Where asked to sign-in with a screen display name, please adopt the following procedure:
If you are carrying your council’s vote, please sign in to the Teams screen meeting with a clear CC identifier, preceded by two asterisks and followed by your surname, along the lines of:
**GRANGE – ROBERTSON
**CORST – KERR
**LTHLNK – MILLAR
If you are not carrying a vote, just sign in as FIRST NAME LAST NAME.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
E.Coli by Luke Jerram National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Until 31 Aug 2022 Grand Gallery Free entry
Part of the Edinburgh Art Festival programme, this 90ft long inflatable sculpture by Bristol-based Luke Jerram (above) will be suspended from the ceiling of the National Museum of Scotland’s Grand Gallery.
The E.coli is 5 million times bigger than the real bacteria. When standing next to it, does the bacteria alter our personal sense of scale? Does it look scary, beautiful, comical or alien? Will people be attracted or repelled by it?
The Typewriter Revolution Until 11 Sep 2022 Exhibition Gallery 2, Level 3 Free entry
The typewriter’s social and technological influence is revealed in this exhibition and looks at its role in society, arts, and popular culture. It traces the effect and evolution of typewriters across more than 100 years, from weighty early machines to modern style icons.
The impact of the typewriter has been much wider than simply speeding up the way we write. It helped revolutionise the world of work and change the lives of working women in particular.
Typewriters helped them launch their own businesses at a time when female employers were rare and became a vital weapon in the fight for the vote.
Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life Until 30 Oct 2022 Exhibition Gallery 1, Level 3 Ticketed, £0-£10
Explore the history of anatomical study, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders.
This exhibition looks at the social and medical history surrounding the practice of dissection. It will trace the relationship between anatomy, its teaching and cultural context and the bodies that were dissected.
Looking at Edinburgh’s role as an international centre for medical study, the exhibition will offer insight into the links between science and crime in the early 19th century.
Bernat Klein: Design in Colour 5 Nov 2022 – 23 Apr 2023 Exhibition Gallery 2, Level 3 Free entry
Marking the centenary of his birth, Bernat Klein: Design in Colour will celebrate the work of the influential émigré textile designer. Visitors will be able to explore Klein’s creative process and varied career, from providing couture fabrics for fashion designers to his influence on modernist architecture and interior design in the UK and Scandinavia
Inspiring Walter Scott Until 8 Jan 2023 Exhibition Gallery 4, Level 1 Free entry
Following the 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s birth, experience his novels through objects that inspired him. In this small exhibition we show how Scott drew upon real historical objects for inspiration, placing objects alongside Scott’s words, and the stories in which they feature. While you view these fascinating objects, you can listen to an actor reading extracts from these tales.
In association with Walter Scott 250: Celebrating 250 Years of Scotland’s Greatest Storyteller and supporting Year of Stories 2022.
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Until 5 Mar 2023 Exhibition Gallery 3, Level 1 Free entry
From striking statement jewellery to prints and porcelain vases, this new free display considers how Japanese contemporary makers have combined innovative and traditional art, craft and design elements over the past five decades.
The star object is Hitomi Hosono’s A Large Pine Tree Pool, a sculptural porcelain bowl with complex hand-carving made and acquired in 2019.
Further highlights include Junko Mori’s intricate New Pinecone Silver Organism, and colourful body adornments by jeweller Suō Emiko’s adapted from metalworking and engraving techniques traditionally used in the making of Japanese sword fittings.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Gilded Balloon at the National Museum of Scotland National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Until 28 Aug 2022 Ticketed
Gilded Balloon are back: bringing Festival fun to the National Museum of Scotland throughout August! Bringing a colourful line-up: from science for kids to satire for grown-ups, from chat shows to live podcasts.
There’s an influencer, a ventriloquist, assorted Fringe favourites and of course a couple of Britain’s Got Talent winners.
Performers include Scottish treasures Fred MacAulay, Lynn Ferguson and Jack Docherty, alongside Paul Zerdin and assorted puppet pals, Lost Voice Guy, the one and only Chesney Hawkes and even Boris Johnson?! Plus, our own favourite – Comedy Night at the Museum where top comedians improvise a humorous look at our amazing collection.
Audio-Described Access Evening: Anatomy Special Exhibition Gallery 1 30 Aug 2022 17:30-19:00 £7.50 (free accompanying carer ticket available if needed)
Explore our fascinating Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life exhibition supported by an audio-described tour of key objects for those who are blind or visually impaired.
Join us after-hours for an audio-described tour of Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life led by artist Juliana Capes. Explore the history of anatomical study, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders. The tour will last around 45 minutes with time to explore the exhibition independently afterwards. This event is particularly aimed at those who are blind or visually impaired.
Join our expert panel as they discuss the process of hoarding across time and cultures.
From assembling and burying, to curating and displaying, our panel will give diverse perspectives on this fascinating practice. Presentations will include the latest research on the Galloway Hoard, hoarding in the Viking Age and Scotland’s prehistoric hoards.
Relaxed Access Evening: Anatomy 13 Sept 2022 Special Exhibition Gallery 1 17:30 – 19:00 £7.50 (free accompanying carer ticket available if needed)
Join us for a relaxed after-hours visit to Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life for anyone who would prefer a calmer visit to the exhibition. During this opening of Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life, sounds will be lowered and light levels adjusted wherever possible to provide a more relaxed experience.
A quiet break-out space will also be available. A visual welcome guide will be provided in advance to help you prepare for your visit.
This session is primarily for, but not limited to, autistic young people and adults, adults living with dementia, adults with learning difficulties or mental health challenges or any other visitors with sensory needs or who may prefer a more relaxed experience, plus their families, friends and carers.
NEW Burke, Hare and The University of Edinburgh’s Anatomy School 15 Sep -1 Oct 2022 10:30 – 16:30 Seminar Room, Learning Centre, Level 4 £ 49 (concessions available)
This one-day course with The University of Edinburgh is designed to complement the National Museum of Scotland’s major new exhibition Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life.
Examine the study of anatomy within the context of 19th century Edinburgh, including the University’s role as an international centre for medical teaching. Uncover the circumstances that gave rise to the Burke and Hare murders in 1828, and consider the actions of William Burke, William and Margaret Hare, and anatomist Dr Robert Knox.
NEW Victorian Edinburgh 29 Sep – 8 Dec 2022 11:00 – 13:00 Seminar Room, Learning Centre Level 4 £180 for 10 sessions (concessions available)
National Museums Scotland are delighted to host a new term of University of Edinburgh Short Courses – a great way to explore our collections and their wider history with experts.
Victorian Edinburgh considers the complex challenges and changes wrought in the period 1837–1901 within Scotland’s capital city. It examines examples of the economic, social and political context in which ‘Edinburghers’ lived, and assesses their responses to the most important Scottish, British and international events.
National Museum of Rural Life Philipshill Road, East Kilbride, G76 9HR Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Bird Bingo Until 30 Sep 2022 10:00-17:00 A trail around the museum Free with museum admission and Annual Pass
Come and play Bird Bingo at the National Museum of Rural Life! Can you find all the birds hiding around the museum? Using the clues on our family trail sheet, see if you can spot different birds in our museum galleries and learn fun facts about them on your journey.
This family event is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery
Nature Track Packs National Museum of Rural Life, Philipshill Road, East Kilbride, G76 9HR Until 30 Sep 2022 10:00 – 17:00 Borrow from the ticket desk Free with museum admission and Annual Pass
Explore more at the National Museum of Rural Life this summer with our new Nature Track Packs. Each pack contains fun ideas and activities to encourage children to engage all their senses to explore the countryside on a walk up to the farm. Nature Track Packs are available to borrow on a first come, first served basis over the summer – just ask on arrival at our ticket desk, then return the pack to the desk once your Track Pack adventure is complete.
NEW Tractor Tots 30 Sep – 11 Nov 2022 10:15 – 10:55 Ticketed
Running in blocks of three Friday morning sessions, Tractor Tots offers a fun, focused experience for our younger visitors, introducing them to the museum and farm, and bringing it to life through interactive creative play.
Each session will take place in a different location at the museum and working farm, and will feature handling objects from our learning boxes, singing, storytelling, rhymes, actions and sensory play to learn all about life in the countryside.
National Museum of Flight East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, EH39 5LF Open daily 10:00 – 16:00
Summer Satchels Until 23 Sep 2022 10:00 – 17:00 Free with museum admission Just ask at the desk in the Concorde Hangar.
See the National Museum of Flight in a different way this summer with our new family activity satchels. Each satchel contains all the equipment and simple instructions for five playful activities to help children explore the museum from a different perspective. The activities are designed to use outside on our spacious site.
NEW Operation Sabotage 29 & 30 Oct 2022 Age 14+ event Ticketed
The year is 1942 and you are stationed at the RAF base at East Fortune. There has been an act of sabotage and one of the aircraft is unknowingly carrying live ordnance with instructions to bomb the town. Solve a series of fiendish puzzles to call off the flight and save North Berwick!
Operation Sabotage is an escape room experience for 4-8 people that lasts up to an hour. Working as a team, you must race against the clock in two Second World War-themed rooms to decipher the identity of the saboteur before it’s too late.
Silent Teachers: The Story of Modern Body Donation 13 Sep 2022 19:30 – 20:30 Free, with optional donation
Inspired by our current exhibition, Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life, our expert panel will discuss the modern approach to anatomical study and body donation in this online event. In the 18th century, Edinburgh was Britain’s leading centre for medical teaching. As anatomists sought to understand the human body, the demand for bodies to dissect and study vastly outstripped legitimate supply.
As a result, grave robbing became common practice. Since then, legislation has ensured bodies used today are acquired, with proper consent, through donation. From their perspectives as exhibition curator, professor, medical student and living donor, our expert panel will discuss the modern approach to body donation and contrast the ethics, practices and beliefs of today with those from two centuries ago.
Members’ Spotlight: From Table to Melting Pot – Roman Silver from Traprain Law 4 Oct 2022 18:30 -19:30 Free, booking required
In 1919, archaeologists excavating Traprain Law in East Lothian discovered a stunning hoard of buried treasure made up of over 300 fragments of Roman silver which had been cut into bullion, and were destined for melting down and recycling into new objects.
Join us and Dr Fraser Hunter, Principal Curator of Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology, as we explore more about this remarkable find and discover how recent research into the treasure has caused us to rethink how the Roman world engaged with groups beyond its frontiers, and the effects this had in the centuries that followed.
NEW Ancient African Queens: New Perspectives on Black History 27 Oct 2022 19:30 – 20:30 Free, with optional donation
In the 19th and 20th centuries European and American Egyptologists appropriated ancient Egypt into an idea of ‘Western civilisation’ and set it apart from other African cultures. This historical colonial bias against Africa has ramifications on how we interpret ancient Egyptian and Sudanese collections today.
Join our panel as they discuss how reassessing 19th and 20th century colonial attitudes can bring new perspectives to fascinating aspects of ancient Egyptian culture and its place in African history.
Don’t forget to register for Edinburgh InterFaith Association’s ‘Together For Our Planet‘, event On Wednesday 11th May – 7:30pm.
Following the wonderful Together for our Planet concert last November, what can we do to offer a faith perspective to Edinburgh Community Climate Forum?
Your opportunity to contribute as individuals and communities.
Keynote from Alastair McIntosh, Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology and author of Riders on the Storm – The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being
Chaired by David Somervell, Trustee of Our Future Edinburgh – partner with EVOC in Edinburgh’s Community Climate Forum
Wednesday 11th May – 7:30pm In person and livestreamed
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Audubon’s Birds of America Until 8 May 2022 Exhibition Gallery 1, Level 3 Ticketed, £0-£10
This exhibition examines the artistry and legacy of one of the world’s rarest, most coveted and largest books.
Published as a series between 1827 and 1838, Birds of America by John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a landmark work that achieved international renown due to the epic scale of the project and the book’s spectacular, life-sized ornithological illustrations.
Audubon’s Birds of America showcases 46 unbound prints from National Museums Scotland’s collection, most of which have never been on display before, as well as a rare bound volume of the book, on loan from the Mitchell Library. This exhibition is a unique opportunity to see so much of Audubon’s work in one place.
Supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
Until 27 Mar 2022 Exhibition Gallery 3, Level 1 Free
This small exhibition highlights the exciting work being carried out in Scotland to fight against climate change. It brings together just some of the technological responses that have been developed in Scotland or that are being used here in the effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
On show are a range of leading-edge equipment, much of it newly collected, alongside samples of natural material.
Supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
The Typewriter Revolution Until 11 Sep 2022 Exhibition Gallery 2, Level 3 Free entry
The typewriter’s social and technological influence is revealed in this exhibition and looks at its role in society, arts, and popular culture. It traces the effect and evolution of typewriters across more than 100 years, from weighty early machines to modern style icons.
The impact of the typewriter has been much wider than simply speeding up the way we write. It helped revolutionise the world of work and change the lives of working women in particular. Typewriters helped them launch their own businesses at a time when female employers were rare and became a vital weapon in the fight for the vote.
Until 8 Jan 2023 Exhibition Gallery 4, Level 1 Free entry
Following the 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s birth, experience his novels through objects that inspired him. In this small exhibition we show how Scott drew upon real historical objects for inspiration, placing objects alongside Scott’s words, and the stories in which they feature. While you view these fascinating objects, you can listen to an actor reading extracts from these tales.
In association with Walter Scott 250: Celebrating 250 Years of Scotland’s Greatest Storyteller and supporting Year of Stories 2022.
31 Mar – 3 Aug 2022 Kingdom of the Scots gallery (Level 1) Free
Explore the pages of an illustrated prayer book featuring a handwritten poem by a young Mary, Queen of Scots in this display.
Written in Latin on vellum, the Book of Hours contains 40 exquisite illuminations by a 16th century Master artist. Used for private worship, it belonged to Mary’s great aunt Louise de Bourbon, Abbess of Fontevraud, who is believed to have gifted this precious volume to the young queen.
The book will be exhibited in the Kingdom of the Scots gallery in a display alongside other objects associated with Mary, Queen of Scots. Six different pages within the book will be revealed, with a new page displayed every three weeks. A QR code will allow you to scroll through the vividly illustrated pages in detail.
The Book of Hours is on loan to National Museums Scotland from The Pininski Foundation, Liechtenstein.
Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life 1 Jul – 13 Nov 2022 Exhibition Gallery 1, Level 3 Ticketed
Explore the history of anatomical study, from artistic explorations by Leonardo da Vinci to the Burke and Hare murders.
This exhibition will look at the social and medical history surrounding the practice of dissection. It will trace the relationship between anatomy, its teaching and cultural context and the bodies that were dissected. Looking at Edinburgh’s role as an international centre for medical study, the exhibition will offer insight into the links between science and crime in the early 19th century.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Relaxed Opening Hour 27 Mar 2022 10:00-11:00 Free entry
The monthly Relaxed Opening Hour at the National Museum of Scotland is for anyone who would appreciate a calmer visit to the museum.
This session is primarily for, but not limited to, families with autistic children; autistic young people and adults; adults living with dementia; adults and children with mental health problems; and any other visitors with sensory needs or who may prefer a more relaxed experience, plus their families, friends and carers.
Friendly staff will be there to give you a warm welcome and support your visit, as you explore some areas of the museum without noisy interactives and videos to give a more relaxed environment. The Relaxed Opening Hour includes access to the entirety of the museum currently open to the public. At 11:00 sound will be switched back on, but visitors to this session are welcome to remain in the museum for as long as they like.
The Edinburgh Science Festival brings two weeks of science-fuelled exploration to the National Museum of Scotland, from free interactive exhibits to family workshops and adult talks.
The Grand Gallery will be home to DataSphere, a multi-media exploration of the information driving our world. Elsewhere in the museum get-hands on with amazing drop-in experiments from the University of Edinburgh, and children’s workshops exploring everything from Creative Coding to Disease.
Adults can enjoy a series of fascinating talks and debates on topics from climatology and the philosophy of science to death, folklore and the cities of the future. Speakers include A.C. Grayling, Jim Al-Khalili, Alice Bell and Mary Roach. And join DataSphere After Dark, with bars, a DJ and exclusive activities just for grown-ups. Take the chance to have as much fun as the kids as you send, swipe and scroll through the data that drives our world.
National Museum of Flight East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, EH39 5LF Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 – 16:00
National Lottery Open Week
26 Mar – 27 Mar 2022 10:00 – 16:00 Free entry on presentation of National Lottery ticket (T&Cs apply)
On 26 and 27 March, the National Museum of Flight is taking part in the National Lottery Open Week.
As a recipient of National Lottery funding, we are inviting players to the museum for free for the weekend, to say thank you for their support. Please book a timed entry ticket online for every member of your group in advance of your visit.
Museum Socials are created for anyone affected by Dementia and their relatives, friends and supporters. The monthly events create a friendly environment where everyone is welcome and all contributions are valued.
They are suitable for first-time visitors and for those who might not regularly come to the museum, as well as people who have always loved visiting.
In March, join exhibition curator Mark Glancy to learn about the making of Birds of America, one of the world’s rarest and most coveted books.
Museum Socials are inspired by Meet Me at MoMA. They are programmed in partnership with National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland.
Join an online discussion celebrating the joy that birds bring us, the urgent threats they face, and the science and conservation work protecting them.
Supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
18th and 19th century artworks reworked to imagine a net zero carbon future shaped by engineering
· Digital artist has reworked masterpieces by Monet, Van Gogh, Constable and Pissarro to inspire a conversation about the engineering advances that could help to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
· Innovations such as agricultural robots, smart thermochromic windows, vertical farms and flying taxis have been woven into the reimagined impressionist masterpieces to depict what a more sustainable world may look like in the future.
· The artworks have been commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering ahead of This is Engineering Day on Wednesday 3 November, which aims to encourage more young people to choose engineering careers and help achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
· Sympathetic reimaginings show how innovative agriculture, aviation, transport and buildings could help to transform everyday life and landscapes.
Painters such as Constable, Monet, Pissarro, and Van Gogh first made their marks in the art world during the industrial revolution. While this era drove economic benefits and improvements in living standards for many, we now know that it triggered the start of rising carbon emissions leading to global warming.
Ahead of COP26, masterpieces by these iconic artists have been reimagined to inspire conversations about the kinds of engineering advances that could help to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Electric planes and flying taxis, vertical orchards and rooftop farms are just some of the innovations that feature in the reworked masterpieces, commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering as part of its This Is Engineering campaign to promote engineering careers in response to a significant skills and diversity shortfall in the profession.
Van Gogh’s Factories at Clichy, Constable’s The Wheat Field, Pissarro’s La Rue Saint- Honoré and Monet’s The Seashore at Sainte-Adresse have been digitally remastered by a contemporary artist, Ashly Lovett, to show how engineering innovations could help to transform everyday life and landscapes in the future.
The Engineer the Future collection can be viewed during COP26 at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and online via Google Arts & Culture.
The aim of the exhibition is to start a conversation about what we want a net zero future to look like, and the role of future engineers in that, with viewers invited to contribute their own ideas via social media on This is Engineering Day on Wednesday 3 November.
Were Van Gogh to paint Factories at Clichy in 2050, his masterpiece might feature autonomous ‘agbots’ – agricultural robots – tending the crops using precision farming; a development that could help to slash agricultural carbon emissions.
In the skies above, Sophie Harker, Assistant Chief Engineer of Electric Products at BAE Systems, thinks the painter would capture a variety of electrically powered ways to transport ourselves and our goods in 2050.
She says: “In the future, we may be using a pod system for public transport, for example on a Hyperloop. These pods could look like the Maglev trains and could travel within a vacuum to reduce drag and increase speed.
“People would likely use this system for travelling long distances cross-country or city to city, then shorter journeys could be taken by vertical taxis that carry up to four people. Heavy lift flying drones could also be used for transportation of goods or for emergency response.”
Constable’s The Wheat Field, reimagined for 2050, includes solar powered pruning robots, autonomous grass cutting machines and crop-monitoring drones.
Meanwhile, environmentally friendly hydrogen planes can be seen in the sky, with futuristic shapes that maximise fuel-efficiency and range of travel.
Kit Franklin, Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering at Harper Adams University, says: “The artistic reinterpretation of Constable has removed the hard physical labour and repetitive tasks of agricultural farmhands as autonomous robots take on the work humans would have traditionally done.
“Agbots make farming more precise to conserve vital resources like water and energy and we’ll see smaller machines in future to help preserve soil quality and health. A healthy soil is not only vital for growing food, it can also sequester carbon more effectively than one that has been compacted by large machinery.
“If Constable were to walk in the British countryside in 2050, he’d see smaller fields with strips of different coloured crops, and less productive fields rewilded with trees, wildflowers and shrubs to boost biodiversity and pollination.”
Professor Susan Gourvenec, RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies for Intelligent & Resilient Ocean Engineering at the University of Southampton, whose ideas have been incorporated into a reimagined Monet, commented: “If Monet was to paint The Seashore at Sainte-Adresse in 2050, his famous seascape might feature offshore energy farms generating renewable energy through wind turbines or tidal power, which could be used to power homes or produce green hydrogen, and to refuel ocean-going cargo vessels offshore.
“Closer to the shore, seagrass plantations might be visible, which would not only capture carbon but also provide coastal protection and improve the coastal ecosystem and habitat for wildlife.”
The artist has also imagined a residential building on the coast that uses thermochromic windows to help to cool the house and generate solar power, reducing its carbon footprint and maximising efficiency.
Pissarro’s La Rue Saint-Honoré has been reworked to reflect a vision of the future in which a central hub links several public transport systems including an electrically powered monorail, vertical taxi station and underground stations.
Professor Chris Wise RDI FREng, Founder Partner of Expedition, says: “If Pissarro were to travel to Paris in 2050, he might find buildings that have been designed to take full advantage of their environment.
“No side of a building would look the same: the south facing side is shaded and both east and west facades have screens to capture the morning and evening sun. The artist might also find chameleon buildings with a ‘skin’ that is responsive to sunlight and shade for temperature regulation.
“Pissarro, who suffered from an eye-infection and eventually went blind, would find getting round the city easier with colour coded areas and rumble strips, as well as a monorail system that dispenses with the need for a car. He’d also find less hard landscaping. As we see increased rainfall and flooding in the future, cities will have replaced concrete pavements with more permeable materials and greenery.”
Dr Rhys Morgan, Director of Engineering and Education at the Royal Academy of Engineering says: “The UK’s goal of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a massive undertaking.
“Decarbonisation on this timescale and magnitude will bring widespread and rapid change to every aspect of daily life and meeting our goal of a net zero future will not be achieved without engineering expertise.
“From the ways we heat, cool and light our homes, to how we produce our food, how we build our houses and how we travel around, our future daily lives will be shaped by today’s engineers and engineering.
“These famous masterpieces originally captured a snapshot of daily life at a time when the consequences of carbon emissions were not known. By reimagining them for 2050 we hope to start a conversation about how engineers can help shape our net zero future and inspire the next generation to join the profession.
“To realise the emission-saving technologies imagined in these artworks, the UK needs more engineers – for example, National Grid estimates that the UK energy sector alone will need to fill 400,000 roles between now and 2050 to reach net zero.”
In a bid to boost recruitment and challenge the narrow stereotypes of what engineers look like and do, This is Engineering Day is an annual reminder of the importance of engineering to our daily lives.
Created by The Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018 the day celebrates the varied and vital roles that engineers play, from developing medical technologies like brain scanners and clean energy solutions, to powering the social media platforms and smartphones we rely on to keep in touch every day.
Only one week to go to register for our Annual National Conference and what a line up we have for you!
Community Development: Beyond Recovery to Renewalis an ambitious, bold title for our conference and we have such an amazing array of community activists, leaders, membership organisations and senior policy makers that we believe we can all share and learn with each other in order to collectively create stronger, fairer, wealthier, greener and smarter communities.
Annual National Conference, 29th September 2021 (virtually)
Our conference programme features keynote speakers and workshops led by a number of our membership organisations, as well as raising awareness of funding and other opportunities which may interest you/your teams and networks.
With a strong coalition of 126 national organisations and over 1200 subscribers & twitter followers, CDAS continues to build and coordinate our networks, share and learn good practice, influence policy and raise awareness of our collaborative working, collective action and impact in order to create a more socially just and equal society.
Free to attend programme online and at St. John’s Church, Princes Street from 6th – 30th August
Edinburgh’s social justice and human rights festival is coming of age this summer with its biggest event yet.
Among the headline offerings are a poignant new choral work, No Alleluias: A Requiem for 2020, specially commissioned to celebrate the festival’s 21st birthday and an online appearance by former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen (below) who spent several weeks in intensive care after contracting Covid-19.
Both reflect on the extraordinary experiences faced during the past year and Rosen – “not dead yet,” he says – considers how we can emerge from the pandemic with a more equal future.
Originally established as the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, Just Festival celebrates humanity in all its differences and encourages the exploration of new perspectives in the hope of reducing religious, political and social intolerance.
Festival director Helen Trew says: “The last year has shattered many illusions and laid bare the inequality at the heart of our society. So, as we come of age, it is time to put our shoulder to the wheel of a better, fairer, inclusive future for us all.”
Running from 6th – 30th August, the festival features a range of innovative events and art installations presented, through a blend of digital discussion and performance plus live audience event, in St John’s Church and the surrounding area.
The No Alleluias requiem, a mix of live and virtual choir, was inspired by preacher and theologian Rev Dr Karen George Thompson and describes her experience of last Easter Sunday.
Having lost her father to Covid and been infected with the virus herself, she also saw her community suffer and found the uplifting Easter message replaced with melancholy.
The resulting choral work, composed by Anthony Hammond with lyrics by Robert Rae, is an extraordinarily moving piece and will help close this year’s festival.
The programme also includes:
a live installation of Peace Cranes when 140,000 origami birds will be positioned throughout St John’s Church as symbols of hope for inter-generational justice and a call for a solution to the nuclear and climate emergencies;
Photography under Siege, an exhibition of photographer Mahmoud al Khurd’s images of life in Gaza today and an evening of music and conversation with Northern Irish peace activist Tommy Sands.
And the Cabaret of Dangerous ideas returns this year, looking at issues including children’s access to nature and outdoor play, debating whether we need to-re-wild youngsters.
With the exception of the No Alleluias performance, all events are free to attend, although a donation is suggested to support the festival whose main sponsors this year are Elephants in Action, a part of ELE Global, with support from EventScotland, Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund and the Culture & Business Fund Scotland, managed by Arts & Business Scotland.
Helen Foord, CEO and founder of ELE Global comments: “The team is delighted to be supporting Just Festival again, helping to celebrate 21 fantastic years.
“And we’re proud to be associated with an event whose values of tolerance and encouraging new ways of looking at the world are ever more important in these challenging times.”
Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, said: “The Just Festival is a timely event that I am sure will spark engaging debate while offering a welcome return to in-person experiences for audiences alongside its impressive virtual programme and I am delighted that EventScotland has been able to support it through Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund.”
This year’s hybrid Festival consists of a digital programme (available to watch 25 May-6 June) and a mostly outdoor programme presented over the Festival’s two weekends (29-30 May and 5-6 June).
The Digital Programme includes a mixture of streamed performances which you can watch at any time during the Festival and innovative digital interactions presented live over Zoom (book now).
Family Encounters programme presents FREE innovative performances and activities mostly outdoor.
Events will take place in the stunning Royal Botanic Garden (book now), as well as in site-specific venues (book now).
