Glasgow Natural History Society

175th Anniversary Events

The Glasgow Natural History Society (GNHS) is celebrating its 175th anniversary and to mark this occasion we are organising a number of events this year. Booking details will be made available in the coming months.

Thursday 4^th June 2026
19:00: Graham Kerr Building, Lecture Theatre 1

Jane Smith, wildlife filmmaker, artist and author of Community: People and Wildlife on the West Coast of Scotland will describe her journey across the West of Scotland from the wilds of St Kilda to the Hebrides, the Solway and the urban environment of Glasgow. She explores the relationship between people and wildlife, through meeting individuals and communities living and working in each of these landscapes. This talk will be illustrated by the author’s own celebrated artwork.

Saturday 6^th June 2026
09:00 – 17:00: Graham Kerr Building, Lecture Theatre 1
All day Conference on Rediscovering natural history: from observation to citizen science as part of the Glasgow Science Festival.

Tickets (Free) will be available on Eventbrite at end of April.

The aim of the conference is to highlight how natural history has inspired individuals and groups to explore the natural world and has led to the successful development of citizen and community science initiatives. The five main themes of the conference are: the history of natural history, development of citizen and community science, promotion of natural history in the media, how natural history is learned and the future role of natural history in science.

Programme: Confirmed speakers to date:

• Mélanie Cournil. Botany in the Making: The First Glasgow Botanic Gardens (1817-1841)
• Richard Sutcliffe. A brief history of Glasgow Natural History Society.
• Colin McLeod. Gleaners of Nature: 150 years of the Dundee Naturalists' Society
• Miranda Bane. The UK pollinator monitoring scheme
• Ria Dunkley. Citizen science as environmental intelligence: rethinking natural history for a just ecological future.
• Emma Plant. Pollinator research through collaboration with urban gardeners
• Kieron Brown. The Power of the Webinar: Engaging Large Virtual Audiences with Natural History.
• Louisa Hendry Title TBC.
• Flo Blackbourn. Title TBC.
• Mary Colwell. Reimagining Natural History for the 21st Century.
• Anna McGregor. Integrating natural history with applied learning: reflections from an educator on designing an environmental educational programme for the graduates of tomorrow
• Fiona Templeton. W.I.L.D. at Heart: How forest school nurtures natural wonder
• Dominic McCafferty. Who are naturalists and what is their future role?

There will be posters and exhibitions from a number of natural history societies, local groups and environmental charities.

Associated Events

• Geology, botany and zoology collections at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre led by Robyn Haggard on 10 June 10:00-12:00. Booking details to follow.
  
• Natural history books from the Special Collections of the University of Glasgow Library. led by Maggie Reilly and Geoff Hancock 22 June 11:00-12:00, 14:00-15:00 (i.e 2 x 1 hour visits).
  
• June Bioblitz: Wildlife surveys in one of Glasgow’s local nature reserves. Details to follow.

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