Large Event Space | drop-in activities | open all day
Supercomputing underpins many of the most significant advances made in today’s world. Find out what a supercomputer is, see what one looks like by going on a virtual tour, learn how supercomputers enable science, and discover how they achieve such incredible levels of performance.
About Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC)
Established in 1990 at the University of Edinburgh, EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre) is a world-class provider of supercomputing, data and AI services and infrastructure to the University, the UK and across the world.
Windows are important architectural feature of historic buildings, such as the Edinburgh Future Institute, which is a Category A-listed building. Yet old windows are a significant source of heat loss in winters, making them a significant vulnerability in energy conservation. At the same time, historic buildings have special restrictions on what modifications can be made to protect their heritage characteristics.
Come learn about how you can improve the energy efficiency of your windows whilst conserving their architectural heritage and pick up a printed copy of the newly published Retrofitting Historic Sash & Case Windows: A Quick Start Guide for Homeowners. Based on actual retrofit experiences, this guide clarifies the process involved and includes a series of checklists to help homeowners consider the heritage conservation, energy efficiency, and usability aspects of window retrofits.
This guide originated from a collaborative project between the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) and Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH) to understand how the issues concerning the two conservations – that of heritage and energy – influence homeowners’ perceptions and retrofit decisions. The aim is to raise best practice awareness of improving energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction whilst conserving heritage in historic properties.
The project was funded by a CAHSS KEI grant. The digital guide (complete with clickable hyperlinks and checklists) is available via this permanent link: Retrofitting Historic Sash and Case Windows – A Quick Start Guide.
About Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA)
Dr W. Victoria Lee is a Lecturer in Architecture and Environment in the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), University of Edinburgh.
The University of Edinburgh is for everyone. Wondering what the University can offer you? Come and chat to the University’s Community Team!
University services already available to local residents include: the Free Legal Advice Centre; veterinary care via free and paid clinics; access to museums, galleries, public events, cafes, gyms and nursery; and short courses. The University also works with community partners via research, student placements, the community access to rooms scheme, community grants, community councils, school visits, and more.
Do you have an ask for something the University should start or stop doing? We’re currently updating our Community Plan, which governs how we work with local residents, so now is the perfect time to come and chat!
The Community Team is a small group of University staff who work to deliver positive change with local communities. Staff are based in the Departments of Communications and Marketing and Social Responsibility and Sustainability, but have relationships with staff and students across the University of Edinburgh.
The Community Plan sets out the practical ways in which the University commits to supporting local communities in Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife and Scottish Borders.
About the Community Team
The University’s Community Team is a central point of contact for community engagement at the University. The Team is behind the Edinburgh Local landing pages of the University of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Local | Edinburgh Local
Our Community Plan | Edinburgh Local
An innovation network helping organisations tackle challenges for industry and society by doing data right to support Edinburgh in its ambition to become the data capital of Europe. The Data-Driven Innovation initiative has helped establish six hubs at the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University – creating a regional powerhouse for collaboration with industry partners. The hubs house expertise and facilities to help 10 industrial sectors become more innovative through data. Data-Driven Innovation is a major part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. The total value of the DDI initiative is £660m, accounting for a major part of the £1.5bn City Region Deal. Via the Deal, the UK and Scottish governments invested £270m of capital funding in DDI.
East corridor | exhibition | open all day
Photographer Gintare Kulyte has worked with local residents and former members of staff to produce this series of photographic portraits, taken within the spaces of the former hospital. Presented alongside poems and prose written by the group, the series reflects on the mark that the hospital has left in the minds, bodies and life stories of the people of Edinburgh and beyond.
Kulyte’s portrait series is an outcome of a wider interdisciplinary community arts project of the same name which aims to honour memories of the former hospital building on Lauriston Place, now the new home of Edinburgh Futures Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh.
The personal connections, stories and memories documented by the series are diverse – from those who trained and worked as medical staff, to those who drew first breath in the city’s maternity hospital, to those descended from individuals impacted by the hospital’s activities in the 19th century.
Reflecting the scale of the former hospital site and its connections to the wider city, the locations chosen for the portraits are symbolic and extend beyond the walls of the building into the wider Quartermile area and the Old Town.
As the building looks to the future, these marks of the past should not be forgotten.
About Gintare Kulyte
Gintarė Kulytė is an emerging visual artist from Vilnius, Lithuania. Having gained much of her inspiration from documentary photography and film, in her creative practice she is now particularly interested in exploring the boundaries between documentary and fiction. Gintarė also holds a Sociology and Psychology degree from the University of Edinburgh and is currently pursuing her Masters in Psychological Research here. This photography series was produced as part of her internship at Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Culture and Communities team. This is her first solo exhibition.
East corridor | exhibition | open all day
Edinburgh Futures Insitute offers an exciting range of degree programmes and courses for students from all over the globe. This exhibition showcases prototypes created by groups of students on the ‘Building Near Futures’ course in 2023.
The course aimed to develop students’ agency and critical competencies in envisioning, articulating, and questioning ideas about the future. By introducing ‘futuring’ frameworks, methods, and tools, it equipped students to investigate future scenarios, challenges, and controversies with and for society. In teams, students created fragments of near future worlds which you are invited to explore here.
About The New Real
We may think we’re already living with/in intelligent environments but the students of the Building Near Futures course at EFI have posed extraordinary concepts to what these future intelligent environments will look like. Addressing particular world challenges students are presenting a digital exploration of future human-machine cohabitation. Come along to the Building Near Future’s exhibition in to be inspired by these insights of near future scenarios. The Building Near Futures Course is supported by the research of The New Real.
Room NW 1.55 | drop-in activity | open all day | talks at 10am, 12pm and 2pm (15 mins)
What does it take to transform an old Victorian hospital into a space for innovative and radical thinking about the future? Drop-in and meet the architects responsible for breathing new life into this much-loved Edinburgh landmark. See fascinating images which chart the development of the project to save the building and discover the architect’s working process and initial concepts which underpin the design.
Talks at 10am, 12pm and 2pm (15 mins)
About Bennetts Associates
Bennetts Associates was formed in 1987 by Rab and Denise Bennetts. We are an employee-owned trust of around 90 people and since 2022, a certified B Corp® with offices in London, Edinburgh and Manchester.
We believe that timeless, humane and beautifully crafted architecture expresses the indivisibility of space, fabric, structure and services. We believe that the best buildings reveal their beauty and utility over time. We address with conviction urban place-making, genuine functionality and believe that truly long-lasting architecture is underpinned by our pioneering expertise in sustainability.
Our portfolio of projects is deliberately diverse across a wide range of sectors, scales and complexities in both the public and private sector. The variety and potential of cross-fertilisation of ideas between typologies generates a creative stimulus that we enjoy. Whilst being generalists, we have acknowledged specialist expertise in a number of areas such as workplace, arts/culture, education, masterplanning and sustainability.
Room E 1.70 | tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (30 mins)
Join our specialist staff for a tour of the Makerspace – a dedicated digital making studio equipped with the latest technology and machinery which allows students and staff to transform their ideas into physical objects and develop actionable skills along the way. Go on a tour to hear about the space, how it works, and what gets made.
Tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (30 mins)
About the Makerspace
The EFI Makerspace at the Edinburgh Futures Institute is a dynamic, collaborative environment designed to foster innovation, creativity, and hands-on experimentation. Equipped with state-of-the-art tools for digital fabrication, electronics, and hands-on prototyping, the space empowers users to turn ideas into tangible projects.
Open to EFI students and researchers, the Makerspace encourages interdisciplinary collaboration, bridging the gap between technology, design, and social innovation. It serves as a hub for learning, prototyping, and experimenting with new materials and methods, allowing users to explore emerging technologies and creative practice.
Peter Bentley is part of the Information, Technical and Technology Services (ITTS) team at the University of Edinburgh, working as a specialist technician at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. He manages the day-to-day goings on in the EFI Makerspace, assisting the iteration and development of physicalised work and research projects throughout EFI.
With a background in interaction design Peter has worked in various roles across the education, construction and creative sectors across the UK. This wide-ranging experience has nurtured his development in interdisciplinary making, from darning socks to manufacturing AI-generated 3D prints. His interests are focused on the creation of truly interdisciplinary work and the function of prototyping artefact as communicative practice.
Room T 2.04 | talks & creative activity at 10.30am, 11.15am and 12pm
See the beautiful Edinburgh Seven tapestry – an innovative artwork created by Scottish artist Christine Borland and master weavers from Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh. Members of the Dovecot Studio team will be giving short talks about this innovative tapestry and the technical processes developed to produce it, followed by a creative weaving activity suitable for all.
Talks & creative activity at 10.30am, 11.15am and 12pm
About Dovecot Studios
Dovecot is a world-renowned tapestry studio in the heart of Edinburgh and a landmark centre for exhibitions on contemporary art, craft and design. Established in 1912, Dovecot continues a century-long heritage of collaboration with international artists to make exceptional handwoven tapestries and gun-tufted rugs. Visit the Studios Monday to Saturday.
Room F 2.20 | drop-in activity | open all day
Join staff from Lothian Health Services Archive for a delve into the past and explore life as a patient or member of staff at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Pop into this former ‘Nightingale ward’ to hear first-hand accounts from people who worked at the Infirmary and view a special display of fascinating items drawn from the hospital’s archives including plans, photographs, letters and even recipes!
Lothian Health Services Archive holds the historically important local (Edinburgh and the Lothians) records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material. The archive collects, preserves and catalogues these records and promotes them to increase understanding of the history of health and for the benefit of all. For more information contact lhsa@ed.ac.uk and visit our website.
About Lothian Health Services Archive
Lothian Health Services Archive holds the historically important local (Edinburgh and the Lothians) records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material. The archive collects, preserves and catalogues these records and promotes them to increase understanding of the history of health and for the benefit of all. For more information contact lhsa@ed.ac.uk and visit our website.
Room NE 2.35 | drop-in film screening | open all day
This film explores the history and connections between the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s new building and its former life as the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Both the Institute and Infirmary were designed to provide solutions to urgent problems facing the city. Both were designed to be open to everyone but while the building itself was designed to isolate one kind of contagion, its restoration as the home of EFI is meant to promote another, a contagion of ideas to help us live with the future. But how do you see the future or, for that matter, the past?
Drop-in and see this evocative short film about the regeneration of the Old Royal Infirmary into the new home of the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Please note this is an informal film screening and visitors are welcome to pop in and watch the whole film or just a few minutes at a time. The film is just over 34 minutes in length and is most suitable for visitors 12+ (does not contain any content likely to offend or unsuitable for children). With audio soundtrack and subtitles.
About
Closes and Opens: a history of Edinburgh’s Futures is a film by Sapphire Goss produced, written and narrated by Liz McFall and the Are We Data (AWED) collective for the Edinburgh Futures Institute. It will be followed up in 2025 with the release of a sequel Opens and Closes: the future of Edinburgh’s Histories.
Room 2.52 | conversations every 30 mins between 1pm – 3.30pm
Join us for a cuppa and take part in an exciting, interactive experience, where we use conversation to explore human connection. This is a safe, fun space for you to have insightful conversations – with people you already know or with strangers. The session lasts for an hour and features 10-minute one to one conversations with other participants, using our conversation cards to guide you. We’ll end the session by sharing insights and gathering feedback for our installation.
About The Conversation Project
Eileen Inglis is a Business Advisor at the University of Edinburgh Student Enterprise Hub with a background in social enterprise and the community sector. Eileen is interested in entrepreneurship, creativity, health & wellbeing and community and founded The Conversation Project in 2022 as a response to the social isolation caused by the Covid pandemic. Through wellbeing events and collaboration with community groups and individuals, she has been supporting people to re-connect and flourish through conversations that matter.
Clocktower lobby | drop-in activity | open all day | talks at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (15 mins)
Meet the creative team behind the Spirit Case – a beautiful artwork produced as a result of a collaborative community-based arts project to celebrate the history of the Old Royal. Hear how the team worked with former members of Infirmary staff and local residents to honour and celebrate the past life of this remarkable building and the ways in which it has served generations of Edinburgh residents. Join us for a short talk by a member of the team describing their role in the project and drop-in any time throughout the weekend to try our letter art activity suitable for all ages.
Talks at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (15 mins)
About the Recycling a Hospital Creative team
Jennifer Williams – Creative Projects Manager at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and a poet.
I help the Edinburgh Futures Institute by managing a portfolio of creative projects that connect our work to the wider communities within the University of Edinburgh and beyond its walls, including student exhibitions, Utopia Lab and beautiful endeavours like Recycling a Hospital.
Dr Jimmy Turner – Research Fellow at the Binks Hub and a woodworking artist.
I am an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in Anthropology and Gender Studies, working as a Research Fellow for the Binks Hub at the University of Edinburgh. In recent years my focus has been drawn to use of artistic and creative methods and practices, leading me to explore ways to bring my own artistic practices in woodworking into conversation with my professional activities.
Gus Fisher – an artist and craftsman specialising in letter design, stone carving and metal work.
In his artistic practice, he combines his passion for lettering with experience of learning from UK master practitioners and traveling in Italy and Turkey, creating cutting edge designs. To date, Gus has worked on numerous works of public art, as well as Indvidual and public memorials, including the British Normandy Memorial. Gus is also a member of Scottish Lettercutters Association, an organisation that supports and promotes the traditional art of letter-carving. Read more about Gus and his unique approach to his artistic practice on the Scottish Gallery website, as well as his personal website Eye Cut Stone.
Gintare Kulyte – Creative Projects Intern at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and a photographer.
I am a final year student of Sociology and Psychology here at the University of Edinburgh. In my role of Creative Projects Intern I support the delivery of the creative projects at EFI. I am also a photography enthusiast and will contribute to this project by documenting it in pictures.
Room 3.35 | drop-in activity | open all day
Pop into our PlayZone area and enjoy a chill out with the beautiful view over Edinburgh and some fun games and creative activities. Challenge your friends and family to a futures-inspired building challenge, design an invention for the future or just relax with a comfy seat and some colouring.
Large Event Space | drop-in activities | open all day
Supercomputing underpins many of the most significant advances made in today’s world. Find out what a supercomputer is, see what one looks like by going on a virtual tour, learn how supercomputers enable science, and discover how they achieve such incredible levels of performance.
About Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC)
Established in 1990 at the University of Edinburgh, EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre) is a world-class provider of supercomputing, data and AI services and infrastructure to the University, the UK and across the world.
For the past five years, Data Education in Schools (DES) has been working with teachers and learners across the Edinburgh city region, and beyond, to support the development of data skills for both educators and young people through a range of activities and initiatives. More recently our work has extended into AI literacy as well. Come and find out more about what we do, the learning and teaching resources we have designed, and the activities we support.
The ethos of the DES programme (and related projects) is to uphold children’s right to be consulted about issues which impact them in the digital realm. We believe that to meaningfully participate in such discussions, children also have a right to education about emerging technologies, which is why we focus on developing data literacy and AI literacy in schools. We develop educational resources and support teachers with professional learning on these topics.
About the Centre for Research in Digital Education/Data Education in Schools Programme
The Centre for Research in Digital Education is based in the Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh, and conducts research, knowledge exchange and consultancy in key areas including digital education pedagogy and policy, open education, children and technology, learning analytics and museum learning. Data Education in Schools (DES) is a research area within the centre. It takes a socially responsible and consultative partnership approach with children and teachers to understand their concerns and hopes about how new technologies will impact their lives. We investigate how critical concerns about technology in education are considered by school-aged learners and their educators.
Windows are important architectural feature of historic buildings, such as the Edinburgh Future Institute, which is a Category A-listed building. Yet old windows are a significant source of heat loss in winters, making them a significant vulnerability in energy conservation. At the same time, historic buildings have special restrictions on what modifications can be made to protect their heritage characteristics.
Come learn about how you can improve the energy efficiency of your windows whilst conserving their architectural heritage and pick up a printed copy of the newly published Retrofitting Historic Sash & Case Windows: A Quick Start Guide for Homeowners. Based on actual retrofit experiences, this guide clarifies the process involved and includes a series of checklists to help homeowners consider the heritage conservation, energy efficiency, and usability aspects of window retrofits.
This guide originated from a collaborative project between the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA) and Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH) to understand how the issues concerning the two conservations – that of heritage and energy – influence homeowners’ perceptions and retrofit decisions. The aim is to raise best practice awareness of improving energy efficiency and occupant satisfaction whilst conserving heritage in historic properties.
The project was funded by a CAHSS KEI grant. The digital guide (complete with clickable hyperlinks and checklists) is available via this permanent link: Retrofitting Historic Sash and Case Windows – A Quick Start Guide.
About Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA)
Dr W. Victoria Lee is a Lecturer in Architecture and Environment in the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), University of Edinburgh.
The University of Edinburgh is for everyone. Wondering what the University can offer you? Come and chat to the University’s Community Team!
University services already available to local residents include: the Free Legal Advice Centre; veterinary care via free and paid clinics; access to museums, galleries, public events, cafes, gyms and nursery; and short courses. The University also works with community partners via research, student placements, the community access to rooms scheme, community grants, community councils, school visits, and more.
Do you have an ask for something the University should start or stop doing? We’re currently updating our Community Plan, which governs how we work with local residents, so now is the perfect time to come and chat!
The Community Team is a small group of University staff who work to deliver positive change with local communities. Staff are based in the Departments of Communications and Marketing and Social Responsibility and Sustainability, but have relationships with staff and students across the University of Edinburgh.
The Community Plan sets out the practical ways in which the University commits to supporting local communities in Edinburgh, Lothians, Fife and Scottish Borders.
About the Community Team
The University’s Community Team is a central point of contact for community engagement at the University. The Team is behind the Edinburgh Local landing pages of the University of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Local | Edinburgh Local
Our Community Plan | Edinburgh Local
An innovation network helping organisations tackle challenges for industry and society by doing data right to support Edinburgh in its ambition to become the data capital of Europe. The Data-Driven Innovation initiative has helped establish six hubs at the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University – creating a regional powerhouse for collaboration with industry partners. The hubs house expertise and facilities to help 10 industrial sectors become more innovative through data. Data-Driven Innovation is a major part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. The total value of the DDI initiative is £660m, accounting for a major part of the £1.5bn City Region Deal. Via the Deal, the UK and Scottish governments invested £270m of capital funding in DDI.
East corridor | exhibition | open all day | artist’s talk at 11.30am
Photographer Gintare Kulyte has worked with local residents and former members of staff to produce this series of photographic portraits, taken within the spaces of the former hospital. Presented alongside poems and prose written by the group, the series reflects on the mark that the hospital has left in the minds, bodies and life stories of the people of Edinburgh and beyond.
Kulyte’s portrait series is an outcome of a wider interdisciplinary community arts project of the same name which aims to honour memories of the former hospital building on Lauriston Place, now the new home of Edinburgh Futures Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh.
The personal connections, stories and memories documented by the series are diverse – from those who trained and worked as medical staff, to those who drew first breath in the city’s maternity hospital, to those descended from individuals impacted by the hospital’s activities in the 19th century.
Reflecting the scale of the former hospital site and its connections to the wider city, the locations chosen for the portraits are symbolic and extend beyond the walls of the building into the wider Quartermile area and the Old Town.
As the building looks to the future, these marks of the past should not be forgotten.
Artist’s talk 11:30am
About Gintare Kulyte
Gintarė Kulytė is an emerging visual artist from Vilnius, Lithuania. Having gained much of her inspiration from documentary photography and film, in her creative practice she is now particularly interested in exploring the boundaries between documentary and fiction. Gintarė also holds a Sociology and Psychology degree from the University of Edinburgh and is currently pursuing her Masters in Psychological Research here. This photography series was produced as part of her internship at Edinburgh Futures Institute’s Culture and Communities team. This is her first solo exhibition.
East corridor | exhibition | open all day
Edinburgh Futures Insitute offers an exciting range of degree programmes and courses for students from all over the globe. This exhibition showcases prototypes created by groups of students on the ‘Building Near Futures’ course in 2023.
The course aimed to develop students’ agency and critical competencies in envisioning, articulating, and questioning ideas about the future. By introducing ‘futuring’ frameworks, methods, and tools, it equipped students to investigate future scenarios, challenges, and controversies with and for society. In teams, students created fragments of near future worlds which you are invited to explore here.
About The New Real
We may think we’re already living with/in intelligent environments but the students of the Building Near Futures course at EFI have posed extraordinary concepts to what these future intelligent environments will look like. Addressing particular world challenges students are presenting a digital exploration of future human-machine cohabitation. Come along to the Building Near Future’s exhibition in to be inspired by these insights of near future scenarios. The Building Near Futures Course is supported by the research of The New Real.
Room NW 1.55 | live show | shows at 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm
Unbelievably Talented is a talent show with a twist: some of the contestants aren’t as genuinely talented as they claim, they’re getting some help from AI apps. The show has been devised and developed as part of a BRAID/AHRC-funded project ‘Towards embedding responsible AI in the school system: co-creation with young people’ and will run throughout the autumn term with school-aged learners. In this mini-taster session, we will give a short talk explaining the project and how young people participate, we will also give you an opportunity to experience the show yourself and hopefully unmask the AI tools that our Artificial All-Stars are using in an attempt to outshine their human competition. Suitable for children aged 10+ and no technical knowledge required!
Shows at 12pm, 1.30pm and 3pm (30mins)
Towards embedding responsible AI in the school system: co-creation with young people
The BRAID/AHRC-funded project ‘Towards embedding responsible AI in the school system: co-creation with young people’ is led by a multi-disciplinary research team exploring the current and potential future landscape of Generative AI in the school system and young people’s perspectives on these emerging technologies. It uses imaginative and speculative methods for engaging young people with discussions and ideas around responsible uses of Generative AI in Education, now and in the future.
Room NE 2.35 | drop-in film screening | open all day
This film explores the history and connections between the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s new building and its former life as the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Both the Institute and Infirmary were designed to provide solutions to urgent problems facing the city. Both were designed to be open to everyone but while the building itself was designed to isolate one kind of contagion, its restoration as the home of EFI is meant to promote another, a contagion of ideas to help us live with the future. But how do you see the future or, for that matter, the past?
Drop-in and see this evocative short film about the regeneration of the Old Royal Infirmary into the new home of the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Please note this is an informal film screening and visitors are welcome to pop in and watch the whole film or just a few minutes at a time. The film is just over 34 minutes in length and is most suitable for visitors 12+ (does not contain any content likely to offend or unsuitable for children). With audio soundtrack and subtitles.
About
Closes and Opens: a history of Edinburgh’s Futures is a film by Sapphire Goss produced, written and narrated by Liz McFall and the Are We Data (AWED) collective for the Edinburgh Futures Institute. It will be followed up in 2025 with the release of a sequel Opens and Closes: the future of Edinburgh’s Histories.
Room 2.52 | conversations every 30 mins between 1pm – 3.30pm
Join us for a cuppa and take part in an exciting, interactive experience, where we use conversation to explore human connection. This is a safe, fun space for you to have insightful conversations – with people you already know or with strangers. The session lasts for an hour and features 10-minute one to one conversations with other participants, using our conversation cards to guide you. We’ll end the session by sharing insights and gathering feedback for our installation.
About The Conversation Project
Eileen Inglis is a Business Advisor at the University of Edinburgh Student Enterprise Hub with a background in social enterprise and the community sector. Eileen is interested in entrepreneurship, creativity, health & wellbeing and community and founded The Conversation Project in 2022 as a response to the social isolation caused by the Covid pandemic. Through wellbeing events and collaboration with community groups and individuals, she has been supporting people to re-connect and flourish through conversations that matter.
Clocktower lobby | drop-in activity | open all day | talks at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (15 mins)
Meet the creative team behind the Spirit Case – a beautiful artwork produced as a result of a collaborative community-based arts project to celebrate the history of the Old Royal. Hear how the team worked with former members of Infirmary staff and local residents to honour and celebrate the past life of this remarkable building and the ways in which it has served generations of Edinburgh residents. Join us for a short talk by a member of the team describing their role in the project and drop-in any time throughout the weekend to try our letter art activity suitable for all ages.
Talks at 11am, 1pm and 3pm (15 mins)
About the Recycling a Hospital Creative team
Jennifer Williams – Creative Projects Manager at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and a poet.
I help the Edinburgh Futures Institute by managing a portfolio of creative projects that connect our work to the wider communities within the University of Edinburgh and beyond its walls, including student exhibitions, Utopia Lab and beautiful endeavours like Recycling a Hospital.
Dr Jimmy Turner – Research Fellow at the Binks Hub and a woodworking artist.
I am an interdisciplinary researcher with a background in Anthropology and Gender Studies, working as a Research Fellow for the Binks Hub at the University of Edinburgh. In recent years my focus has been drawn to use of artistic and creative methods and practices, leading me to explore ways to bring my own artistic practices in woodworking into conversation with my professional activities.
Gus Fisher – an artist and craftsman specialising in letter design, stone carving and metal work.
In his artistic practice, he combines his passion for lettering with experience of learning from UK master practitioners and traveling in Italy and Turkey, creating cutting edge designs. To date, Gus has worked on numerous works of public art, as well as Indvidual and public memorials, including the British Normandy Memorial. Gus is also a member of Scottish Lettercutters Association, an organisation that supports and promotes the traditional art of letter-carving. Read more about Gus and his unique approach to his artistic practice on the Scottish Gallery website, as well as his personal website Eye Cut Stone.
Gintare Kulyte – Creative Projects Intern at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and a photographer.
I am a final year student of Sociology and Psychology here at the University of Edinburgh. In my role of Creative Projects Intern I support the delivery of the creative projects at EFI. I am also a photography enthusiast and will contribute to this project by documenting it in pictures.
Room 3.35 | drop-in activity | open all day
Pop into our PlayZone area and enjoy a chill out with the beautiful view over Edinburgh and some fun games and creative activities. Challenge your friends and family to a futures-inspired building challenge, design an invention for the future or just relax with a comfy seat and some colouring.
