The 2018 Festival of Social Sciences in Aberdeen will begin with a special event to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Events in the region are coordinated by the University of Aberdeen as part of the ESRC’s UK-wide festival which aims to help the public learn how the social sciences affect our everyday lives.
Sessions in the North-east will cover a broad range of topics from the First World War to growing up in Aberdeen in the 1960s and 1970s to changing behaviour to address cyber security and the ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The free festival in Aberdeen will get underway on Friday, November 2 with The Great War Remembered. The free event will guide the audience through the outbreak of the war and some of the major battles that occurred as both sides tried to end the deadlock of trench warfare and will feature readings, poems, photographs, film and music.
To help convey the all-pervasive nature of the war, Great War Centenary Remembered will draw upon personal accounts and memories. John Bett, known for his roles in the films Tess and Gregory’s Girl, A Very English Scandal and the Golden Compass, soloist Fiona Kennedy and staff and students from the University, will take on the thoughts and words of real soldiers, doctors, nurses and others who witnessed events to present their testimony and allow the voices to be heard.
For more information and to book, please visit: www.abdn.ac.uk/foss or to book The Great War Centenary Remembered, please visit www.abdn.ac.uk/events/13696/