By Sarah Skerratt
THE definition of “inspire” is to fill someone with an urge or ability which allows them to do or feel something especially creative. Inspiring people help us to seek out more, to explore the truth and to come to our own conclusions about the world around us. We meet inspirational people every day, but they’re not always astrophysicists or molecular biologists. However, in our Fellowship we do have some of them too.
In today’s world when “fake news” causes division, and misinformation spreads, it is vitally important we all ask questions, seek deeper explanations and challenge what we are being told. With access to social media, a 24-hour news cycle and digital platforms full of opinions disguised as facts, we are increasingly navigating a different world from that of previous generations. Instead of catastrophising this, we must harness the energy of those who inspire us.
As an organisation of more than 1,800 of Scotland’s greatest thinkers, The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has great privilege in its access to inspirational people. Yet, we also have responsibility to ensure we share this knowledge with communities. We must ensure that knowledge is accessible to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they know already and what they want to learn.
Reaching young people is one way of doing this. Earlier this year we hosted the Shetland Space Series, a programme of talks in local primary schools with people like Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal. With Shetland and the Island of Unst becoming a hub for the UK’s space activity, the talks gave Shetland’s school children an opportunity to learn more about space and engage with some of the country’s top astronomy and science experts. Space is likely to become a key part of the island’s economy over the coming years, and introducing children to the people currently leading the way lit a fire in many of them to discover a life working in the space industry.
This month also sees the return of our annual summer events programme, Curious. Taking place online and in person, there will be discussions led by experts in specific fields, from mind travelling to mental health and microsatellites to multilingualism. Those who attend these free events will be encouraged to ask questions, challenge perceptions and start conversations.
The RSE is a national academy full of experts, but we are driven by our desire to make knowledge useful; and it is not a one-way street. Inspiring through sharing research and knowledge is key, but so is listening and collaborating with those from all backgrounds and viewpoints across society to build a better, more inspiring and world.
Curious is taking place from August 1-14, details of events and tickets can be found on the RSE’s dedicated Curious website at https://www.rse-curious.com/
Sarah Skerratt is Chief Executive (Designate) at the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here