A first-of-its-kind project for the UK’s botanic gardens will launch at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh this autumn, with the introduction of films demonstrating botanical terms newly developed within British Sign Language (BSL).
The short videos are designed to enhance deaf visitors’ engagement with the Garden’s remarkable Living Collection.
Created in partnership with BSL experts based at the Scottish Sensory Centre, University of Edinburgh, the films tell stories about botanical forms such as palms, ferns and fronds through sign language and will form an integral part of a new multimedia visitor experience when the Garden’s historic Palm Houses reopen following restoration.
Sarah Cathcart, Director of Learning and Engagement at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh said: “Working closely with the Scottish Sensory Centre’s BSL glossary team, we have developed a set of elegant and expressive new signs in British Sign Language to deliver a more meaningful and immersive experience for members of the deaf community visiting the Garden.
“These signs represent just the beginning of this important project. Through this collaboration we will continue to expand botanical vocabulary, ensuring that the natural world is more inclusive and accessible for all.”
Dr Audrey Cameron, Project Lead, Scottish Sensory Centre’s BSL Glossary project added: “At present, very few botanical terms exist in BSL – even for familiar plant species such as daffodils.
“By creating new language designed specifically for the deaf community, this unique project takes an important step forward in widening access to the wonders of plant biodiversity.”
To create the new signs, RBGE scientists and horticulturists worked with BSL experts to define the very essence of a plant or botanical feature. These qualities were then used by a deaf-led team of BSL scriptwriters and signers to create the videos.
Visitors to the Palm Houses will be able to access the content through QR codes positioned throughout the restored 19th‑century buildings.
As part of the Garden’s commitment to accessibility and knowledge‑sharing, the new BSL botanical signs will be shared with organisations across the UK.
A major international digitisation project will begin this summer which aims to create approximately 700,000 digital records of specimens held in Scotland’s natural science collections.
National Museums Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh will jointly lead the creation of a network to add Scotland to the Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK (DiSSCo UK) project, thanks to over £1.8 million in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
The project in Scotland will initially run for two years and will see more than 250,000 insects from National Museums Scotland and 388,000 herbarium specimens from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh become digitally accessible to all.
In addition, four further partners are already engaged in the project, namely Glasgow Life, The Hunterian, Shetland Museum & Archives and The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, with more collecting institutions expected to be involved in due course.
Professor Olwen Grace, Deputy Director of Science (Collections), Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Herbarium and project co-lead, said: “This project brings together Scotland’s exceptionally rich natural science collections in a united effort to mobilise the biodiversity records they hold.
“Drawing on the leading Herbarium digitisation approaches at RBGE, the project will boost digital heritage in Scotland and help to ensure the broadest diversity of the UK’s collections are made accessible online. “
The Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an exceptional collection of preserved specimens of the plant and fungal kingdoms used by researchers from around the world. From the flowering plants of coastal shores, moorland, and cities, to a tiny lichen from the brooding slopes of Ben Nevis, all specimens will be digitised.
Professor Grace added: “DiSSCo UK presents an unequalled opportunity to reveal the British and Irish species in our collections. Digitising brings recent and historic records of the country’s biodiversity together in a new way, making important information available for looking after nature in future.”
Dr Nick Fraser, Keeper of Natural Sciences at the National Museums of Scotland and project co-lead, said: “This is a really exciting undertaking. It will really activate collections which have been amassed across Scotland for over 200 years.
“Having these records digitally available will allow us to unlock the critical information that these collections hold about changes in biodiversity over time and the impact of climate change on diverse ecosystems both here in Scotland and across the world.”
Among the significant collections to be digitised is the Pelham-Clinton moth collection held at the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh.
Edward Pelham-Clinton spent decades travelling Britain and Ireland, collecting over 35,000 moths and butterflies, and filling 64 meticulous field diaries with observations on 2,169 species, building what is almost certainly the most detailed personal record of British moths ever compiled.
His collection and diaries, which contain around 250,000 entries in total, cover precisely the decades before moth populations began their dramatic modern decline, making them an irreplaceable before-and-after record of what Britain’s moths looked like when they were still thriving.
Dr Fraser added: “Unlocking the full power of this archive means digitising every page of those diaries and every specimen label.
“That means that anyone, anywhere, can ask what was flying in a Scottish meadow in the 1950s, and compare it to what is flying there now which, in some cases, may be very little due to expanded human inhabitation and activity”.
DiSSCo UK [https://dissco-uk.org/] (Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK) is a £155 million, 10-year national programme to digitise and connect the UK’s natural science collections. The programme is funded through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and delivered by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in partnership with the Natural History Museum and over 100 partners across the UK.
AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said: “For hundreds of years the UK has gathered and grown one of the world’s most comprehensive and diverse collections of scientific material in museums across the UK. It has been a long-held ambition to bring this collection together – and now this dream can come true.
“Over ten years, DiSSCo UK will deliver progress that would otherwise have taken over a century, including the creation of millions of newly digitised records and a network of around 100 collections from national museums and gardens, and universities to local collections that would never have had such access without it. And the outcomes of this £155m investment will offer exciting new opportunities for science as well as society.
“AHRC is proud to have led UKRI’s largest ever investment in the GLAM sector, yet another contribution to our leadership of the creative and cultural economy.”
In addition to material from the Scottish national collections, the project will also see digital records created for 85,000 plant specimens held by Glasgow Life, 1200 insects from The Hunterian, 2400 specimens from Shetland Museum & Archives including plants, algae and fungi as well as 1400 plant, lichen and moss specimens from The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen.
It is hoped that future phases will encompass more of the collections of existing participants and also widen in scope to include more of Scotland’s natural science collecting institutions.
Creating inspirational outreach to engage children and young people with the natural world has brought international recognition for Edinburgh’s Eve Armstrong.
School visits around the country, virtual lessons, and a series of videos have won her the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) 2026 Marsh Award for education in botanic gardens.
Since 2023 Eve, an Education Outreach Officer at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, has built up an extensive Scotland-wide outreach programme. She has engaged with over 7,000 pupils, by visiting schools from the Borders to Aberdeen and the Outer Hebrides.
In addition, she has reached a further 13,000 pupils in live streaming and enabling virtual visits to the research institute’s Glasshouses, Herbarium, Plant Nursery and Herbology room, as well as the Garden itself.
These interactive experiences have beamed into classrooms in 23 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. Along the way, Eve has enthused primary and secondary age pupils on topics ranging from Rainforests to Scottish Native Plants and Botanic Careers.
Amy McDonald, Project Engagement Manager, nominated Eve for the award. She explained: “Eve always goes the extra mile to share the joy and importance of plants. The enthusiastic feedback we receive shows that pupils and teachers love her approach and session content.
“She always finds innovative and creative ways to connect with pupils in-person and virtually. Her videos have seen her don waders to film in a pond and borrow an infrared camera to map the heat emitted from a magnificent Amorphophallus titanum.
“Many of her lessons encourage young people to think about what actions they could take to conserve biodiversity – from looking after the natural spaces around their home, school, or local area, to lobbying adults to take action.”
As well as professional recognition, Eve receives £1,000 in prize money.
She said: “I am very fortunate to be in the position of working with children and young people right around the country. They are the future guardians of our planet and the starting point for them should be about having fun, learning about the vast number of positive experiences they can have by engaging with plants.
“We need their enthusiasm. At a time when 40 per cent of all known species are in danger of extinction, the determination of the next generation can make massive changes for the better in combating the impact of the biodiversity crisis and climate emergency. To inspire a sense of wonder in the natural world turns out to be fun and inspiring for me as well as them.”
Edinburgh-based community research projects receive up to £5000 funding
Projects based at Lauriston Farm Cooperative and the Scottish Youth Parliament
Part of Healthy Planet, Healthy People awards administered by Royal Society of Edinburgh and Williamson Trust
Community groups in Edinburgh have received a share of over £339K as part of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People project run by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Williamson Trust.
These community research funding awards enable and encourage knowledge exchange and collaborative research practices amongst and between local communities. The resulting findings and outputs are often scalable, producing valuable insights that can be used by similar groups working in other areas of the country and beyond.
The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) has been awarded almost £5000 to run a youth-led research programme into young people of colour’s safe access to green spaces. Through this project, theSYP aims to challenge the structural barriers faced by young people of colour when accessing natural spaces and provide evidence and tangible actions to decision-makers on what needs to change.
Daniela Onyewuenyi MSYP, board member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, said: “We are so lucky that in Scotland our natural landscape, no matter how big or small, is full of beauty.
“However, there are many barriers to access these spaces. This is why as a working group we decided to look at how young people of colour access those spaces or, on the contrary, why they feel they can’t.”
Rhyze Mushrooms, based at Lauriston, were awarded £5000 to test the performance of a variety of different composts that can be made using business waste, such as coffee chaff, agricultural waste and food scraps.
Working with local food businesses, the Rhyze Mushrooms team will explore how vermicomposting can prevent business waste from ending up in landfill by transforming it into high-quality soil improvers that enhance the health, yield, and nutrition of crops.
Vermicomposting is the process of using worms to consume organic waste and convert it into nutrient-rich compost.
Roxy Minter, member of the Rhyze cooperative, said: “Rhyze is a community-led, Edinburgh-based workers cooperative specialising in transforming waste into food and soil amendments.
“We are delighted to have been awarded this grant by the RSE and Williamson Trust. With this support, we will run a first-of-its-kind trial in our worm farm: to compare whether and how the castings produced by composting worms vary according to what they are fed. This will help us to understand whether some varieties of castings benefit particular crops over others.”
The Seeds of Change project will support the development of the Scottish Seed Hub; a co-operative of growers based at the Edinburgh Agroecology Co-operative CIC in Lauriston.
The group has been awarded £5000, and are aiming to increase the production and dissemination of locally-adapted, open-pollinated seeds grown using optimal agroecological practices.
By improving access to seeds suited to this country’s climate, the Hub hopes to enhance the biodiversity, and resilience of Scotland’s food system.
Lisa Houston of the Scottish Seed Hub said: “The Scottish Seed Hub has been created by a group of Scottish agroecological mixed vegetable farms to increase the growth, sharing and selling, of open pollinated bio-regionally adapted seeds.
“The founding growers are delighted to receive support through the Catalyst award to undertake a participatory action research project to help develop an organisational framework to guide the Scottish Seed Hub’s formalisation and growth to help us grow, and create lasting impact towards seed sovereignty in Scotland.”
A total of £5000 has been awarded to a Scotland-wide project “Conifers aren’t just for Christmas”, run by conifer expert Jennie Martin in collaboration with Scottish Forestry and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh.
She will create a simple and accessible field guide to conifers in Scotland, hoping to kick-start a more conifer-literate society amongst forest school leaders, ecological surveyors, wilderness guides, and nature lovers alike.
Jennie Martin MSc FLS Ethnobotany, Conservation, Botanical Literacy, said: “Conifers are vital to our landscapes, ecosystems, and climate, yet they are often overlooked due to the challenge of identifying them.
“I am extremely grateful to The Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Williamson Trust for the Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Catalyst Award, which will enable the creation of an accessible field guide to common UK and Irish conifers.
“This grant will support people to become more conifer literate by recognising and understanding these remarkable trees more effectively.”
First initiated in 2023, Healthy Planet, Healthy People Awards are now offered under two strands – Catalyst Awards and Change Awards.
Catalyst Awards are designed to enable community-led research across any discipline that promotes the health of individuals by fostering healthy communities, environments, and food quality and supply. These awards offer up to £5000 to pilot a project. This year a total of £99,250 has been awarded to 20 projects across Scotland.
Change Awards are designed to support standout projects – that previously received Catalyst funding – with major funding to grow and scale their work. This year four projects in the Orkney islands, Isle of Lewis, Cupar and Kirkcaldy have been awarded a total of £240,217 between them.
Professor David Salt FRSE, Chair of the Williamson Trust, said: “As this community-led work continues to grow there can be no doubt communities across Scotland can build local solutions to ongoing challenges to our environment, our communities and our food.
This round we have projects spanning seed saving, community growing, fermentation and composting to coppicing, tree identification, accessing green space, transhumance and repair café. An amazing array of projects.
“The Trust hopes that with these new awards we continue to build a movement of committed people to find solutions to the challenges faced by local communities, and that these solutions can have wider impact.”
Royal Society of Edinburgh Vice President, Research, Professor Anne Anderson OBE FRSE added: “This marks the third successful round of Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Catalyst Awards, which were introduced to expand the type of research the RSE supports.
“We are also very pleased to announce the first recipients of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Change Awards; a new development of the Healthy Planet, Healthy People Programme, which extends the support offered to grassroots groups and demonstrates the Society’s commitment to empowering community-driven research focused on positively impacting sustainability, health, and community resilience.
“I congratulate all those awarded under both schemes, and I look forward to following their progress and achievements over the coming year.”
Explore peaceful memorial settings at the Botanics with our Celebrate Life Open Days
From adopting a tree or bench to placing a commemorative plaque, discover ways to honour and remember loved ones. Our team will be on hand to guide you through the Garden and answer any questions you may have.
Guided tours are available on each date at 10am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, and 3pm, and will last approximately one hour.
Tours will begin at the Visitor Welcome Desk at the John Hope Gateway.
If you would like to attend, please contact Louise King, Development Officer, at lking@rbge.org.uk.
We feel so honored to have been first community group to be lucky enough to visit the beautifully restored Palm Houses since their closure in 2021
This was the perfect opportunity to gain insight into the history of the building, the restoration process, and some amazing garden stories related to this space!
Huge thank you to the Palm Houses Engagement team at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for the invitation and creating such an informative and interactive tour!
We can’t wait to welcome the full opening of the Palm Houses and return again!
I am pleased to be getting in touch to inform you about a Community Pop Up event regarding improvements to Arboretum Place and the area in front of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Inverleith Park.
With thanks to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, we welcome you to join us to see the proposals on Saturday 7th March from 10:30 – 2:00 pm on the Ground Floor of the John Hope Visitor Centre, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Arboretum Place, EH3 5NZ. The venue is fully accessible.
Stop by to hear more about the project, see the proposals, meet the design team and share your feedback.
We are working with the City of Edinburgh Council to develop concept designs for improvements to the site, looking at the introduction of sustainable drainage measures along the length of Arboretum Place and around the entrances to Inverleith Park and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, including placemaking opportunities between the two.
This work forms part of Climate Ready Craigleith looking at flood management interventions and improvements across the catchment and sits under the cities overarching Climate Ready Edinburgh strategy.
Boo! The Botanics Halloween Trail is back this autumn.
Follow clues around the Garden, uncover frightfully fun plant facts along the way, and enjoy a fang-tastic treat at the end. Perfect for families with little monsters aged 3+.
No booking required, pick up your trail booklet (£3) from the East or West Gate and get started!
Guided tours are available on each date at 10am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, and 3pm, and will last approximately one hour. 
Become a Garden Guide at the Botanics! 
Boo! The Botanics Halloween Trail is back this autumn.
