Our Winter Season – October 2024 to March 2025
Since its founding, back in 1867, PSNS has played an important role in the cultural life of Perth and Perthshire. From its roots as a Victorian natural history society – PSNS has evolved into three interest groups (we call them “sections”) covering Natural History, Cultural History and Photography. All three groups offer a range of activities, including talks, on Wednesday evenings over the Winter season. On Friday evenings, the Society comes together for the “Curious Minds” lecture series that is broadly focussed around the theme of “Contemporary Science in Scotland”.
But PSNS, and its sections, is more than a talking shop. Perthshire Photographic Society offers coaching and mentoring to help members master their cameras and the associated ever-more-complicated processing software. The Nature section is active in recording. They organise outings to specific locations where they count species and contribute the data to national databases. Members of the Archaeology and History Section (commonly called A&H) have recently been heavily involved in creating a Historical Map of Perth. The map was published in June 2024 and continues to sell strongly.
Curious Minds is our flagship lecture series. PSNS runs it in collaboration with Culture Perth and Kinross. Over the years we have enjoyed talks ranging from the “Physics of Black Holes” and “What is Consciousness?” through “Dinosaurs on Skye” to the construction of “Mud Houses in Errol” and everything in between. Don’t be intimidated. Our speakers know that they are talking to a very mixed audience. We tell them “don’t dumb it down” but, also, go light on the math! This year, amongst our normal eclectic mixture, we are featuring a mini-series of three talks around “The Contents of your Grey Recycling Bin”. You can find full details of all the talks on our Curious Minds page.
To give a flavour of the upcoming season – here’s a list of all the Curious Minds and Section talks. Please note that the Curious Minds talks are open to the general public. Tickets are bookable through Perthshire Box Office. Section talks (Photography, Nature and A&H) are for PSNS members only. In addition to the talks listed below, the Photographic Society runs 16 evenings of workshops, competitions and member talks over the course of the season.
| N | 2nd Oct | Ian Baird | The work of the Woodland Trust |
| C | 4th Oct | Prof David Price, Edinburgh Uni | How we build our brains |
| A | 9th Oct | Michael Given | Archaeology and the Glencoe landscape |
| P | 16th Oct | Dougie Cunningham | Scottish landscape photography |
| C | 18th Oct | Dr Brendan Gabriel, Aberdeen Uni | Circadian rhythms and diabetes |
| P | 23rd Oct | Espen Helland | Photographing black grouse leks |
| P | 30th Oct | Peter Wilkinson | Photographing wildlife – on our doorstep |
| N | 30th Oct | Chris de Feu | All About Slugs |
| C | 1st Nov | Prof Alessio Ciulli | Targeted protein degradation |
| A | 6th Nov | Bruce Keith | Scotland beneath the surface |
| N | 13th Nov | Anthony Wetherill, BTO | Tracking goosanders in Scotland |
| C | 15th Nov | Dr Kevin Ross, Impact Solutions | Plastics recycling – the unintended consequences |
| P | 20th Nov | Richard Smith | Social documentary photography in Glasgow |
| A | 27th Nov | Andy Drummond | How to dissect an elephant |
| P | 29th Nov | John Ferguson, Binn Group | Transitioning to a regenerative economy |
| C | 4th Dec | Dr Richard Milne | Nature photography |
| C | 13th Dec | Prof Jennifer Smith, Glasgow Uni | Mapping contemporary Scots language |
| N | 8th Jan | David Tollick, PKCT | Landscape-scale nature recovery |
| P | 15th Jan | Gavin Lindsay | My Journey: from Fine Art to Street photography |
| C | 24th Jan | Prof Michelle Williams, Edinburgh Uni | Looking inside the heart – imaging and AI |
| N | 29th Jan | Kate Holl, NatureScot | What wild flowers tell us about out forests |
| C | 7th Feb | Dr Dipa Roy, Edinburgh Uni | Engineering sustainable materials |
| P | 22nd Jan | Debbie Wallace | Portraits of Childhood |
| P | 22nd Jan | Chas Siewertigh | My Journey: from Fine Art to Street photography |
| A | 12th Feb | Steve Liscoe | Fife Shipwrecks |
| N | 19th Feb | Dierdre Stewart and Sam Buckland | Dallnacardoch Estate |
| C | 21st Feb | Prof Lorna Dawson, Hutton Institute | Soil forensics – how a soil scientist solves crimes |
| P | 26th Feb | Noel Clegg | Fine Art and long exposures photography masterclass |
| N | 5th Mar | Steve Wills, BTO | Seabirds and avian flu |
| C | 7th Mar | Robin Rodger, Royal Scottish Academy | David Octavius Hill – a pioneer of photography |
| A | 12th Mar | Prof Richard Oram, Stirling Uni | King David I |
VIDEOS – Curious Minds – Archaeology and History – Ornithology and Botany – Nature
- Couples, Coins and Coffins
- Curious Minds programme 2024-25
- Launch Event: Historical Map of Perth (PSNS+HTT joint project)
- Curious Minds 8.11: The University of St Andrews Photographic Collection
- Curious Minds 8.10: Science and Theology
About PSNS – A Society for All
PSNS is one of the oldest Scientific Societies in Scotland. It has always been, and remains today, a ‘Society for All’. It consists of a ‘Parent Body’ as its primary membership with currently three activity groups (or Sections) covering the topics of Natural History, Archaeology and History and Photography.