Scientific diving leaders mark 60 years of research in style at festival
Islanders of all ages joined celebrations in Orkney marking 60 years of scientific diving led by Heriot-Watt University.
Since the mid-1960s, Heriot-Watt University has trained generations of scientific divers, with close to 1,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from around the world passing through its training and going on to careers in conservation, energy, renewables and much more.
Reaching 60 years is a wonderful achievement and a credit to everyone who has been part of the team over the decades, training divers who go into so many different careers that help the environment.
To mark the 60th anniversary, the University's diving team hosted two sold-out events as part of the Orkney International Science Festival (OISF), alongside a special visit to a Kirkwall primary school.
Professor Joanne Porter, Deputy Director and Director of Studies at Heriot-Watt's International Centre for Island Technology in Stromness, said: "This is a big milestone for us and it was so pleasing to see our events so well attended by such a diverse audience.
"For 60 years, Heriot-Watt has been training scientific divers who have gone on to a wide range of careers helping the environment, from restoring native oysters and monitoring marine habitats to shaping conservation around the world.
"Orkney has been at the heart of that story, and if these celebrations have inspired even a few of the next generation of underwater scientists, we will have done our job."
Celebrations began on Thursday 3 September, when the team shared classic images of marine life and stories from six decades of underwater surveys in Scapa Flow and beyond to a packed audience at Kirkwall Baptist Church.
The following day, a 'deep dive' celebration at the Robert Rendall Building in Stromness featured talks on the team's past and present work, reflections on diving safety from the Orkney Hyperbaric Trust, historic photos from local divers – and the cutting of a 60th anniversary cake.
Friday morning also saw the team visit Papdale Primary School in Kirkwall, where pupils from Primary 2 to 7 gathered for a special assembly on life as an underwater scientist.
Professor Porter and Dr Siti NurTahirah Jaafar, a visiting scholar from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, demonstrated scuba diving hand signals and helped pupils carry out a pretend underwater survey, before Dr Jaafar showed a Primary 4 class the traditional South East Asian art of batik painting on textiles.
The visit held special meaning for Emeritus Professor Hamish Mair, who taught at Heriot-Watt for almost 40 years, remains part of the diving team – and attended Papdale Primary School himself as a young boy living in Kirkwall in the early 1960s.
Professor Mair said: "To be able to go back to my own educational roots and share with the next generation of learners the legacy of our team’s work was just incredible.
"Reaching 60 years is a wonderful achievement and a credit to everyone who has been part of the team over the decades, training divers who go into so many different careers that help the environment.
"Seeing where our former students have ended up is the greatest reward of all, and celebrating that success here in Orkney, where so much of our story has been written, made it all the more memorable.
“It was so rewarding to see how engaged young people were with our work and presentations too and like Professor Porter, I really do hope we see some of them take this on as a career in years to come.”
The story of the University's diving began in 1965, when Professor Cliff Johnston led a six-week research expedition to Lanzarote, a year before Heriot-Watt received its Royal Charter. Professor Johnston went on to launch the University's BSc and MSc marine science degrees and, in 1989, to establish the Orkney campus in Stromness.
Nine marine protected areas have been designated on the back of the team's surveys, while Heriot-Watt data underpinned the Orkney Blue Carbon Audit that informs the islands' marine spatial plan.
Dr Howie Firth, OISF Festival Director, said: "It was tremendous to see the interest in the presentations and to look back over the immense impact that the diving team and Heriot-Watt generally has made on Orkney. There have been so many developments that have flowed from their presence, with boosts for local industry, for education and career opportunities, and so many collaborations have resulted across the community and in and around the town of Stromness and their base. The team and the university and its local staff are very much part of the Orkney family, and it was something special for us to be given the opportunity to join in the anniversary events."
The celebrations conclude in Edinburgh on Friday 25 September, when the diving community will gather at the University's Postgraduate Centre from 6pm to 8.30pm for an evening of stories and highlights.
Free tickets for the Edinburgh event can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heriot-watt-scientific-divers-60th-anniversary-celebration-tickets-1994011770884