Virtual Doors Open Day in the School of Informatics
Doors Open Day returns on the weekend of 26th-27th September 2020, in the new virtual format.
School of Informatics has been participating in recent years with tours to Level 9 of Appleton Tower and the Roof Terrace of the Informatics Forum and we are virtually opening our doors to visitors this year.
We are offering you a unique opportunity to explore our spaces virtually and learn about their history. Due to ongoing pandemic, only students and authorised staff have access to our buildings, so we are pleased to offer you a sneak peek to what is happening behind the scenes - click on the link below.
Informatics Virtual Doors Open Day 2020
Our buildings
The two buildings we occupy: Informatics Forum and Appleton Tower are the Central Campus landmarks and their history forms part of the history of the whole campus and its surroundings – it is also very closely tied to the history of the School of Informatics and our research in Edinburgh.
A controversial building since its inception, Appleton Tower underwent a thorough refurbishment a few years ago with a new entrance and enhanced facilities and services and earned the ‘Design Through Innovation’ award in the 2018 RICS Awards. Opened in September 2008 by the then First Minister, Alex Salmond, the Informatics Forum is a fit for purpose building, providing a Forum for Interaction that fosters synergies among the 500 researchers in Informatics – although right now a lot of them are working from home.
Our researchers
If you ever thought our researchers are hiding in an ivory tower (no pun intended) we can assure you they aren’t. We have asked them to tell us about their journeys to become scientists and share their
stories with you. Kami Vaniea grew up without electricity, Ram Ramamoorthy dreamt of being an astronaut and Boris Grot’s life path was decided when his father bought the first clunky computer. They are now all part of the School of Informatics, a world-leading centre for studying computation, information and cognition.
If you want to learn a bit about the science that we do but have no scientific background, you might want to watch Ram Ramamoorthy and Phil Wadler talk about it in a more informal way (with some puns) as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas and the Bright Club.
Spread the word
Venues around the University are participating in the virtual Doors Open Day make sure you check out other virtual offerings.
Our neighbours, the Bayes Centre, have put together resources for you to see, you might also want to have a virtual look at the Kings Buildings campus. Last but not least make sure you have checked the University of Edinburgh DOD20 website.
And if you liked what you see, tag us in your tweets @InfAtEd and use the hashtag #DigiDoorsOpen.
Related links
Doors Open Day at Kings Buildings