A world leading land use research institute is using the art of photography to educate schoolchildren in the north east of Scotland about the evolution of landscapes. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen is today (Monday 2 February 2009) launching a Moments in Time competition and challenging youngsters in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to photograph a local scene to preserve it on record for future generations. Participants are being asked to capture a view of their town, city or the countryside to demonstrate how people in the north east lived and worked in the early part of the 21st century.

Television presenter Adam Henson from the BBC’s nature programme Countryfile will be judging the competition, along with experienced landscape photographer Dr Oskar Puschmann and staff members from the Macaulay Institute and Edinburgh University. Competition entrants have the opportunity to win digital cameras, a visit to the Satrosphere Science Centre or photographic vouchers. Winning photographs will be featured on the Macaulay Institute’s 2010 calendar and will be displayed at the Macaulay Institute’s Open Doors event on June 6, when families can visit the world-renowned land use research centre and participate in a series of fun, science-related activities.

Prof David Miller, Group Leader for Integrated Land Use Systems and Manager of the Institute’s Virtual Landscape Theatre says, “Views and landscapes within Aberdeen City and the surrounding countryside are changing all the time. What past generations saw when looking out of their town house or country farm is very different to what we see when we look out the window now, and our current view will change in the future.

With this competition, we want local school children to capture the landscapes they see in 2009 and help record them for future generations.

The competition has been divided into three separate categories; primary school class entries, and individual entries for secondary school pupils aged 13 years and under, and 14 to 18 years. The closing date for the competition is Friday, March 27. Entry forms and further details about the competition and the Open Doors 2009 event can be found at www.macaulay.ac.uk/OpenDoors2009 or by contacting 01224 395065.

The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute was founded in 1930 and is an international centre for research and consultancy on the environmental and social consequences of rural land uses. With an annual income from research and consultancy of over £11m, the Institute is the largest interdisciplinary research organisation of its kind in Europe, and aims to provide evidence to help shape future environmental and rural-development policy on a national and international basis. For further information, visit www.macaulay.ac.uk

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