UK events in April 2022

Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast Walking Tour – Belfast, 01 April (other dates are available)

Experience Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast walking tour, as you walk in the footsteps of this remarkable abolitionist, philanthropist, and social reformer.

This walking tour takes in the locations linked to her life, her endeavours and that of her family. You will be led by an experienced guide through the same streets she walked over two hundred years before. This new walking tour starts at Clifton House, where Mary Ann’s thirst for philanthropic causes first began, and where her impact can still be seen today, and finishes near Belfast City Hall.

Public Lecture: Tracing the rise and fall of dinosaurs – Cardiff, 05 April

Professor Stephen Brusatte (from the University of Edinburgh) is a vertebrate palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist who specialises in the anatomy, genealogy, and evolution of dinosaurs and other fossil organisms. He has written over 110 scientific papers, published six books (including the adult pop science book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, the textbook Dinosaur Paleobiology, and the coffee table book Dinosaurs), and has described over 15 new species of fossil animals. He has done fieldwork in Brazil, Britain, China, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the United States.

You can attend this public lecture online or in person.

Ireland, Museums, Empire, Colonialism: Collections, Archives, Buildings and Landscapes – Belfast, 08-09 April

This inter-disciplinary conference (IMEC) interrogates the complexities of Ireland’s relationship with the British Empire, and of Irish involvement in colonialism. It will connect researchers and practitioners interested in objects, archives, buildings, and landscapes in both public and private spaces and throughout the island of Ireland; and will inform current debates surrounding collections from formerly colonised regions.

This event will take place at Ulster Museum and Queen’s University Belfast. Also, you can attend this event online.

Edinburgh Science Festival, 09-24 April

The theme for the Edinburgh Science Festival 2022 is Revolutions. This year’s Festival acts as a heartfelt call for a shift in the attitudes and behaviours of individuals, organisations, and nations to combat the climate crisis and protect the delicately interconnected lifecycles of our planet.

The programme for the festival offers a diverse range of events in-person and online.

Climate change: science, responses and research needs – London, 11-12 April

The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivers the starkest warning yet on the risks of climate change.

Join the Royal Society as they reflect on the implications of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report for the UK and urgent policy and research needs. They will bring together leading scientists, policymakers, and industry representatives to discuss the findings and implications of the latest IPCC AR6 reports.

You can attend this event in person or online.

Durham World Heritage Site, Durham – 18 April

The World Heritage Open day will be an opportunity to see the hidden history of Durham’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. With activities running in Durham Cathedral, Palace Green Library and Durham Castle – including a ‘Living Library’ where visitors can meet and talk to the significant historical personalities of the World Heritage Site, arts and crafts, drama performances, and live music from the best local bands.

Chepstow Walking Festival 2022, 20-24 April

Marking ten years since Chepstow was first awarded Walkers are Welcome status – the Chepstow Walking Festival offers walks of all shapes and sizes, events, and a chance to see Chepstow and the Lower Wye Valley at its Spring finest. Please get your walking shoes ready – and let`s walk.

St George’s Day Celebration – London, 23 April

St George’s Day on Trafalgar Square (London) will be a flurry of everything brilliant about England and being English, all set in the iconic heart of the nation’s capital – with great music, food, markets, performers, and activities.

Webinar: Cancer immunotherapy: significant breakthrough or unrealised potential? – 28 April

In this webinar, Prof Awen Gallimore (from the Cardiff University) will give an overview of Cardiff immunotherapy research, sharing fundamental discoveries in the lab taken through to plans for early phase trials in patients – and Lorenzo Capitani (a PhD student at the School of Medicine at Cardiff University) who is investigating ways of taking the brakes off the immune system, in order to help T cells fight cancer more effectively.

Beltane Fire Festival – Edinburgh, 30 April

The modern Beltane Fire Festival is inspired by the ancient Gaelic festival of Beltane which began on the evening before 01^st May and marked the beginning of summer. The festival is a living, dynamic reinterpretation and modernisation of an ancient Iron Age Celtic ritual and is the largest of its kind.

The festival takes place on Calton Hill, Edinburgh – it is a dramatic procession with dancing and performances, food, drink, and a giant bonfire (a night of joy and revelry).

Online Exhibition: 100 Years of Insulin: The Aberdeen Story

23^rd January 2022 marked the centenary of the first successful treatment of a diabetic patient with insulin. Whilst this treatment took place in Toronto, Canada – in Aberdeen, they are celebrating the remarkable role of two Aberdonians in this major scientific breakthrough and its life-saving use. 

An online presentation which highlights a selection of objects from the Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums collection and guest curator, retired consultant Dr Ken McHardy, formerly of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, presents an illustrated talk on the discovery of insulin. 

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, Bristol – 09 April to 04 September

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is a 360º digital art exhibition in Bristol that invites you to step into the universe of the Dutch genius, Vincent van Gogh.

The exhibit invites visitors to step into more than 300 of Van Gogh’s sketches, drawings, and paintings by using floor-to-ceiling digital projections, made possible by state-of-the-art video mapping technology. A drawing studio and additional galleries that explore the life, works and techniques of Van Gogh, create a truly immersive experience that provides its audience with a new, intimate understanding of the post-impressionist genius and his work.