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Summer is upon us and Edinburgh is buzzing as hordes of tourists and locals alike eagerly anticipate the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe.

We are breaking new and exciting ground at the Edinburgh Conference Centre this year by making our own contribution to the Festival.

Our small Knowledge Festival will consist of talks by select speakers on a range of topics and their relationship to knowledge. We think that this type of event will be a popular addition to the Edinburgh Fringe circuit and we hope to introduce knowledge in a less academic, informal and topical way. We also hope that the Festival will raise awareness of the conference centre as the largest not-for-profit venue of its kind in Scotland.

We have secured two exciting speakers for the Festival:

• 19 August: Professor Tom Devine, the renowned historian and author will give a talk on: The Scottish Enlightenment – A Puzzle from Knowledge of the Past
• 20 August: Heriot-Watt University Alumni, Jock Clear is the senior engineer at Mercedes Grand Prix. He will give a talk on: Engineering knowledge and its application in Formula One.

Each talk will start at 1900 hours and take place at the Edinburgh Conference Centre. Tickets will cost £5 with £3 concessions. Tickets are available from me at l.geary@hw.ac.uk

The Knowledge Festival is a new venture, with funds going back into Heriot-Watt University, aimed at promoting knowledge and learning in an accessible way. We very much hope that you will support the inaugural Festival by coming along to one of our talks.

This has been a busy summer already with a number of weddings and conferences booking to come to the Edinburgh Conference Centre. You will find more information about these in our news section in due course. While we are by no means out of the difficult economic circumstances we have found ourselves in recently there are certainly signs that bookings are on the rise.

Finally, we very much hope that you are enjoying our new website. We put a lot of thought and hard work into developing a site that would provide you with everything you need to know about what the Edinburgh Conference Centre offers, while still being easy to navigate and attractive to look at. We think we have found that balance but please do not hesitate to let us know if there is something we can improve on.

I hope you are enjoying a good summer and making the most of the spells of sunshine we have been blessed with. If you feel that a bit of extra knowledge would come in handy then please do come along to our Knowledge Festival – we would be delighted to extend a special Edinburgh Conference Centre welcome to you.

Lynne Geary