A major Scottish festival that aims to spark conversations around some of the biggest questions facing society today returns from September 6 to 14.
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Undated handout photo by Stewart Attwood Photography of (left to right) Daria Tuhtar, Professor Jo Shaw and Ash Charlton don large tickets to promote Royal Society of Edinburgh’s (RSE) Curious Festival of Knowledge. A series of talks and workshops on health, the creative arts and video games will be held during the festival held on 6-14 of September. Issue date: Thursday July 17, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Stewart Attwood Photography/PA Wire
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(Image: Stewart Attwood Photography/PA Wire )
A major festival celebrating Scotland’s heritage, culture and science will return this September with a packed programme of free talks, workshops and interactive events.
Running from September 6 to 14, the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s (RSE) Curious Festival of Knowledge aims to spark conversations around some of the biggest questions facing society today.
Topics will range from Scotland’s colonial past and the ethics of museum collections to the power of video games, the Scots language, future cities and personal data.
Among this year’s highlights is a talk titled Taken, studied, displayed: readdressing the University of Edinburgh’s African skull collections, led by PhD student Ash Charlton.
A former project researcher with the University of Edinburgh’s anatomical museum, Charlton will explore how skulls from Africa became part of the institution’s historic collection, and the challenges of addressing this complex legacy.
“This event will share the stories of the individuals whose skulls are in the collection, where they came from and how they became part of the museum’s collection,” said Charlton.
PhD student Ash Charlton will lead a talk on the University of Edinburgh’s African skull collections and their complex history(Image: Stewart Attwood Photography/PA Wire)
“Unfortunately, very little is known about most of these individuals through historic erasure and lack of documentation, although through this talk I will discuss some of the few cases we know more about.
“Conversely a lot more is known about the ‘donors’ who presented these human remains to the university. Medical students, doctors, religious missionaries, geologists and botanists were all responsible for contributing to the growing anatomy collections.”
The festival also looks to the future, with Play for Good, an exhibition on how video games can positively impact health, wellbeing and social inclusion. The event is organised by Dr Andrew Reid of Abertay University and a member of the Young Academy of Scotland.
“Simply put, designing games for good means thinking about how games can provide a positive outcome to various social or cultural environments,” said Dr Reid.
“We’ve got a couple of projects here that are showing games to promote physical activity by using your body as an input, all the way through to exploring mental health as a topic.
“These are generally spaces that are quite difficult to deal with in any given context, but within games we create a safe space to explore some very challenging issues and very challenging conversations.”
Adding a historical and artistic dimension to the programme, an interactive walking tour through Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard will delve into the symbolism and metaphors etched into its monuments.
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Led by Daria Tuhtar, the tour will examine how changing attitudes toward death, immortality and resurrection are reflected in the gravestones.
“Curious is an opportunity to throw open the door to the RSE, Scotland’s National Academy,” said Professor Jo Shaw, General Secretary of the RSE.
“We’re bringing together some of Scotland’s leading thinkers, covering a broad range of topics, from video games to UFOs, and starting important conversations around big ideas.
“Everyone is welcome, and you don’t need any prior knowledge to take part and learn something new. Most importantly, every event is free. Just bring yourself and your curiosity.”