PodFest 2020

During the COVID-19 crisis the Rowett Research Institute, at the University of Aberdeen, is not able to conduct human nutrition trials but that doesn’t mean we can’t find other ways to help. Normally our Human Nutrition Unit team design diets and feed our volunteers as part of the human nutrition trials conducted by our researchers. The team are interested in nutrition and care about what we eat, but what do they do when they have no one to feed? Will they keep on creating healthy nutritious recipes? Our podcast tells you how the team does it and why it is so important to eat healthily. 

The podcast discusses how MSPs might work within a post-Brexit, post COVID-19 Scotland, the potential of a further referendum and possible new ways of governance. Furthermore, he will examine his own and his country’s dysfunctional relationship with the beautiful game, to understand the soul and spirit of Scottish football. Neil McLennan is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Leadership Programmes at the University of Aberdeen. Neil and Henry are both fellows of the RSA, previous supporters of May Fest. The University of Aberdeen WORD Centre has kindly supported this event.

Their key goals are for the treaty to permit freedom of marine scientific research and allow the sharing of any benefits that arise from commercial use of marine biodiversity. Marcel and Abbe are also trying to bring this work to a wider audience, and they are joined by composer Professor Paul Mealor and poet Dr Grahame Davies who have together created the wonderful ‘Song for the Oceans’ to highlight these issues. 

The podcast will also look at how the charity's programme work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, touching on issues of period poverty, sustainability and menstrual waste. It will explore how community-based organisations differ from international non-governmental organisations. 

From Brexit to Veganuary, new words, or neologisms, play an important part in our language. Most of them are short-lived and quickly sink into obscurity but a few eventually become part of our vocabulary. So why do some words survive while others do not? What makes us, as speakers, decide on whether to use a new word? Join PhD student Sabrina Link as she discusses the factors which might influence a word’s success or failure, what makes a word attractive to speakers and what impact real-life changes have on our vocabulary. 

The podcast features readings from Alexander’s latest dystopian thriller A User’s Guide to Make-Believe, one of the Scotsman’s cultural highlights of 2020. Helen Lynch is a Reader in the School of Language, Literature, Music & Visual Culture at the University of Aberdeen, she is also a Director of the WORD Centre for Creative Writing which has played a huge part in May Fest since its inception. The University of Aberdeen WORD Centre has kindly supported this event. 

Foresterhill Health Campus forms one of the largest hospital complexes in Europe. The idea for this campus originated 100 years ago in 1920 as the Joint Hospitals Scheme. Using records held by NHS Grampian Archives, Fiona Musk an Archivist at NHS Grampian, looks at the history of the three hospitals involved in the scheme, exploring the reasons behind their relocation to one site. The collections held by NHS Grampian are some of the finest in the UK and show not only decisions made by administrators and doctors in charge, but also what happened to the patients. Some surprising reasons for admission are noted, and the podcast will explore how these records can be used to find out more. 

Film and TV producer Chris Young talks to Alec Macdonald, the Gaelic voice of Daddy Pig, about his work transforming Gaelic narrative tradition into film.  Young aims to tackle stereotypes and translate a culture full of storytelling to the big screen. The pair will also discuss Chris’s early life, living on Skye, working in London on shows such as The Inbetweeners, and what he is up to now. Alec is a teaching fellow at the University of Aberdeen and often does voiceover work and translates cartoons such as The Moomins and Peppa Pig into Gaelic. The University of Aberdeen WORD Centre has kindly supported this event. 

Bryan Angus, Martin Malone and Pete Stollery (collectively now known as Northlife) present work in progress on the project that was set up at May Fest 2019. They have spent many hours together since last year, both nattering and actually composing, writing and drawing, particularly at Cullykhan Beach near Gardenstown. They will let you know where they are and what they think they’ll end up with for a performance at the Sound Festival at the end of the year. During the podcast Martin will read some of his poems and Pete will play some music. 

Brought to you by the May Fest team at the University of Aberdeen; PodFest 2020 is coming soon - Bringing research and culture to you at home!

While so many of us are unable to go out to enjoy live events and festivals this summer, we will bring some of the interesting topics and discussions you would normally enjoy at MayFest, to you in your living room, bedroom or even bath.... to listen to at your leisure.

We hope you enjoy the variety of topics covered from ‘Sharing the Benefits of the Ocean’ to ‘The transformation of the Foresterhill NHS campus in Aberdeen, and even some nutritious cooking tips to follow in lockdown.

For more information check out the original May Fest website www.abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival to discover the series of 9 podcasts as they are released from Friday 29 May onwards.