The stories of inspiring individuals with a connection to the University were recently celebrated in an exhibition where the work of artists, designers and writers sat alongside archive material. Some of the items are reproduced here to remind us how…
Dundee is the UK’s first and only UNESCO City of Design. The global designation as a Creative City acknowledges Dundee’s rich design heritage, its thriving contemporary design sector and a city committed to using design to solve problems and make…
The latest exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery showcases some of the most recent additions to the University of Dundee Museum Collections, all made over the last two years. From acquiring brand new pieces fresh out of the Degree Show…
The Ian Lowe Centre at Ninewells Hospital Medical School is hosting a unique exhibition celebrating the creative intersection of medicine, surgery and art. Planned by PRASS (Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery Society), the exhibition invites Artistic and Medical personnel to share…
Every year, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design holds its Degree Show event, showcasing their undergraduate students final projects. Have you ever attended a DJCAD Degree Show? If so, have you ever wondered how those students started out?…
Our team in the Cooper Gallery have been working away over the past year on their final Sit-in #5, Compassionate Rebels in Action staged by award winning British-Kenyan (Maasai Kikuyu) artist, filmmaker and writer Grace Ndiritu. Compassionate Rebels in Action celebrates the culmination of their critically…
Over the past year, photographer and DJCAD alumna Catherine McIntyre has been creating stunning images of the specimens in the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum, which have now been brought together in an online and print-on-demand publication, available to view at…
There is still time to catch the V&A exhibition Ninewells Hospital: Care, Community and Innovation with contributions from the University Archives, Museums and School of Medicine. Celebrating last year’s 50th anniversary of the hospital, the show runs until 14th September.…
Another year, another brilliant Masters Show! This year, we have 84 of Duncan of Jordanstone’s postgraduate students showcasing their work across our very own Matthew and Crawford Building on the Perth Road. The show is now open to the public…
‘Plant Power’ is an annual event held at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden. This year, staff at the Garden worked with the University’s School of Life Sciences (Division of Plant Sciences and Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research/Drug Discovery Unit),…
Tamara Richardson, Public and Community Engagement Officer at DJAC, reflects on the current exhibition in the Cooper Gallery: This week I’ve been invigilating the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2024 in the Cooper Gallery—an exhibition of extraordinary tenderness and presence. As I…
This exhibition features a range of works developed by artist Janice Aitken as a response to her engagement with scientists in the School of Life Sciences over the past 20 years. In that time she has worked on a wide…
Dundee is all about encouraging collaboration and cross discipline working and this ethos is embodied in the SSC (student selected component) offered by the School of Medicine called the Art of Medicine. The module explores how a study of the…
“Through Our Eyes, In Our Words” is more than an exhibition — it’s the culmination of collaboration, creativity, and community. Built from the lived experiences of middle to older aged LGBT+ people and people with learning disabilities, the exhibition transforms…
Between February-March 2025, six University of Dundee Humanities students were selected to be writers-in-residence at the V&A Dundee. The residents each spent one week working in a dedicated space in the museum, making creative responses to A Fragile Correspondence, a…
The Global Room is a social space on City Campus for all students to relax, meet new people and celebrate cultural events. Their drop-in sessions include DUSA Advice, Immigration Compliance, International Advice Team and other student services. The Go Abroad…
The latest exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery celebrates the life and work of painter and art teacher Peter Flynn and marks two significant milestones – the artist’s recent 70th birthday and 50 years since he began his formal study…
A project which is a unique collaboration between the University of Dundee, DCA, NHS Tayside and Dundee City Council has been shortlisted in the Partnership of the Year category of the Scottish Charity Awards. The project produced a book which…
Did you know that there is a figure who played a key role in both VE Day and the history of the University of Dundee? In this blog Kenneth Baxter from the University Archives explains how Arthur Tedder, 1st Baron…
Breaking the Chains is a map and walking tour exploring Dundee’s links to transatlantic slavery that was co-created by the University of Dundee Museums and Dundee Libraries in 2022 (see Breaking the Chains – University Culture Online ). The response…
This update covers some of the fantastic work done by the Cooper Gallery over the past few months. We start with their ongoing project What I am Reading Now… a monthly digital publication, and critical platform dedicated to celebrating and…
Museum volunteer Delaney Brown (an art history student at the University of St Andrews) tells us about the current exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery which she curated in association with the University of Dundee Museums. The female body has…
The Archive’s Alive and if you need any convincing get yourself along to the Entrance Galleries in the Matthew building at DJCAD. The current exhibition of newly created artwork by the incredibly talented students of Level 3 Communication Design studying…
For international women’s day, Kenneth from the Archives takes a look at some of the notable women in the early history of the University, a reminder of how important understanding our past is in shaping who we are today, and…
John Post, a visual artist and doctoral researcher, explains the inspiration behind his latest exhibition as part of LGBT+ History Month in DJCAD. My work explores how photography shapes the identities of gay and bisexual men. For many, photography isn’t…
The University Archive holds the internationally significant Michael Peto photographic collection. From the 1950s until his death in 1970 Michael Peto regularly photographed theatre, television and film productions and as result the Peto Collection contains many images of major stars.…
On the 23 of January, Bloomsbury Academic published a lost piece of Scottish and transatlantic literary history, recovered as part of an ongoing project based at the University of Dundee: The Essential Robert Duncan Milne: Stories by the Lost Pioneer…
In the autumn of 2024 Archives and Museum Services were given the opportunity to host an intern from the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management certificate course run by Fleming College in Ontario, Canada. We were delighted to welcome Lindsey Mace…
A quarter of a century after the world held its breath and waited to see if the new millennium would bring computer chaos, Archive Services looks at how the University prepared for and responded to the event. In 1999 as…
[photo credit Simon Forsythe] As part of the growing partnership between the University’s Creative Writing programme and V&A Dundee, eight students will have the opportunity to be writers-in-residence as part of the museum’s exhibition A Fragile Correspondence. Students will respond…
The latest exhibition in the University’s Lamb Gallery explores the fascinating artwork of Nell Baxter and her connection with the Celtic Revival in Edinburgh and Dundee in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many years Nell Baxter was…
The University has a thriving music scene. Here we highlight some of the upcoming musical events to give you a taste of what is on offer. The Dundee Jazz Festival takes place from 20-24 November and as part of that…
This year’s Dundee’s Festival of the Future featured a multi-disciplinary panel of University colleagues, following a special public screening of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) on Wednesday, 9 October, at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Arrival is one of the most unusual science…
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the dissolution of University College, Dundee and the establishment of Queen’s College, Dundee as its replacement. This was an important step towards independence for the institution and Queen’s College became the University of…
October is Black History Month! This year, the University of Dundee has a theme of Embracing and Celebrating Diversity. There is a range of events occurring throughout the month as part of the celebration, read below to find out more.…
Kirsty Stopper is a student from MFA Curatorial Practice who has an interest in alternative green spaces. With a background in Digital Interaction Design Kirsty focuses on public facing immersive environments and how they can be used for education. The…
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Ninewells Hospital and Medical School. One of the hospital’s strengths is its close relationship with the School which has a long history and a very important one in the…
A new exhibition celebrating the work of photographer Alex Coupar is on show in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee, charting the faces and places of Dundee and beyond. The Dundee-born photographer has recorded our lives and surroundings…
Keith Williams, Reader in English, and Ari Brin, PhD researcher, discuss the life and legacy of pioneering science fiction writer Robert Duncan Milne in a new podcast, part of Ayesha Khan’s award-winning Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* series. Milne who…
Did you miss the Masters show? Or ran out of time before you could see it all? There are plenty of ways to catch up. Watch this video for a quick preview of the show Browse through work by all…
In the 19th century Lochee was home to the huge Camperdown Works, the heart of the Cox family’s jute empire. The family had been involved in the manufacture of linen in the area in the 18th century and moved into…
Molly Reid, a student on the MFA Curatorial Practice at DJCAD, talks about her current exhibition in the Tower Foyer. Hello, my name is Molly, and I am student on the MFA Curatorial Practice course at DJCAD. For the last…
What the Owl Knows is a co-production between Cooper Gallery and the Turner Prize nominated artist collective The Otolith Group and had its UK premiere as part of the Group’s The Ignorant Art School Sit-In in 2023. This review of…
Now summer is upon us (?) this is a good opportunity to look back at the events at DJCAD’s Cooper Gallery between February and May. The main programme was The Scale of Things an exhibition of three moving image works…
Reader in English Keith Williams from the School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law is taking the US by storm. A podcast he recently took part in on the 1933 Invisible Man adaptation is riding very high in the US…
‘Plant Power’ is an annual event held at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden. Each year it coincides with Fascination of Plants Day organised by the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO). This year, staff at the Garden worked with the…
Last month, three medical students, Natanya Lim, Maryam Nadeem and Dan Williams, completed their Community Engagement Selected Student Component (SSC) with the Tayside Medical History Museum. SSCs are an important part of medical training and aim to establish a foundation…
This Anthology is a project of the Creative Writing programme at the University of Dundee in partnership with the New Scriptorium, an artist-designed and -built structure on the grounds of Arbroath Abbey. The New Scriptorium came about to celebrate the…
For centuries Dundee has had close links with communities on the south bank of the Tay and travel between Dundee and Fife has always been important. Today, traffic and weather conditions allowing, getting across the Tay is a relatively simple…
Put a spring in your step by reading about the wonderful activities happening in the Botanic Garden. Their latest report showcases some of the events and exhibitions that have happened recently. The Garden is actively exploring new ways of facilitating…
Taking breaks is good for your brain! Breaks help you maintain mental and physical health. To calm your central nervous system and shift brain states, you want to do relaxing activities like walking, meditation, and being in nature. These activities can…
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Dundee’s UNESCO City of Design status, the latest exhibition at the Lamb Gallery looks back at work created by students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design over the past decade, many…
This year’s winner of the Stephen Fry Public Engagement Project of the Year award was the MRC PPU in the School of Life Sciences for their work on improving the experiences of those living with Parkinson’s. The project team introduce…
The Market and Innovation Society successfully hosted its first market event, drawing in more than 10 enthusiastic stall owners on 29/3/2024 inside DJCAD Canteen. The event was not only a financial success, generating over £700 in profit for the students,…
The ideas and collections of D’Arcy Thompson, the University’s first Professor of Biology, have profoundly influenced many artists and writers who re-interpret natural history. The University of Dundee Museums’ latest exhibition featuring a unique artistic response to D’Arcy’s collection by…
Last week saw the launch of a two year Royal Society of Edinburgh project ‘Curating the Digital Attic Archive: A Case Study For Open-Source Approaches To Artists’ Archives’. Led by Dr Judit Bodor (DJCAD) and Dr Roddy Hunter (The Glasgow…
This year’s Preview night of the DJCAD Research Expo included VR demonstrations, performances, and works of innumerable varieties demonstrating the breadth and depth of art thinking that drives creativity in the School of Art & Design. This post by Calum…
As human beings we are all dependent on the land and the resources it provides. Yet we are increasingly becoming disconnected from the natural world around us and our overexploitation of the land is causing an environmental crisis. The latest…
It may sound barking mad, but the pooches of Dundee are just one of the sources of inspiration for an artistic celebration of the city’s history. Students at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design…
3rd March 2024 sees a special service at the University Chaplaincy Centre to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its opening. While the building dates to 1974, the role of religion and faith at the University has a much longer history.…
What is Pentimento? Manu Budhathoki DUSA Vice President Community shares a creative project she has been doing to support students’ wellbeing. “Pentimento is a yearlong campaign I started this academic year (2023-2024). The main purpose of the campaign is to…
Ranya Al Ghazi, CreateSpace Student Helper, introduces us to this fantastic facility in the Library. Welcome to CreateSpace, the pulsating core of creativity nestled within our university campus! Here, innovation intertwines with tranquillity, inviting all university staff and students to…
A collaboration between Illustration students and the English Department is on show in the Dundee Central Library. This special exhibition is a follow up to last year’s ‘Blazing Worlds! Science Fiction by Women’. It features artwork from the Michael Kirkham’s…
In 2021 the University commissioned a report to investigate early founders and their links with colonialism and slavery. The report focused on the Baxter family who supported the establishment of what was then University College Dundee and made some recommendations…
This was a collaborative project between the University of Dundee and the Cottage Family Centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife that brought expectant mothers together to explore their journey of motherhood using creative arts. Facilitated by Shabnam Wasim, (Research and Innovation Services),…
Relive the inspiring, thought provoking and creative projects hosted by the Cooper Gallery at DJCAD during 2023. This snapshot reveals some of what happened in a year when ‘our hearts and minds are enthused by potential and possibility, our eyes…
The latest exhibition in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee takes visitors on a trip back in time to the 1950s, an era of exciting new developments in art, design, science and medicine. The exhibition, entitled Back to…
To mark the 60th anniversary of Dr Who Kenneth from the University Archives explores Who related material in the collections. He looks at Daleks appearing in DJCAD. Police boxes in Dundee. Patrick Troughton in the Michael Peto photography collection. And…
This month marks the 140th anniversary of the official opening of, and the start of teaching at, University College, Dundee (now the University of Dundee). Kenneth from Archive Services gives us a brief overview of the genesis of the University.…
Relive the University’s recent successful Culture Day, part of its Festival of the Future. Here we give you a summary of the great presentations. Films of some of them will be available soon. Jan Merchant, Senior Archivist, started the day…
The University’s Botanic Garden has teamed up with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to bring you this wonderful workshop happening in November. Frosts, winds and shortening days expose the underlying structures of plant forms and show new life waiting to…
Division of Humanities colleagues have been busy over the past few months working on some fantastic projects. Allan Kennedy (History) with guidance from Chris Murray (English) has just finished a Scottish History comic, supported by strategic development funding and in…
We were grateful to acquire some of Grace Atkinson’s textile samples for our collection after the 2023 Degree Show. Grace’s degree show work focussed on creating textiles that were inspired by the various nature spaces found in the city centre.…
Dr Kenneth Baxter examines a map from the University of Dundee Archive Services belonging to Peter Carmichael. Carmichael was a notable figure in Dundee, in the second half of the 19th century he was manager of Dens Works (owned by…
Written by University of Dundee Museums volunteer Pete McConville Follow Pete’s photography on his Instagram by clicking this link The University of Dundee campus is such a great place to photograph. So many styles of architecture and dynamic social…
There is still time to visit this incredible show featuring the work of postgraduate students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. Covering Animation, Medical Art, Comics, Design, Drawing, Fine Art and more this year’s show has something…
Matthew Jarron, Museum Curator, describes a new exhibition in Orkney showing some of the University collections. Back in 2011 we were fortunate to become one of just six museums in the UK awarded substantial funding as part of the Art…
The Collective What’s Happening on the Roof? exhibition was hosted by DJCAD’s Public and Community Engagement in the Matthew Foyer Galleries in July as part of the School’s long running partnership with Art Angel. The exhibition featured a beautiful and diverse…
Kelsey Williams from the University of Stirling explores the treasures he found in the University of Dundee Archives’ rare book collections. When printed books first arrived on the scene in fifteenth-century Europe they didn’t come into a vacuum. Far from…
Janice Aitken, Reader in Art, Design and Public Engagement at DJCAD, has a new exhibition in the Green Gallery at the Botanic Garden. ‘Anthophilia’ means the love or flowers or the love of plants, depending on which dictionary you use.…
The Murraygate is undoubtedly one of Dundee’s best-known streets and also one of its most historic, dating back to the medieval period. This blog by Kenneth from the University Archives takes us back in time to explore the street and…
This blog post was written by Medical Students, Kirsten Healey and Hannah Dalioui as part of their Selected Student Component working with the collections at the Tayside Medical History Museum. SSCs are an important part of medical training aiming to…
Localising Philosophy is an ongoing education project since 2018, co-led by Dr Dominic Smith (Philosophy) and Dr Anna Robb (Education). Using art and philosophy, Localising Philosophy asks big philosophical questions that the project’s partners are facing. The project takes inspiration…
This blog post was written by Medical Students, Kirsten Healey and Hannah Dalioui as part of their Selected Student Component working with the collections at the Tayside Medical History Museum. SSCs are an important part of medical training aiming to…
It looks like the lunchtime preview event for the ‘Sponta-neous’ pop-up exhibition at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design was a success. Wen Xi Kong, Heidi Le, Daphne March and Ceci Wong, Four students from the International College…
Postgraduate Comics and Graphic Novels student Sharika Benny is currently volunteering in the University Archives and has been working on the Archives’ Arthur Ranson’s Comic Collection. In this blog she tells us about the artist and his comics which he…
Two MFA Fine Art students at Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Euan Rutter and Neil McCulloch, recently took part in an exhibition for the ‘RecoverMay’ event at Perth and Kinross Council’s Civic Hall, in a celebration of recovery…
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design once again put on a fantastic dazzling display of artwork in their 2023 show. We at UoD Museums had the privilege of picking several pieces from the Degree Show to add to…
Gretchen Rockwell, a recent distinction level graduate of Science Fiction and Creative Writing at Dundee, has just had her MLitt final project accepted for publication. Gretchen’s poem was inspired by her studies in SF and by Dundee’s seminal place in…
Eid ul Fitr is celebrated to promote brotherhood and togetherness amongst Muslims and in the spirit of togetherness we organised an Eid event in the Global Room to celebrate with our University of Dundee student and staff community. Over the…
Matthew Jarron, Museum Curator, introduces the latest exhibition in the Tower Foyer Gallery at the University which invites you to enter the dream-like world of painter Robert Leishman SSA RSW. Although nationally renowned in his lifetime, this is the first…
It’s 45 years since the Wellgate shopping centre opened. Explore the history of the area and building with the Archives. The Wellgate, which once connected the Murraygate with the Hilltown and formed part of a major route to the north…
Visit this new exhibition in Dundee’s Botanic Garden unearthing the hidden story of the St Vincent Botanical Garden 1785-1811. Dr Christina Welch, Reader in Theology, Religion and Philosophy at the University of Winchester, has been researching the incredible story of…
What happens when an artist and a scientist meet through the time of Covid? Two radical spirits bond to explore the common orbital of art and science from a unique perspective. This exhibition runs until April 8 2023 in LifeSpace.…
James Riley, radiologist and cancer specialist, was a member of staff at the University from 1950 to 1977. Riley is perhaps best known for his work on mast cells and the development of antihistamines but he was also a keen…
As Baldrick prepares to resume his search for a cunning plan as part of Comic Relief and as we mark the 40th (yes 40th) anniversary of the first episode this year, we can reveal that Captain Blackadder studied at University…
Some of you may remember the multi-media live show, ‘Ulysses: A Magic Lantern Odyssey’, which Keith Williams took on a ‘three-nation’ tour back in Summer 2022 to celebrate the centenary of Joyce’s novel in Dundee, Dublin and Bristol, supported by…
Dundee Women’s Festival is an annual event run in the Dundee and Angus area, and online, to span International Women’s Day on 8th March. This year the Festival runs from Saturday 4 March until Sunday 19 March. The theme for…
In our museum collections is a small leather wallet with what first appears to be a piece of clear framed glass inside. It doesn’t look like much, but this is actually a diffraction grid – used to separate light into…
What do they have in common and what is the link to Dundee? Find out in this blog by Humanities student Mateo Gaudio as he explores the archive of film producer Alexander De Grunwald whose archive is held by the…