—4小时)

4月24日(星期四):焦点小组(2) 

北京大学燕南园54号

下午4点 纪录片《永恒的你》放映(87分钟)

影片配有英文字幕。

下午5点45分 席间谈生(死)(约3—4小时)

4月25日(星期五):焦点小组(3)       报名

北京大学中关新园怡园中餐厅(北京市海淀区中关村北大街126号)

此次焦点小组将以英语进行,无中文传译。

下午4点 纪录片《永恒的你》放映(87分钟)

影片配有英文字幕。

下午5点45分 席间谈生(死)(约3—4小时)

„(Im)mortality Over Dinner” participants’ opinions

 

  • „This was an amazing experience.”
  • „Human beings need to gather.”
  • „It was a novel experience and can help you reflect on some of the most important things.”
  • „Quite emotional and rational at the same time.”
  • „Highly inspiring.”
  • „Unique. Worth experiencing.”
  • „It is important to talk about death.”
  • „Inspiring and fruitful. What I learned from this – live in the moment and create good memories.”
  • „I felt safe. Wish we had more time to discuss.”
  • „Open and inspiring – a valuable chance to hear different thoughts.”
  • „Really interesting and kind of comforting.”
Photos by Tomasz Siuda

CHINESE PROJECT PARTNERS

bing_song_circle

Bing Song

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xiaojiao_li

Xiaojiao Li

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jian_ma

Jian Ma

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APPLICATION FORM | “席间谈生(死)”申请表

If you’re interested in participating,
please fill out the application form

TEAM

Katarzyna Nowaczyk - Basińska

Principal Investigator

Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska  is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, with a background in social communication, theatre studies, and interactive media and performances. In her research, she explores how new technologies (re)shape our understanding of death, loss, grief, and afterlife presence. Her work intersects the fields of technology, culture, and thanatology.
Since 2024, she has led the project „Imaginaries of Immortality in the Age of AI: An Intercultural Analysis,” aiming to understand the context-specific meanings of AI for our relationship to (im)mortality. Her work has been covered in numerous media outlets around the world, including BBC World News, The Guardian, Science News, TRT Global, and NPR. Her dissertation, „Immortality: Technocultural Strategies of Contemporary Times,” was awarded by the National Center for Culture in Poland as one of the three best theses defended in cultural studies between 2021 and 2023.
She is also a member of the international research consortium „Digital Death: Transforming History, Ritual, and Afterlife” (as part of the EU CHANSE) and a member of the the Institute of a Good Death.
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Stephen Cave

Experts Workshop Moderator

Stephen Cave is Academic Director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and Co-Director of the Institute for Technology and Humanity, both at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on philosophy and ethics of technology, particularly AI, robotics and life-extension. He is the author of Immortality (Crown, 2012), a New Scientist book of the year, and Should You Choose To Live Forever: A Debate (with John Martin Fischer, Routledge, 2023); and co-editor of AI Narratives (OUP, 2020), Feminist AI (OUP, 2023) and Imagining AI (OUP, 2023). He writes widely about philosophy, technology and society, including for the Guardian and Atlantic. He also advises governments around the world, and has served as a British diplomat.

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Tomasz Hollanek

Experts Workshop Moderator

Tomasz Hollanek is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, working at the intersection of AI ethics and critical design.

His ongoing research explores the possibility of applying critical design methods – prioritising the goals of social justice and environmental sustainability – in the governance, development, and deployment of AI systems. This includes work on the ethics of human-AI interaction design (in particular, the design of companion chatbots and griefbots) and the In-depth EU AI Act Toolkit, helping developers translate the requirements of the European Union’s AI Act into design practice. At LCFI, he also leads the research stream dedicated to AI, Journalism, and Communications.

Previously, Tomasz was a Vice-Chancellor’s PhD Scholar at Cambridge and a Visiting Research Fellow at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has contributed to numerous research projects, including the Global AI Narratives Project at LCFI and the Ethics of Digitalization research program at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.

 

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Saide Mobayed Vega

Research Assistant

Saide Mobayed Vega will contribute to the ‘Imaginaries of Immortality in the Age of AI: An Intercultural Analysis’ project at the CFI. She is a sociologist focusing on STS, digital sociology, critical data studies, human rights, and gender-based violence. Saide is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, where she investigates how feminicide—the gender-related killing of women and girls—becomes translated into numerical data from global data sets to local data stories.

Saide has extensive experience in academic, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural work. She has co-organised numerous international conferences and workshops, including the Big Data & Society 2023 Colloquium: ‘Data Practices and Digital Social Worlds’ and the ‘Crossing Data: Building Bridges with Activist and Academic Practices from and for Latin America’ for CHI in 2022. Saide co-edited The Routledge International Handbook on Femicide and Feminicide, a collection of 50 chapters that offers an in-depth global examination of femicide and feminicide from various perspectives and disciplines.

Saide has been actively involved in public engagement. In 2017, she co-founded the ongoing ‘Femi(ni)cide Watch Platform’, with the UN Studies Association. From 2021-2022, she served as president of the Cambridge University Mexican Society. Before Cambridge, Saide collaborated with international and non-governmental organisations on human rights and gender-based violence projects, including UNODC and ARTICLE19.

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Anja Franczak

Focus Groups Moderator

Educator in the field of dying, death and grief. Founder of the Institute of the Good Death, an innovative and awarded social movement in Poland. Anja supports people in the final stages of life, people grieving the loss of a loved one, and those who work with them in hospitals, hospices and funeral homes. She also is a ritual celebrant, creating and leading personal farewell rituals and funeral ceremonies. Trained in Heidelberg at the Institute for Clinical Pastoral Care (Institut für Klinische Seelsorgeausbildung) as a professional grief counsellor certified by the Federal Association of Bereavement Counselling in Germany (Bundesverband Trauerbegleitung e.V.). As an end-of-life doula and certified instructor of the international initiative Last Aid Courses (Letzte Hilfe), she educates about the dying process and supports families who are caring for a loved one approaching the end of life.

anjafranczak.com
instagram.com/anja.franczak

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Tomasz Siuda

Photographer / Artist

Tomasz Siuda is a photographer, artist, and photo therapist. He graduated from the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in photography. He is an educator, lecturer, and a board member of the Key for Tomorrow Foundation. He publishes in the magazine for photographers, reporters, and travelers, Kontynenty. Using photo-therapeutic techniques, he conducts workshops in the area of Ars Moriendi, addressing mortality and confronting emotions surrounding death and grief.
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Debayan Gupta

Debayan Gupta is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Ashoka University, where he teaches a course on security and privacy as well as an introductory programming class. He is also a visiting professor and research affiliate at MIT and MIT-Sloan.

Before coming to Ashoka, Debayan held an Extraordinary Faculty position in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, where he taught courses like 6.042, 6.006, and 6.046. He has a PhD from Yale and a bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

Debayan’s primary areas of interest include secure computation, cryptography, and privacy. He also occasionally dabbles in number theory, complexity theory, robotics, and machine learning (and, on rare occasions, economics). He has helped start a number of companies in India and abroad, and as such, holds board positions in a number of start-ups. He also consults for and advises companies on cybersecurity, helping c-suite individuals understand and mitigate cyber-risk.

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Daniel Weltman

Daniel Weltman is an associate professor in the Philosophy department at Ashoka University. He works on social and political philosophy, ethics, and gender.

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Ayush Sharma

Ayush Sharma is an undergraduate student in Computer Science and Philosophy at Ashoka University, Class of 2026. His research and academic interests are computational logic, high-order logic, philosophy of language, metaphysics and theology. Feel free to contact me: ayush.sharma_ug25@ashoka.edu.in)

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Aalok Thakkar

Aalok Thakkar is an assistant professor in the department of Computer Science at Ashoka University. He specializes in the areas of programming languages, formal methods, and artificial intelligence. His recent research focuses on generating correct programs from user-provided specification of program behavior, as well as understanding the limitations of computing and AI.

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Maya Indira Ganesh

Maya Indira Ganesh is Associate Director (Research Partnerships), co-director of the Narratives and Justice Program, and a Senior Research Fellow at CFI. From October 2021- July 2024 she was an assistant teaching professor at the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) where she co-directed the MSt in AI Ethics and Society run jointly between ICE and LCFI.

Maya has a Drphil in Cultural Studies from Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany. Her doctoral work took the case of the ‘ethics of autonomous driving’ to study the implications of ethical decision-making and governance by algorithmic/AI technologies for human social relations, and argued for a conception of AI technologies as situated in distinct infrastructural and social environments. Her monograph, Auto-Correct: The Fantasies and Failures of AI, Ethics, and the Driverless Car is available for pre-order here and the introductory chapter is free to read here. Maya’s research at CFI builds on this by focusing on AI in public and with different kinds of publics in the design and development of technology.  She draws on varied theoretical and methodological genres, including feminist scholarship, media studies, and Science and Technology Studies. She is also an invited speaker, curatorial advisor, and writer with arts and cultural organisations in Europe, and on the internet. Prior to academia, Maya spent over a decade as a researcher and activist working at the intersection of gender justice, security, and digital freedom of expression.   An up-to-date list of publications, talks, and cultural practice can be found here.

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Kranti Saran

Kranti Saran is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ashoka University. He earned his doctorate at Harvard University’s Department of Philosophy in 2011, and has since been a Fellow in Philosophy at Harvard and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Most recently, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Delhi. You can find more information about him at http://krantisaran.net/.

His research interests span the areas of perception, attention, bodily awareness, introspection, mimicry, and how these topics are related to our moral relation to others. A common thread that runs through his research is a concern with understanding facets of our cognition: its faculties and modes (perception, attention), its embodiment (bodily awareness), its consequences for our relation to our selves and our immediate social milieu (introspection, mimicry), and finally, the manner in which these topics interact with culture and so either constrain or enable dimensions of our moral relation to others.

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Bing Song

Senior Vice President, Berggruen Institute; Director, Berggruen Institute China Center

Prior to joining the Berggruen Institute, she was a senior executive with Goldman Sachs China for over a decade, and prior to Goldman, an experienced capital markets lawyer for many years. Earlier in her career, she undertook academic and policy research and published in the areas of administrative law, competition law, and comparative procedural laws.

Recently, she co-edited Gongsheng Across Contexts – A Philosophy of Co-becoming, which explores philosophical foundation of gongsheng , a conception of the world as consisting of mutually embedded, co-existent and co-becoming entities. Her edited volume Wisdom and Intelligence – Artificial Intelligence Meets Chinese Philosophers, published in 2021, marked the first systematic endeavor by prominent Chinese philosophers to address challenges and opportunities posed by frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics. In addition, Bing leads other projects of the China Center, which explore the intersection of frontier sciences and technologies, and Chinese philosophy.

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Xiaojiao Li

Chief Operations Officer, China Center

Xiaojiao Li is the Chief Operations Officer for Berggruen China Center, where she oversees the Center’s communications strategies, media engagement plans, and she develops and manages the Center’s engagement with key partners. She manages the team’s day-to-day operations. Xiaojiao joined the China Center as the Chief Operations Officer in 2018. Prior to joining the Center, Xiaojiao worked as the Senior Public Affairs Officer (Media Relations) at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, the Program Officer at the Confucius Institute at the University of Adelaide, and the Events Coordinator at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. Xiaojiao holds a master’s degree in cross-cultural communications from Shandong University and a Bachelor degree in media from Zhejiang University.

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Jian Ma

Research and Program Coordinator, Berggruen Institute China Center

Jian earned his PhD in Philosophy from Tsinghua University,
specializing in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy. Prior to that, he
worked as an editor at the Post Wave Publishing. He has published a number of articles and reviews in Chinese and English, and he has translated and published works of Daniel Dennett, Charles Travis, Thomas Metzinger and others from English into Chinese.

Jian is responsible for project research and management. He also manages Cui Ling Magazine as well as other publications at the Berggruen China Center.

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Hannah Tigg

Research Grants Co-ordinator

Hannah is a Research Grants Co-ordinator at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) and is responsible for the administration of Centre’s grants across their full life cycle. This includes financial management, reporting, and supporting colleagues in applying for funding across a range of sponsors. She also works closely with the Centre Administrator, Director, and researchers to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the Centre.

She has worked in a similar role at the Centre for Family Research at the University since 2017. She became a Chartered Accountant in 2000 and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1996 to 2005, taking a career break to raise her family before starting work at the University of Cambridge.

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Hang Vu

Finance Co-ordinator

Hang joined the Institute for Technology and Humanity (ITH) in June 2024. The Institute is home to the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) and the Centre for Human-inspired AI (CHIA).

Reporting to the Institute Manager, she is responsible for the day-to-day operation of all aspects of the accounting and financial procedures for the Institute including, but not limited to, managing accounts payable, accounts receivable, and procurement, raising and responding to financial queries from stakeholders, completing month/year-end processes, monitoring expenditure on budgets, reporting on research grants and undertaking other such duties.

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Rachel Burgess

Institute Manager (ITH)

Rachel oversees administration of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) programmes and projects. Her areas of responsibility include research management, finances, human resource management, governance and planning, IT, and communications.

Before joining CFI, Rachel worked in several roles across the School of Arts and Humanities including REF Impact Administrator, Graduate Administrator, and Project Administrator for three very different interdisciplinary research projects.

Rachel originally trained as a Management Accountant and worked in local manufacturing companies developing business strategy. She has a degree in French and Italian from the University of Leicester.

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Yiyun Mu

Administrative Assistant

Yiyun is working closely with the Centre Administrators, Director, and researchers to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI). She is the PA to the Centre Director Stephen Cave.

Yiyun completed an LLM in International Business Law degree at Anglia Ruskin University before settling in the UK. She has worked in the University of Cambridge since 2019 as the Administrative Assistant at the Cambridge Graphene Centre.

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