Join Icon Scotland for our 24th annual lecture in memory of Dundonian Dr Harold Plenderleith (1898 – 1996) who is considered one of the key founders of modern conservation.
This year, our invited speaker is Sir Geoff Palmer OBE, recently named Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University. A renowned scientist, human rights activist, Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, and the first black professor in Scotland, Sir Geoff regularly writes and speaks about Scotland’s role in slavery and colonialism. He currently chairs the Scottish Government as part of Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums: Addressing Our Colonial Legacy Steering Group, co-ordinated by Museums Galleries Scotland. The project aims to explore how the history of Scotland’s involvement in the British Empire, colonialism, and transatlantic slavery can be told by Scotland’s museums. He also chairs City of Edinburgh Council’s advisory panel on Edinburgh’s Slavery and Colonial Legacy.
Sir Geoff will share his perspective on the steps the heritage sector is taking to come to terms with and address racism and invisible histories, and what he sees as the challenges we must face to ensure more equal and representative material heritage in the future.
