New Rector installed at the University of Aberdeen

Maggie Chapman, Co-convener of the Scottish Green Party, recently took part in a ceremony which saw her officially installed in the role of Rector of the University of Aberdeen.

The Rector, an ancient post dating back to the foundation of the University in 1495, is the students’ representative, particularly in welfare matters, and sits on the University Court.

Tradition dictates that the University of Aberdeen’s new rector must ride through Old Aberdeen aloft a bull carried at shoulder height by students of the university.

The science behind ‘The Dress’

A University of Aberdeen researcher will shed some light on how past experience can influence how we see what we see and will describe how this determines which side of ‘The Dress’ debate you are on for the launch of British Science Week in Aberdeen.

‘The Dress’ describes a recent (March 2015) social media phenomenon that divided viewers into two distinct camps – those who perceived the dress in the picture to be black and blue and those who saw it as cream and gold.

Dr Jasna Martinovic, Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology has been conducting research on how the brain guides vision and how people see the colour in the dress differently.  Dr Martinovic has applied her research to explain the science behind The Dress and will describe it in the ‘Bring Your Own Brain’ event in Aberdeen from 6pm-8pm on Friday March, 13.

British Science Week is a UK-wide celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths running from March 13-22. The week will culminate with Discovery Day at Satrosphere Science Centre on Saturday March 21, with activities including the chance to build Lego robots, learn more about the science of superheroes, and make a 3D selfie.

In addition to the above events there are even more informal discussions on current hot-topics in science and a packed schools programme taking place across the week.

More information about British Science Week as well as a full programme of events can be found at www.britishscienceassociation.org/aberdeen

Aberdeen universities gear up for Granite City Challenge 2015

The UK’s biggest university sporting event will return to Aberdeen next week, as more than 500 students from the city’s two universities go head to head in the 18th annual Granite City Challenge.

With local bragging rights at stake, the teams from the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University will lock horns in 33 events taking place across 12 venues in the city on Wednesday, March 18.

The University of Aberdeen emerged victorious in last year’s event, winning by a six point margin.

A total of 28 sports will be represented in this year’s Granite City Challenge, including Gaelic football, water polo, fencing, curling, and for the first time in the history of the event, lacrosse. The challenge programme also includes traditional favourites such as football, rugby, hockey and athletics.

Aberdeen Summer School – Society and Culture of Scotland

From the Union and Jacobitism to the Clearances and the Great Disruption

14-28 June 2015

This new two-week Summer School programme is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the one of the most crucial periods in Scottish history which has continued to have profound effects on contemporary Scotland even feeding directly into debates surrounding the recent referendum on independence.

Subjects covered will include:

• the Treaty/Acts of Union; Jacobitism;
• the Scottish Enlightenment;
• Scottish traditional culture (for example, fairies and second sight);
• Scottish literature (especially Burn and Scott);
• Scottish religion (culminating in the great split in the Kirk in the 1840s);
• traditional music and oral culture;
• the impact of industrialization
• the clearances of the Highlands and depopulation of much of rural Scotland.

The programme will include lectures by leading scholars in the field as well as small-group discussions and field trips. There will also be plenty of social activities designed to introduce students to contemporary Scottish society and culture. Key academics involved will include:

Professor Ali Lumsden. Ali is a General Editor of the Edinburgh Edition of Scott’s Waverley Novels and the lead editor for an edition of his poetry. She is also co-director of the University of Aberdeen’s Walter Scott Research Centre, which exists to promote all aspects of research on Walter Scott. She has published extensively on Walter Scott and on other aspects of Scottish literature and is  currently the chair of the Scottish Universities Committee for Scottish Literature.

Dr Andrew Mackillop. Mackie was a lead historical advisor for the new visitor centre/experience at the Culloden battlefield and is a historical advisor to the Western Isle local council. His areas of interest span the eighteenth century focusing on cultures of urban governance and urban disorder in post-Union Scotland

Professor John Morrison. John’s main research interests are concerned with Scottish painting from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. He recently published a book on images of rural labour in Scotland. His interests also include developments in architecture as well as country-house living among Scotland’s elite.

Professor William Naphy. Bill’s interests include traditional cultural practices including witchcraft, the keeping or banning of traditional festivals (such as Christmas – not a legal holiday in Scotland until the 1950s) and fairy-folk. He also has interests in how elites, especially via religion, control and regulate personal practices including sexual mores.

The cost of the two-week programme is £2000 which includes meals, accommodation, classes/instruction as well as all excursions. It does not include travel to/from Aberdeen or personal purchases. The programme is limited to 25 students and the deadline for applications (including a 15% deposit (£300) is 31 March. The balance of the costs (£1700) must be paid no later than 1 June.

For details please contact Professor William G Naphy at w.g.naphy@abdn.ac.uk