Ian Rankin talks to Prof Sue Black
A conversation between Ian Rankin, crime writer, and Prof Sue Black, forensic anthropologist, considered their responsibilities and roles with neither afraid to tackle some of the big issues and questions surrounding their professions.
The event at St Matthew's Adademy, Saltcoats, was part of the Talk Science @ Irvine Bay series, organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and supported by Irvine Bay.
When Sue Black and Ian Rankin, both Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh sat down to talk together on Wednesday evening, it really did feel like a conversation. They might have been on the stage at St Matthew’s Academy, Saltcoats, with an audience of around 250 local people, but the conversation flowed and the topics were wide ranging.
Together they explored the question, “Do crime writers have a responsibility to write good science?” Rankin admitted to adapting procedural facts to strengthen the narrative, but clearly was interested in portraying reality and said that if science was going to be there it should be done well. Sometimes, however, there were barriers.
Prof Sue Black was chatty, but also challenging. She asked the audience to confess to watching programmes such as CSI and Bones and believing them.
She also presented a warning to be careful about giving away biometric information about themselves such as fingerprint patterns, now commonly used as a way of accessing mobile phones. Identity theft, she said, is the fastest growing crime in the modern world. A PIN number could be change and a bank card replaced, but once your biometric information is stolen, there is no way back from that.
Commenting on the event, Patrick Wiggins, CEO of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company said, “We are committed to inspiring local people – especially young people – to recognise the opportunities that science presents. We see this as an integral aspect of our regeneration work.”
As a regeneration company, Irvine Bay has been committed to creating new opportunities for jobs and growth in the area and this role extends to inspiring people about the opportunities that science offers. Black spoke about the opportunities being there for people of every age – a recent MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) about forensic science had attracted an audience with an age range of 12 to 91. Age needn’t dim enthusiasm, she said. A major focus of the Talk Science programme is to engage young people. Ian Rankin spent the afternoon at St Matthews’ Academy, meeting over 200 senior school pupils. The programme provides schools in the area with the opportunity to invite experts from a very wide range of scientific fields to visit schools and help young people to grasp the opportunities that science presents in Scotland today.