Confirmed speakers include: Professor Bruce Spiegelman, Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dr Tim Rolph, Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer and Professor Stephen O’Rahilly FRS FMedSci, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and Professor Andrew Morris FRSE FMedSci, Director, Biomedical Research Institute, University of Dundee

This high-level interdisciplinary meeting will review contemporary findings in the obesity-diabetes ‘epidemic’ and discuss the implications for future developments. The symposium will cover topics including epidemiology and genetics, disease mechanisms, novel imaging approaches, and new therapies, with the intention of horizon-scanning rather than reiterating what is already well known.
With support from the RSE Scotland Foundation, the symposium will bring together leading UK and international speakers and participants from academia, industry, the health services and research funders.

Admission is free, although pre-registration is required. Please visit www.royalsoced.org.uk/events/index.htm#crf for more information and to register online.

There will be a poster session for early career researchers with awards made at the symposium. Submissions are invited in the areas of:
Obesity
Diabetes
Epidemiology
Metabolic syndrome
Insulin resistance
Heart Disease
Atheroscerosis
Inflammation
Drug development and imaging
Societal Change

If you require further information about the symposium or poster session please contact Sue Walker, Events Officer, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street EH2 2PQ; Tel 0131 240 5000 or events@royalsoced.org.uk

Diabetes Conference

The Group also concluded that, to support a culture which is equipped to make informed judgements, the focus should be on enabling greater discussion of risk and uncertainty, and opening up debate around the processes involved in the production of scientific knowledge. There is much good work occurring across the board to work towards this, but the Group calls for greater co-ordination of activity; this relates to the wider themes covered in the report, including ethical codes, supporting processes and communication of ethical issues and governance.

You can dowload the full report and comment on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website: Full Report

This is the final report in the Science and Society Expert Group series which resulted from the Science and Society Consultation in 2008. All of the reports can be accessed via the BIS interactive site: http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/scienceandsociety

It will allow them to share their perspectives with each other and with those with an interest in better public engagement in government, research organisations and other civil society groups. Places are limited at the event, so please apply for your place, even if you have already been in contact with them, by contacting Lorraine Vincent at l.s.vincent@newcastle.ac.uk  by 22 March 2010.
You will be contacted by 29 March 2010 whether you have been successful.

Because of our funding from the Northern Rock Foundation there is a subsidised charge of just £50* for those attending the event who are living or working in the North East and Cumbria. The cost for those outside the region is £90.

Please see the attached invitation and conference programme for further details:

Invitation
Programme

‘Dialogue academy’ (www.dialogueacademy.org.uk ) has been developed as a collaboration between At-Bristol, The UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres, Glasgow Science Centre, The Centre for Life, Thinktank and The Living Rainforest.

It is generously supported by the Wellcome Trust which has allowed us to provide this training *entirely for free*.

To be clear, we pay for:
- all travel
- accommodation (this is all booked and arranged by us too, you don’t need to do anything)
- food
(we do ask that you book travel in advance and we’ll only cover costs within reason – if you’d like to travel first class then enjoy, but unfortunately we can’t pay for it!)

The training is concerned with dialogue and how your centre can embed dialogue into its everyday practice. The format is such that there are two residential days at a Centre for Life followed by a two month gap where participants are asked to deliver a dialogue activity at their centre/ organisation. Finally there is a third day back at the Centre for Life to reflect on the activities that they ran, and cover some final aspects of the training.

Over the course of the three days they will be covering:
- What is dialogue and why use it
- A marketplace of dialogue activities
- Facilitation skills
- Considering your audience
- Dialogue topics
- Indicators of dialogue
- Kick starting your dialogue activity
- [2 month break for development and delivery of your dialogue activity]
- Reflecting on your dialogue activity
- Selling dialogue and how dialogue can help in fund-raising
- Embedding dialogue in your centre

As you can see, this is quite comprehensive and covers a large range of topics including general soft skills such as facilitation and fundraising.

The academies are an excellent opportunity for networking and meeting staff from other centres around the country. While the academies are primarily aimed at delivery staff, they also have a good number of managers attending each academy and are very happy for managers to attend also (those who attended the previous academies all found it very useful).

The booking form, plus any additional information is on the dialogue academy website at www.dialogueacademy.org.uk

26th – 30th April 2010
and
6th – 10th September 2010

Participatory Appraisal is highly regarded as a valuable tool for providing structures and processes to enable local people to identify
their own priorities and make their own decisions about the future. There are many applications of PA, including natural resource
management, programmes for the poor, health and food security in both rural and urban situations.

The workshop consists of 5 intensive days of training concentrating on the practical applications of PA and include a placement towards the end of the week to put the skills learned into practice. Previous placements have taken place with the Bilston Wood Community Project and the Woodland Trust Scotland. You can also read about another earlier (and very successful) placement at www.fifedirect.org.uk (search for “Food Access in Dysart”). The September 2009 workshop placement will take place a community setting in South East Edinburgh.

The principal workshop facilitator is Vikki Hilton, an Honorary Fellow of The University of Edinburgh with extensive experience over many years of training, facilitating and mediation. Vikki has travelled widely, using participatory approaches overseas as well as in the UK, with government, non-government and community groups.

The cost of the workshop is £575 (volunteer rate £375 by special application) – held at 2009 rates – which includes all tuition costs,
in-course transportation, documentation, refreshments and a sandwich lunch on four days.

You can find full information on our website at http://www.lifelong.ed.ac.uk/cpd/courses/geosciences where you can download the registration form and course flier and also **BOOK ONLINE**. And if your company or organisation are sponsoring your attendance, you can request an invoice whether you book online or by hard copy registration form.

Please note that places are limited, but we are happy to hold places provisionally for a limited period, pending receipt of your completed registration. Please let us know if you would like us to post you a copy of the registration form

Key speakers confirmed so far include:
Alex Neil MSP Scottish Government Minister for Housing & Communities
Prof. Duncan MacLennan International expert on housing & regeneration (University of St. Andrews)
Prof. Greg Lloyd Professor of Urban Planning, University of Belfast
Jim McFarlane Managing Director of Operations, Scottish Enterprise

This key Scottish regeneration event will look squarely at the challenges ahead; but its concentrated and constructive focus will be on linking people, projects and practice across the SURF network to examine the real opportunities for supporting more sustainable community regeneration in this time of change.

In cooperation with the Public Policy Network of the University of Edinburgh, the first day of the conference will link Scotland’s extensive regeneration oriented academic resources with the practical challenges at hand for practitioners and policy-makers.

The second day will focus on cooperation in policy and practice. Key speakers, debates, presentations and panel sessions will link the policy process to the realities of delivering positive change in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities. In doing so, we will showcase the assets and resources that are at hand to support and sustain regeneration, despite the increasingly difficult economic
climate and related challenges.

You can register online at: www.scotregen.co.uk or alternatively fill in the booking form in the conference flyer: SURF Flyer

• Be a Science Communicator at the EISF
• Charles Darwin Birthday Lecture
• Designers in the Lab Event
• Wellcome Trust Science Media Studentships
• Managing Public Art Projects: A Handbook for Artists
• Popular Science Conference 2010
• NESTA: Age Unlimited Scotland
• Sustainability: Where are we going?
• Bright Ideas Fellowships and Residencies
• Public Art Scotland: Call for Submissions
• ESRC Social Science Festival – debates on Knowledge Transfer
• Bang Goes The Theory – 2010
• Scotland’s Wild Landscapes – New Ways Forward
• Conference: People, Places and Prosperity
• Science for All Report published
• Beacons for Public Engagement Initiative: Online survey of UK higher education staff, and researchers
• Community Engagement in Science – featuring women scientists
• Questioning the Future Series – Scotland’s Low Carbon Future
• Chain Reaction 2009
• Stakeholder Engagement 2010 Online Conference
• The Royal Society – Partnership Grants
• People and Participation.net
• Science Communication Conference
• Epace – Good Citizens Participation Practices Conference Report
• Promising Practices In Online Engagement
• NCCPE Engagement Conference
• Dialogue in a New Decade
• Microgrants for Local Dialogue Activities in Europe
• Create10 :: the conference for innovative interaction design
• Facilitating on the Shop Floor – FREE BIG Event
• New-look website

Date: Monday 8th March
Time: 8.30pm
Speaker: Richard Massey
Location: The filmhouse bar, gallery area

Title: The Dark Side of the Universe & when Light doesn’t Travel in Straight Lines

“Most of the Universe is made of mysterious “dark matter” and “dark energy”. Both ingredients are invisible – which makes life difficult for astronomers – but we are beginning to get the first picture of what they are. They give themselves away by bending light around them, a characteristic effect first predicted by Albert Einstein. In a non-technical talk, an Edinburgh astronomer will describe how Arthur Eddington’s 1919 observations of an African solar eclipse demonstrated this effect and proved the general theory of relativity. He will discuss a return expedition to celebrate the anniversary last year, and how the latest observations from the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing the dark side of the Universe everywhere around us.”

The talk is free and not ticketed but be sure to arrive in good time to get a seat!

Our website will soon be changing. We will be evolving it into a vibrant community website, with more resources and information.

Come along to our launch event on 16 March, 4pm-6pm at InSpace to find out more about the new website and the Edinburgh Beltane project, and network with others interested in public engagement too.

Register to attend.  It would be great to see you there!

To download a day-by-day guide to what’s on at the Edinburgh International Science Festival visit www.sciencefestival.co.uk where you can also buy event tickets. You can also buy tickets:
By Phone:
Our Booking Hotline can be reached on 0131 553 0322, from 16 February – 2 April, (Mon-Sat) 9am-5pm, 3-17 April (daily) 9am-5pm.

From the Box Office:
You can purchase tickets in person at several sales points during the following dates:

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Shop
180 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QS.
17 February – 17 April (Mon-Fri) 10am-5.30pm, (Sat) 11am-5.30pm.

University of Edinburgh Visitor Centre
2 Charles Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD.
16 February – 17 April (Mon-Fri) 9.30am-5.30pm.

City Art Centre
2 Market Street,Edinburgh, EH1 1DE.
April 3-17, (excluding April 11) 9.30am-4.30pm.

Informatics Forum
University of Edinburgh, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB.
3-17 April from 30 mins before the first event of the day.

Adam House
University of Edinburgh, 3 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1HT.
8-17 April, 10.00pm-5.00pm.

At the Venue:
Tickets for an event may also be available at the venue. Please check the event descriptions for details.

For talks, tickets are available at the venue 20 minutes prior to the start of the talk, subject to availability.

Click below for a selection of events run by our partners this year…..

Edinburgh Napier University

• Tomorrows Future Homes: Come and see the types of material technologies and innovations that will shape our future homes

Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

• Choosing Our Tomorrows: This resource explores what life could be like in 2050 through the video diaries of three members of the same Scottish farming family as they experience three very different futures.
• Enlightenment: An arts exhibition by photographer David McIntyre interpreting scientific research being conducted by Scottish Research Institutes forming the Knowledge Scotland partnership.
• Biodiversity Art: Draw a plant or animal and add it to a natural structure to help form a biodiversity food chain!
• Botanics’ Biodiversity Trail: Find amazing examples of biodiversity all around the Garden with a special self-guided trail
• Disease Detectives: There is an amazing biodiversity of pathogens which infect living things. Discover how we can detect them for the purposes of diagnosing and tracking disease outbreaks – and creating vaccines that will protect against different strains of a particular pat

 
Discover Science with the University of Edinburgh and National Museums Scotland

• Discover Biodiversity: This year is International Year of Biodiversity. Let’s celebrate the mind-boggling range of living things on our amazing planet.
• Why are Superbugs ‘Super’?: Explore the science of Superbugs with interactive games
• Build a Monster: The Gene Jury team explain how living things use their genes to grow and survive. You decide whether monsters should uncover all their gene secrets.
• Dr Bunhead’s Natural Disaster Show (Adam House): Explore Nature’s mightiest and strangest science experiments, and what happens when they go wrong. Featuring volcanoes, tornadoes and glow in the dark sausages. Bring your own umbrella!
• Game On – The Science of Sport: Glasgow Science Centre reveal the effects of sport and exercise on the body. Investigate what it takes to be a top athlete in this exciting interactive show.

The University of Edinburgh

• Fever Pitch: Can robots detect emotions the way we do? Could they ever share them with us?
• Hack to the Future: Join the renowned MadLab team for an event which you can shape yourself. For all fans of Make Magazine, this is the event for you.
• The mind is somewhere North of the neck: Sergio Della Sala, takes us through a number of misconceptions about brain mechanisms such the idea that computer games can prevent brain ageing which are taken for granted even by well-read, educated people.
• Vampire juice or the real thing?: Hollywood versus Holyrood in the search for a blood substitute: From V juice in “True Blood” to Ethan Hawke in “Daybreakers”, new Holywood movies dream of a world where vampires co-exist peacefully with people. The trick – making artificial blood. In the real world medicine is also seeking the same thing.
• Your planet needs you!: a kid’s guide to going green: Join Dave Reay to discover why cows have really bad breath, why eating soup in Alaska is so dangerous, and how EVERYONE can be a global warming warrior.
• God, Science and Global Warming: What is the role of science in humanity’s response to the ecological crisis? John Houghton discusses one of the major issues facing us today and what role faith has to play in it.

 National Museums Scotland

• Connect gallery: Visit our hands-on science gallery to meet Dolly the sheep, design a robot, test drive a Formula One racing car, power up a generator, or blast off into outer space – all from the comfort of the museum!
• Treasured: Wonderful Things, Amazing Stories: Celebrate the world class collections destined for the new Royal Museum Project galleries in 2011. From inventions that changed the world, to a Martian meteorite and a Sumatran tiger.
• Science secrets: How can shells tell us about climate change? What clues are hidden in rocks and fossils? How can you send a message using bulbs and buzzers and how does Morse code work? Museum scientists and curators reveal some of the science secrets behind their work

 Royal Observatory Edinburgh

• Big Telescopes for Big Questions: Come along to these family workshops to discover the enormous challenges of the world’s largest ground-based and space telescopes and the big questions astronomers hope they will answer. Enjoy a short talk followed by fun hands-on activities.

 Heriot-Watt University

• Maths, Magic and Money: Does science have a role in financial innovation, or is finance based on smoke and mirrors and the best we can do is appeal to magicians and their crystal balls.

Queen Margaret University

• ER: Emergency, emergency! There’s been an accident! Here’s your chance to scrub up and same some lives at the all new ER surgery.