This life-affirming day will explore human mortality, the body andhow we might consider and prepare for death.

Choose from a range of workshops and pop-in events, including: sculpture; storytelling; creative writing; legal issues; social media; tales around dying athome and the history of the Scottish funeral; reflections on the Mexican Day

of the Dead and “The Lament Room” installation; artworks from the “In Memoriam” project; and readings from Dundee University’s MLitt

students. An evening discussion forum will follow with Right Reverend Richard Holloway FRSE, Former Bishop of Edinburgh & Primus of the

Scottish Episcopal Church.

Free events - registration required in advanceRegister online at: http://www.rse.org.uk/events/

T: 0131 240 2780

In Memoriam Saturday 8 March 2014

at: The Royal Society of Edinburgh22–26 George Street

EDINBURGHEH2 2PQ

The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy, is Scottish Charity No SC000470

In 2007, at The Discovery Day Lecture Series at the University of Dundee, I had the great pleasure of hearing Professor Ian Parkin talk about the importance of body donation in the work of science and medicine. Professor Parkin laid out for us that day, with enthusiasm, care and authority, a subject so many of us give little time for – that is, a consideration of ourselves as bodies, as extraordinary, complicated living entities that will one day die and could leave behind the traces of our lives, not only in memories held by friends and loved ones, but also in a significant scientific “document” used for medical research long after our death.

That lecture gave rise to an idea that became “In Memoriam”. It started, first, as a series of interventions that took place between my creative writing students and the Life Science Department at the University of Dundee, where students wrote poems and creative pieces that responded to the work of the Anatomy Department. This led on to the creation of an anthology of work by writers and medical and arts students, involving a series of portraits by the artist Professor Calum Colvin; and drawing upon the beautiful service, led by Professor Sue Black and University Chaplain Fiona Douglas, that commemorates, every year at the University, those who have given their bodies to science after death; as well as incorporating interviews by Eddie Small with families whose members had also made that decision. The anthology generated a University event of presentation and discussion that was awarded the Stephen Fry Impact Award 2013 for Public Engagement, and that Award, in turn, formed the basis of this day you are taking part in now…

For “In Memoriam” is an ongoing consideration. It is a project, if you like, that pertains to all of us – in life and in death – as we go through the day-to-day part of experiencing our world with a certain knowledge of our end. To meet that end creatively, knowingly, with eyes wide open to the scientific possibilities of our own anatomical “selves”, to see imaginative and emotional and intellectual facets in the facts of mortality… This is what “In Memoriam” is all about.

Thank you for being part of what promises to be an extraordinary day. I am sure that you will take away from our talks, activities and presentations here today a perspective and understanding of death that will enrich and deepen all of our lives.

Professor Kirsty Gunn BA MPhilWriting Practice and StudyUniversity of Dundee

Welcome

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09.30 Registration with tea/coffee

10.00 RSE Welcome Professor Graham D Caie FRSE FEA FRSA Vice-President Royal Society of Edinburgh

10.05 Introduction and Day Overview Professor Sue Black OBE FRSE Director, Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, College of Art, Science and Engineering University of Dundee 10.10 Perspectives Eddie Small Historian and Lecturer in Creative Writing, School of Humanities University of Dundee

10.20 Professor Kirsty Gunn BA MPhil Writing Practice and Study University of Dundee

10.30 Professor Calum Colvin OBE RSA Professor of Fine Art Photography University of Dundee

10.40 Mark Hazelwood Chief Executive Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care

10.50 Q&A

11.00 Tea/Coffee and Opportunity to view Installations

11.30 Anatomy is not a Dying Art Professor Sue Black OBE FRSE 12.30 Q&A

13.00 Lunch

Today’s Programme

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Choose from a range of themes and related activities in this vibrant afternoon session of mixed practice-led or discussion-oriented events. Drop in where it appeals to you and stay

as long as you like in each of them…See abstracts on pages 6-9Title Facilitator TimeTalk: “A Death in the Family” “The Grief of Jamie McGregor” by John Birrell,

Convener, Scottish Grief and Bereavement Hub andMeaghan Delahunt, Author and Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Stirling

14.00-15.00

Seminar: “Education and the Body Donor”

Professor Ian Parkin MBChB, Professor of Clinically Applied Anatomy, University of St Andrews; Dr Sarah Sholl, Skills Centre Manager,The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; and Professor Gordon Findlater, Head of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh

14.00-15.00

Seminar: “Art and Mortality”

Professor Calum Colvin, Professor of Fine Art Photography, University of Dundee; Professor Murdo MacDonald, Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee; and Ron O’Donnell, Lecturer in Photography, Edinburgh Napier University

14.00-16.00

Room:“One Wild and Precious Life”

A space where you can step away from the bustle of life and reflect on one question - what is important to you?

14.30-16.30

Short Story Reading:“Death in Life”

Novelist Cynthia Rogerson introduces a selection of themed readings from Dundee University’s MLitt Writing Students

15.00-16.00

Workshop:“My Digital Time Capsule”

Led by Dr Wendy Moncur FRSA, Reader in Socio-Digital Interaction, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

15.00-16.00

Seminar:“Death and Dying: No Place for Fatalism”

Mark Hazelwood, CE of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care chairs a seminar exploring social, spiritual and practical aspects of death, dying and bereavement through a varied series of talks, readings, films, and discussions

15.00-17.00

Creative Writing and Art Making Workshop: “Leaving your Mark”

Led by Professor of Writing Practice, Kirsty Gunn and Caithness Painter and Sculptor, Merran Gunn

15.00-17.00

Talk: “The History of Death and Mourning in Scotland”

Eddie Small, Historian and Lecturer in Creative Writing, School of Humanities, University of Dundee

16.00-17.00

Workshop:“Poetry and Dying”

Led by poet Lindsay Macgregor, MLitt student, University of Dundee

16.00-17.00

Short Story Readings, Talks and Seminars...Take your time

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See abstracts on pages 9-10

Title Facilitator“Life, Death, Grief: an Opportunity for Interactive Exploration”

Hosted by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief - an alliance working to make Scotland a place where people can be open about death, dying and bereavement

“Room of Reflection” Drop in and record on film any thoughts or reflections that come to you during the day

“The Lament Room” A dramatic installation that, in music, text, film and art, reflects upon the last few minutes of an individual’s life as he leaves it behind

Led by Merran Gunn with text by Professor Kirsty GunnExhibition:“In Memoriam”exhibition of photographic artworks

Professor Calum Colvin

17.30 Registration with tea/coffee 18.00 Introduction by Chair Professor Sue Black OBE FRSE Director, Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification College of Art, Science and Engineering, University of Dundee

18.05 Discussion Forum: The Flooers o’ the Forest Right Reverend Richard Holloway FRSE Former Bishop of Edinburgh & Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church 18.45 Discussion with members of the audience

19.15 Vote of Thanks Professor Kirsty Gunn BA MPhil Writing Practice and Study, University of Dundee

19.30 Close

All-Day Installations......Take your time

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Evening Programme

Anatomy is not a Dying Art Professor Sue Black OBE FRSEDirector, Centre for Anatomy and Human IdentificationCollege of Art, Science and Engineering, University of Dundee

The anatomists of today stand on the shoulders of past giants – Galen, Da Vinci and Vesalius to name but a few. Whilst the history of the subject of anatomy may be long and colourful, it is still a vibrant discipline at the core of many of our advances in surgical approaches, new medical techniques and innovative training. This talk will look at the subject of human anatomy and show why the subject is as relevant today as it was in the time of Hippocrates.

A Death in the Family“The Grief of Jamie McGregor”John BirrellConvener, Scottish Grief and Bereavement Hub

Like Jamie McGregor, around a quarter of a million people in Scotland each year experience the death of someone close, and yet bereavement remains a topic which people avoid discussing just as they often avoid contact with those who grieve.

The experience of grief is both unique and universal, but it is also costly – to the individual and to the community. This presentation will look at the nature of grief, and the affect it has on those who are bereaved and on the economy of Scotland. It will then look at recent developments in bereavement care in Scotland and explore how the experience of Jamie McGregor can contribute to better outcomes for all who grieve.

A Death in the FamilyMeaghan DelahuntAuthor and Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Stirling

Death in the family is something which affects every single one of us, yet every death is different and we are affected differently on every occasion. This talk will discuss this situation and consider how we handle grief and bereavement.

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Morning Talk Abstract

Short Story Readings/Talks andSeminar descriptions

Seminar: “Education and the Body Donor”This seminar intends to elucidate the process of body donation from start to finish, and to show the many ways in which such generous and selfless donations are beneficial to clinical practice and education. Through discussion and interaction, three local licensed Teachers of Anatomy will aim to demonstrate how every advance in these fields is dependent upon the body donor. Bring your questions!

Seminar: “Art and Mortality”Professor Calum Colvin will discuss ideas of mortality in relation to photographic work he has created in various projects in recent years. Discussing ideas of mortality and loss in his series ‘Camera Lucida’ (which will be on display), Calum will also trace these aspects in his art and science project ‘Natural Magic’, and themes of loss in his series of work ‘Ossian, Fragments of Ancient Poetry’.

In his talk, Professor Murdo Macdonald will explore art, science and mortality by taking two artists from very different eras as a starting point. Both were distinguished by their passion for art and science, and both used that passion to explore questions of what it means to be human. The names will not surprise you: Leonardo da Vinci needs little introduction. The second artist is among the giants of twentieth- century art, the Scottish sculptor and printmaker Eduardo Paolozzi. What links these two, apart from their shared Italian heritage, is their insatiable curiosity about what gives us our humanity, what makes us recognisably alive to one another, and, by extension, how we address that defining characteristic of our being alive, that is to say our mortality.

Ron O’Donnell’s photographs, vibrant and effervescent, daring and humorous, touch upon allegory and myth, identity and mortality. In each case, he turns a spotlight upon the foibles of human life. His images speak of love and loss, folly and foolishness, the decadent and the demoralised; in fact, the whole chimera of contemporary caprice. In this, he is a modern Bosch, or Brueghel, exploding the carnival excess of modern life. His photographs provoke laughter and sorrow in equal measure; a revelation hidden inside a comic moment. For his “In Memoriam” lecture, Ron will discuss these themes, particularly in relation to his ‘Day of the Dead’ series created after a Leverhulme Trust-funded research trip to Mexico City and his installation of ‘Day of the Dead’ artefacts for the National Museum of Scot-land in 2002. Featuring Mayra Crowe, Spanish Language Organiser, University of Dundee.

Room: “One Wild and Precious Life”In our busy lives, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, and forget what really matters to us. We each have but one wild and precious life – what do you want to do with yours? The One Wild and Precious Life room provides a space where you can step away from the bustle of life and reflect on one question - what is important to you? Inside the room you will find a warm welcome and administrative support to write one of the most important letters you will ever write – a letter to yourself.

Short Story Reading: “Death in Life”Acclaimed Novelist Cynthia Rogerson, whose own award-winning and widely broadcast novels are not shy of tackling life’s big subjects – love and death – introduces and chairs a reading of short story extracts by Dundee University’s MLitt Writing Students, reading work that addresses death and dying, caring for the elderly and the fraility and beauty of life.

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Workshop: “My Digital Time Capsule”In the past, we inherited bundles of letters, photos and souvenirs from those who passed away. But what happens now that many of our photos, communications and even finances are stored digitally? What story do you want your digital content to tell to future generations? If you are at least an occasional user of a computer or smart phone, drop in to this interactive workshop. Create your own Digital Time Capsule to post into the future, identifying the digital content that you would choose to pass on to future generations, and the content you would definitely leave out!

Seminar: “Death and Dying: No Place for Fatalism”Chaired by Mark Hazelwood, Chief Executive of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, this seminar explores social, spiritual and practical aspects of death, dying and bereavement through a series of talks, readings, films, and discussions: • 15.00–15.20 Not Dead Yet, Lily? Ron Butlin, Edinburgh Makar/Poet Laureate reads Not Dead Yet, Lily?, a powerful and entertaining short story about old age and the prospect of dying. Followed by an opportunity for questions and discussions.• 15.20–15.40 To Absent Friends: A Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance in the Scottish

Tradition In a culture where death is variously perceived as too morbid, too difficult or too disturbing to mention, how do we remember and pay our respects to the dead? In Mexico they hold a huge holiday each year, Mexican Day of the Dead, dedicated to remembering family and friends who have died. Scotland has a rich heritage of storytelling and traditions of remembrance dating back to pre- Christian times. In this talk, Rebecca Patterson of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief asks the question ‘can we recreate a meaningful opportunity for storytelling and remembrance in the Scottish tradition?’ • 15.40–16.00 The Death Queue Regi Claire, novelist, reads from her short story The Death Queue, followed by opportunities for questions and discussion.• 16.00–16.30 When a Doctor Became a Patient... When diagnosed with incurable cancer, Dr Kieran Sweeney found himself “dispatched to the kingdom of the sick permanently and irretrievably”. In an article for the British Medical Journal, Dr Sweeney challenged fellow clinicians to provide more than ‘timely and technically impeccable” care and to think deeply about the effects of their behaviours on their patients. With reference to Dr Sweeney’s experiences, Dr Rosalie Dunn and Dr Euan Paterson FRCGP explore with delegates the need for healthcare professionals to provide not just transactional but relational care – a two-sided and genuine sharing of experience and compassion. • 16.30–17.00 Dining with Death Talking about death over food is a growing trend. In Europe and the US, there is a thriving Death Café movement, where people “come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea and eat delicious cake”. In the USA, the recently established Death over Dinner project hopes to create communal dialogues around death, healthcare and human life. Delegates are invited to take part in the uniquely Scottish equivalent - ‘dining with death’, with conversation menus available for inspiration. Grab a menu, pull up a chair, and get talking. Light snacks provided.

Creative Writing and Art Making Workshop: “Leaving your Mark”How to describe in a few words, in a colour, a life that means something to you? Of a relative? A lover? A child? Someone whom you love and miss and cherish…Join sisters Kirsty and Merran Gunn, one, Professor of Writing, the other, Caithness Painter and Sculptor, in a highly creative session involving text

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Talk: “The History of Death and Mourning in Scotland”Death, mourning, and the funeral too, have changed considerably in Scotland’s recent history. The practices and circumstances that most people consider have always been in place are, in fact, reasonably recent. In this talk, we’ll look at the surprising chain of events that have radically altered all aspects of death, dying and the disposal of the dead – you will be surprised at how many things have changed.

Workshop: “Poetry and Dying”What has poetry got to say about death and dying? What can poetry offer us when we are facing death? And what can poetry offer us as carers, clinicians and practitioners ? In this workshop, we’ll explore the palliative potential of poetry – the ways in which it can help us express the inexpressible; live with uncertainty and doubt; relax into the present moment; deepen our sense of connectedness and compassion. Whether you have a personal or professional interest in poetry and dying, drop in to share your experience or to find out more – the support, resources and approaches available. Absolutely no previous experience of poetry is required – just come along.

“Life, Death, Grief: an Opportunity for Interactive Exploration”Throughout the day, delegates are invited to visit the ‘Life, Death, Grief room’ in the Upper Gallery, where there will be a range of displays, information and activities on offer: • To Absent Friends exhibition An exhibition in words and pictures exploring the question: In a culture where death is variously perceived as being too morbid, too difficult or too disturbing to mention, how do we remember and pay our respects to the dead? • To Absent Friends Interactive Public Art Project A person’s death does not lessen the meaning of the relationship we have with them. You are invited to share your memories and stories of people who have died on the ‘To Absent Friends’ wall of remembrance.• Solicitors for Older People in Scotland No-one is too young or too healthy to start thinking about making practical preparations for illness and death. Making plans when you’re healthy means there is less to think about if you get sick, and will make the financial, legal and practical consequences of illness and death for families much easier to deal with. Solicitors for Older People in Scotland is an affinity group of Scottish Lawyers partnered by Age Scotland and dedicated to providing legal services to older people in a caring way. Staff from SOPS will be on hand all day to provide practical information and advice about legal issues relating to the end of life.• Co-operative Funeral Care Co-operative Funeral Care will be available to discuss and advise on the practicalities of arranging a funeral.• One Wild and Precious Life Letters In our busy lives, it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, and forget what really matters to us. We each have but one wild and precious life – what do you want to do with yours? Life, Death, Grief provides a special space where you will find a warm welcome and administrative support to write one of the most important letters you will ever write – a letter to yourself. • Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief The ‘Life, Death, Grief room’ is hosted by Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, an alliance of individuals and organisations working to make Scotland a place where people can be open about death, dying and bereavement. Information will be available about the work of GLGDGG, as well as leaflets providing practical information on how we can all support each other through the difficult times associated with death, dying and bereavement.

Installation descriptions

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“Room of Reflection”You’ve heard of the Big Brother Diary Room? Well, this is a friendlier version. Drop in from lunchtime onwards to record on film any thoughts or reflections that come to you during the day. Ondrej will provide technical support to get the ball rolling. Come in, take a seat, and share. Please note: Footage filmed in the room of reflection may be used in the future to promote the aims and work of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief. (www.goodlifedeathgrief.org.uk)

“The Lament Room” Welcome to “The Grey House”, a family home and centre for music that sits high in the remote hills of Sutherland, and where John Sutherland, a fine bagpiper, whose family have always lived here and played their pipes here, is dying. Come into The Lament Room, the small single bedroom on the ground floor of the House and hear the music that is being composed, in the mind of one man that echoes in the walls around you… John Sutherland is asleep now, and dreaming, but Margaret is here, the House-keeper at The Grey House, who has known John for all her adult life, and Helen, her daughter, and Iain, Margaret’s husband… They are all in attendance for this man and can tell you something about their lives here, what it is like to be with John Sutherland now, at this House, at the end…

The Lament Room is based on the internationally award winning novel, The Big Music, by the University of Dundee’s Professor of Writing Practice and Study, Kirsty Gunn. Graphic Designer and Filmmaker, Gary Gowans, from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Book Historian, Gail Low, and Caithness Artist, Merran Gunn, have all come together, with Historian, Eddie Small, and students of the Writing Practice and Study MLitt programme, to produce a unique event that incorporates music, voice, theatre, film and art.

Exhibition: “In Memoriam”exhibition of photographic artworksA series of original photographic artworks individually entitled ‘Camera Lucida I-VIII’ which use the metaphor of light to reflect on the processes of creation, revelation and disintegration inherent in art as well as in life. The title refers to the optical device used to superimpose an image of the subject being viewed upon the surface on which the artist is drawing. The title also recalls the much older drawing aid, the camera obscura, and this movement between light and dark, lucida and obscura, is the metaphorical journey the works explore. The work/image is there at all times, although our sense of its presence is transitory.

The Flooers o’ the ForestRight Reverend Richard Holloway FRSEFormer Bishop of Edinburgh & Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Richard Holloway will deliver a meditation on death and dying, richly illustrated from poetry and other writing on the subject.

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Evening Discussion Forum Abstract

Speaker Biographies

Professor Sue Black is the Director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human identification at the University, where she is also the Deputy Principal for Public Engagement. She is perhaps best known as a forensic

anthropologist, working on war crimes and mass graves in Kosovo, the victims of mass fatality events such as the tsunami, or helping the police in murder cases.

Professor Sue Black OBE FRSEDirector, Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification; College of Art, Science and EngineeringUniversity of Dundee

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Ron Butlin Edinburgh Makar/Poet Laureate

With an international reputation as a prize-winning novelist, Ron Butlin is the current Edinburgh Makar/Poet Laureate. In 2009, he was made the first Honorary Writing Fellow of the University of Edinburgh, together with Ian Rankin. He has published over a dozen books. His work has been translated into over ten languages. The Sound of My Voice

has twice been awarded a ‘Best Foreign Novel’ prize, and was included in the highly prestigious Guardian’s 1000 Novels You Have To Read. Ghost Moon, his fourth novel, is due out in April. Ron lives in Edinburgh with his wife, the writer Regi Claire, and their golden retriever.

John BirrellConvener, Scottish Grief and Bereavement Hub

John Birrell was ordained as a Church of Scotland minister in 1974 and in 1996 was appointed as a whole-time healthcare chaplain. From 2008 to 2011 John was seconded to the Scottish Government Health Department to develop guidance on bereavement care for NHS Scotland. Since January 2012 John has been Convener of the Scottish Grief and Bereavement Hub, a network for those professionally involved in bereavement care in NHS Scotland and

in partner agencies in the statutory and voluntary sectors. John is an accredited trainer. He is a former Chair of Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland, and a member of their training team. He is an elected member of the International work Group on Death Dying and Bereavement, sits on the Advisory Panel of a number of bereavement research projects, and writes, lectures and delivers training in bereavement for various agencies.

Regi ClaireWriter Born and brought up in Switzerland,

Regi Claire is the author of two novels and two short-story collections. Her work has twice been shortlisted for a Saltire Book of the Year Award and has been longlisted for the MIND Book of the Year Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for best collection. Her first published short story won the Edinburgh Review Tenth Anniversary Short Story Competition;

her latest story was included in The Best British Short Stories 2013. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen Margaret University and teaches creative writing at the National Gallery of Scotland. Her most recent novel is The Waiting (2012), set mostly in Edinburgh, where she lives with her husband, the Edinburgh Poet Laureate Ron Butlin, and their golden retriever.

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Meaghan Delahunt Author and Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Stirling

Mayra Crowe was born in Mexico City and moved to the UK in 1995. She studied Law and specialised in Mexican Criminal Law. She now is the Spanish Language

Organiser at the University of Dundee. Mayra has involved herself in the Organ Donation campaign in Scotland.

Mayra CroweSpanish Language Organiser, University of Dundee

Born in Glasgow in 1961,Calum Colvin is Professor of Fine Art Photography at Dundee University. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Museum of Fine Art, Houston; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. A practitioner of both sculpture and photography, Colvin brings these disciplines together in his unique style of

‘constructed photography’: assembled tableaux of objects, which are then painted and photographed. Recent projects include the stereoscopic art and science series of artworks entitled Natural Magic, first presented at the RSA in 2009, and the publication Burnsiana artworks inspired by the life and legacy of Robert Burns, published by Luath Press in 2014.

Professor Calum Colvin OBE RSA Professor of Fine Art Photography, University of Dundee

Meaghan Delahunt is the award-winning author of To the Island, The Red Book and In the Blue House. The last-named novel was longlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize, won the Saltire First Book Prize, a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year prize and a Common-wealth Prize for Best First Book. She is

an award-winning short-story writer and her stories have been widely anthologized and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She lectures in creative writing at the University of Stirling. Born in Melbourne, Meaghan Delahunt now lives in Edinburgh.

Dr Rosalie Dunn FRCGP MBEMacmillan GP Palliative Care Facilitator, NHS Lanarkshire

Dr Dunn graduated from Glasgow University and was a GP in the Blantyre Health Centre until her recent retirement from GP practice. Dr Dunn chairs the Lanarkshire Managed Clinical Network in Palliative Care and is also Cancer Lead for NHS Lanarkshire and Chair of the West of Scotland Primary Care Cancer Group with a focus on cancer management and early detection. She chaired the Scottish Government Short Life Working Group

dealing with Scotland’s response to the Neuberger report on the Liverpool Care Pathway “More Care, Less Pathway”. In 2009, Dr Dunn was awarded an MBE for her services to the community in Blantyre, with particular recognition her work in palliative care with the Crossroads and The Haven, an information and support centre widening the scope of palliative care services in the community to include people living with non-malignant disease.

After studying philosophy, politics and economics, and a short spell volunteering in India, Mark did a series of management roles in NHS Scotland. He then spent four years running VSO’s international development operations in Ghana, West Africa, a role he carried out as a job share with his wife. Returning to Scotland, he became Director of the MS Society Scotland, leading the organisation through nine years of growth. Mark was a co-founder

and the first Chair of the Neurological Alliance of Scotland. Mark has been Chief Executive of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care since 2009. As well as developing and promoting policy and good practice in palliative care, the SPPC is now leading work to encourage more openness about death, dying and bereavement in Scottish society, through the alliance Good Life Good Death Good Grief.

Mark HazelwoodChief Executive, Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care

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Merran is a multi media artist living in the far north of Scotland. In recent months, she has been working with her sister Kirsty to create a visual experience of The

Big Music that incorporates her practice of music as colour, dollshouses and text and image.

Merran GunnPainter and Sculptor

Kirsty Gunn has published five novels, as well as a collection of short stories and a book of essays, fragments and meditations upon domestic life and creativity, and is translated into over twelve languages around the world. Her latest book, The Big Music, published to high critical acclaim in 2012, listed for the James Tait Black and Impac Awards and winner of the New Zealand Book of the Year 2013, tells the story of a world-famous Scottish piper who has come to

the end of his life and is writing one final tune that he hopes will describe it. Thinking over his life in the last few days before his death, reaching back and forth in time, John Sutherland in The Big Music, is a character who encapsulates entirely what it is to be mortal – frail, courageous and dying. Kirsty Gunn established and directs the renowned writing programme at the University of Dundee – described as “one of the nation’s blazing and radiant literary hotspots.”

Professor Kirsty Gunn BA MPhilWriting Practice and Study, University of Dundee

Professor Gordon FindlaterHead of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh

After 10 years as a telephone engineer, Gordon studied at Aberdeen University where he gained a Honours degree in Human Anatomy. He then went on to study for a PhD in neurophysiology at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies after which he obtained a lectureship in anatomy at the University of Edinburgh where he has taught now for the past 30 years. He was appointed Head of Anatomy in 2000 and awarded a

Personal Chair in Translational Anatomy in 2012. His principal role now is course development and the teaching of anatomy to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is also a licensed teacher of anatomy and as such, has responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 within the anatomy department of the University of Edinburgh.

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Murdo Macdonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art at the University of Dundee. In his doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh, he studied the relationships between art and science. He is a former Editor of theEdinburgh Review. He is author of Scottish Art in Thames and Hudson’s World of Art series. His research has explored the art of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd, the cultural milieu of Patrick Geddes, Robert Burns and art, and

the visual thinking of the Nobel laureate C. T. R. Wilson. He has a longstanding interest in Ossian and art in an international context, most recently explored as part of the Melchiorre Cesarotti project at the University of Padua. A recent publication is his introduction to the new edition of George Davie’s The Democratic Intellect, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2013.

Professor Murdo MacDonaldProfessor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee

Richard Holloway is a writer and broadcaster. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Godless Morality, Doubts & Loves, Looking in the Distance and Between the Monster and the Saint: Reflections on the Human Condition. His latest book, Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt, was published by Canongate in March 2012. He was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church until he stood down in 2000. He was also Gresham Professor of Divinity in the City of London (1997–2001). He was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority from its inception in 1990 until 1997, and chaired its ethics committee. He has been

on the BMA’s steering group on Ethics and Genetics (1995–1998), a member of the Broadcasting Standards Commission (2000–2003) and Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council (2005–2010). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and received its Royal Medal in 2008. He is the Chairman of Sistema Scotland, the charity that has brought the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra system to Scotland. A frequent broadcaster, he has presented a number of television series, including Holloway’s Road, The Sword and the Cross and Art and Soul. He regularly presents Sunday Morning with Richard Hollway for BBC Radio Scotland.

Right Reverend Richard Holloway FRSEFormer Bishop of Edinburgh & Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church

Lindsay MacgregorMLitt student, University of Dundee

Lindsay Macgregor “found” poetry five years ago at the Dundee Maggie’s Centre, when her partner was diagnosed as terminally ill. Subsequently, she gave up her job as a political lobbyist for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and embarked on an MLitt in Writing Practice and Study at the

University of Dundee. With a background in adult education, she currently works in schools and community centres, facilitating creative writing. Her poems are published in a range of magazines.

Ron O’Donnell was born in Stirling in 1952. He studied photography at Napier Polytechnic, Edinburgh, and was a trainee photographer at Stirling University from 1970 to 1976. He has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad. In his large colour prints of constructed installations, he often uses recycled objects. His work contains witty comments on a range of

current issues, as well as academic and contemporary art. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Musée National d Art Moderne, Centre Georges, Pompidou, Paris, the Atlanta Museum of Photography and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, where he lives.

Ron O’DonnellLecturer in Photography, Edinburgh Napier University

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Dr Wendy Moncur FRSAReader in Socio-Digital Interaction, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

Dr Wendy Moncur is a Reader in Socio-Digital Interaction at the University of Dundee, and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. Her research focuses on the design of technology to support being human in a Digital Age. Grounded in Computing, her research draws on insights from many other fields, including anthropology, psychology and literature.She is currently exploring what happens

to people’s personal data (such as emails, photos and social network site interactions) when they die. Can people bequeath their personal data? Can others inherit it, and if so, what will they do with it? This work is funded by an EPSRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Wendy has given talks about her work at a range of venues, including the Edinburgh Turing Festival 2012 and the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2013.

Professor Ian Parkin MBChB Professor of Clinically Applied Anatomy, University of St Andrews

Having qualified in medicine, in Aberdeen in 1975, Ian Parkin followed a career in anatomy that took him from Birmingham through Cambridge, to Dundee and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, before his current part-time post at St Andrews. He was lead author of Core

Anatomy Illustrated and has published on human variation, but his real interests are in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, as he believes that a strong foundation in basic science ensures safe, efficient clinical practice.

Dr Euan Paterson FRCGPClinical Lead for Greater Glasgow and Clyde Palliative Care MCN

Euan has been a GP in Govan, serving the 46th most deprived practice population in Scotland, for 28 years. He is Macmillan GP Facilitator for Glasgow and is Clinical Lead for Greater Glasgow and Clyde Palliative Care MCN.

He is the RCGP (Scotland) representative on the Scottish Government Cross Party Committee on Palliative Care and a council member of the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care.

Eddie Small helps to deliver Creative Writing and Performing Writing programmes at the University of Dundee. He also writes, and had a biography of social reformer, Mary Lily Walker, published in June 2013, and is currently writing a commissioned history on the history of Life Sciences in Dundee. He is

also nearing the end of a PhD Thesis in History on The Culture of Death in Scotland. This interest has led to him becoming a stakeholder member of Good Life Good Death Good Grief, and he is a member of a similar group with NHS Fife. He regularly talks on McGonagall the Poet; something he enjoys so now you know it.

Eddie SmallHistorian and Lecturer in Creative Writing, School of Humanities, University of Dundee

Dr Sarah ShollSkills Centre Manager, The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

Cynthia Rogerson is the prize-winning author of four novels and a collection of short stories. Her work has been translated into seven languages, and broadcast on Woman’s Hour and other BBC programmes.

She won the V.S.Pritchett Prize in 2008, and is the Programming Director of Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre. www.cynthiarogerson.com

Cynthia RogersonNovelist

Sarah qualified in Biological Sciences and later in Forensic Medicine, and has worked at RCSEd since 2006, overseeing the activity of the Surgical Skills Centre and its technical staff. The role of the Centre is to deliver courses and assessment for surgical trainees at all stages and in every surgical specialty, using a variety of media

ranging from synthetic models to cadaveric material. Sarah advises the College on legislative issues relating to the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 and is a member of the Surgical Anatomy Steering Group, whose responsibility is to guide the College’s surgical anatomy education strategy.

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Organising Committee

Oonagh Carroll, Events Officer, RSE

Professor Calum Colvin OBE RSA, Professor of Fine Art Photography, University of Dundee

Professor Kirsty Gunn BA MPhil, Professor of Writing Practice and Study, University of Dundee

Merran Gunn, Painter and Sculptor

Rebecca Patterson, Policy & Communications ManagerGood Life, Good Death, Good Grief

Eddie Small, Historian and Lecturer in Creative WritingSchool of Humanities, University of Dundee

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The Royal Society of Edinburgh wishes to acknowledge the support of:

The University of DundeeDuncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

Good Life, Good Death, Good GriefThe Wellcome Trust

Supporting Organisations

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NOTES

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