Summer Workshop 2020

The official programme is currently as follows:

Friday evening

19.00: Informal meal at New Golden Coach restaurant (Baroc), 1-3 Commercial Road, Lerwick. https://www.newgoldencoach.com/

Saturday

Islesburgh Community Centre, King Harald St, Lerwick, ZE1 0EQ

9.00: Warm up with one of yoga (Corinne Durand), singing (led by Lynda Hepburn) or (unconfirmed) walk around Lerwick. Optional.

9.30: Workshop registration (tea and coffee)

10.30: Workshop 1: talk by Birgit Wagner on Renewable Energy: an Overview. Birgit’s talk will give an overview of the different technologies, benefits and challenges associated with the utilisation of energy from renewable sources, including power generation, storage and transport. She will introduce some basic principles and definitions with the aim of enabling those with a non-technical background to gain a better understanding of technical texts relating to this topic.

11.30: Coffee break

12.00: Workshop 2: talk by Tom Wills, marine renewables expert: Marine Renewables. Tom’s talk will provide an overview of marine renewables and the pitfalls associated with translating industry texts, most of which he has personally encountered. He will outline the nature and distribution of marine energy resources, before examining the different technologies and the range of services that are required to support such projects. Tom will also touch on the potential of marine renewables to help tackle climate change and the political changes needed for the industry to realise its potential.

13.15: Lunch break – buffet lunch served in venue

14.15: Workshop 3: Hands on session. Translation workshop:
After lunch delegates will work in language groups on a short text relating to renewables and the environment in Shetland. Texts will be distributed in advance to give delegates the option of researching any unfamiliar terminology. Groups will ideally be made up of three translators with the same language combination. Please fill in your language pair(s) in the registration form.

15.30: Tea break

16.00: Workshop 4: Sue White of the Shetland Amenity Trust: Peatland and its restoration. Sue’s talk will be all about peatlands, or blanket bogs, how they were formed, their importance and value, not only for the wildlife they support, but also for carbon storage, regulating water flow and purifying water. She will talk about what happens when peatland is damaged, drying out and eroding, what measures can be taken to restore it and specifically about the restoration work undertaken here in Shetland.

Evening: Dinner and ceilidh in the Lerwick Sound Hall with the Peter Wood Dance Band

Sunday

Excursion to the south end of the Shetland Mainland by coach.

9.30 (provisional): leave Lerwick

10.30: Sumburgh – Lighthouse, museum and seabirds

11.45: Jarlshof prehistoric and Norse settlement

13.00: soup and sandwich lunch at the Sumburgh Hotel

14.00: depart for walk at St. Ninian’s Isle (not an island!) or wet weather alternative

16.00-17.00: return to Lerwick

Notes:

Birgit has organised an all-in price of approx. £30 for the day including coach, museum entrance, entrance to Jarlshof and lunch.

Anyone with a flight from Sumburgh Airport on Sunday afternoon can be dropped off at the airport at lunchtime.

Tom Wills is an engineer and language enthusiast who has been working in wave and tidal energy for 13 years. After studying mechanical engineering with an Erasmus year in Bordeaux, Tom worked at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, before completing an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Marine Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. He has lived and worked in Chile and Indonesia, speaks fluent French and Spanish and has made a start on a few other languages. Tom is the author of a chapter on tidal energy in the Encyclopaedia of Marine and Offshore Engineering and now works for Nova Innovation on the Shetland Tidal Array.

Sue White is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) and full member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM). Her background is in ecology, archaeology and as a Farm Conservation Adviser. She currently works as the Peatland Restoration Project Officer in Shetland, promoting the importance of peatlands for carbon storage, water quality and biodiversity and developing and implementing peatland restoration projects throughout Shetland. Her work is funded by the Scottish government through SNH “Peatland Action”.

Birgit Wagner is a freelance technical translator specialising in patents who has been based in Shetland for the past 20+ years and an MITI and ScotNet member for nearly as long. She has a degree in Engineering Mechanics from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany and has worked in materials testing and air filter development and testing in Switzerland. With renewables being a hot topic in Shetland and through translating numerous patents for new developments, Birgit has developed a keen interest in the field.

The workshop is part of ScotNet’s annual summer meeting and all attendees – plus their families and friends – are warmly invited to the social events on the Friday and Saturday evenings and on Sunday. Everyone is also welcome to the pre-workshop activity on Saturday morning at 9 am. Please fill in your choice of social activities in the registration form and pay any additional costs as detailed there.
Friday evening
On Friday evening there will be an informal dinner at The Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, Lerwick. This event will have a set menu to share (see call notice for details) at £20 per head. Please tick the relevant box on your reply form, so that we can give the restaurant numbers.
Saturday Dinner and Ceilidh
On Saturday evening at 7.00 pm, we will meet again in the Sound Hall with spouses, partners, families and friends to enjoy a 3-course dinner with locally sourced ingredients, followed by a ceilidh with the Peter Wood Dance Band.
A form with menu choices is attached on the last page of this Call Notice. Menu choices will be collected from delegates and their friends/family in early May.
Sunday Coach Excursion
The south of Mainland Shetland: all inclusive cost £30 pp
On Sunday we will have an all-day coach excursion to the south of Mainland Shetland, visiting Sumburgh Head with its lighthouse, visitor centre and seabirds; Jarlshof Prehistoric and Norse settlement; and St. Ninian’s Isle, an island linked to the mainland by a beach known as a tombola.
We are booked for lunch at the Sumburgh Hotel. In the event of bad weather, the walk in the afternoon will be replaced with a wet weather option.
Anyone with an afternoon flight out of Sumburgh can leave the excursion at lunchtime as the airport is very close to the Sumburgh Hotel.