Prof. Sir Geoff Palmer
SIr Geoff was a great supporter of our work with Black History Conversations and joined us on several occasions - we were so saddened to hear of the passing of our friend and admired colleague in May 2025. Like so many others, the BHC team had so much respect for his knowledge and humanity. His passing was a great loss to us all.
His life and times are well reported on the Heriott Watts University website: https://www.hw.ac.uk/news/2025/death-of-university-chancellor-professor-emeritus-sir-geoff-palmer-kt-obe
Prof Palmer first agreed to join us for a special session in conversaton with Jamaican Poet and Activist, Yasus Afari, and followed this up joining other Black History Conversations sessions.
We suggest you watch an excellent interview done by Alex Salmon in July 2020 on the Alex Salmon Show - its well worth making a cup of tea, or better still have a toast in beer or whiskey at your side, to celebrate the work and hear the clear message of the amazing, yet humble, Emeritus Professor of Grain Science, Sir Geoff Palmer.
Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE came from Jamaica as part of the “#Windrush generation”. As an academic, he developed a revolutionary process for the brewing industry and is now achieving further distinction as a human rights activist. Alex Salmond interviews him about his extraordinary life and career - and his personal take on the resurgence of the anti-racism campaign and the current war of the slavery statues.
Also available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexSalmond/...
Prof Geoff Palmer has spoken several times about 'Scotland: Slavery and Statues' - here is the BBC clip:
This documentary follows the four-year debate over how Henry Dundas should be remembered on the inscription of the Melville Monument in Edinburgh. Sir Geoff Palmer and his supporters have argued for years that Henry Dundas deliberately delayed the abolition of the slave trade when he won support for abolition to be ‘gradual', whereas Henry Dundas’s ancestor Bobby Melville and others argue that Dundas was an abolitionist who was being pragmatic.
The programme follows every twist and turn of the story, including how Scotland’s debate triggered a similar discussion in Canada on whether to rename Dundas Street in Toronto, and looks at how events in Bristol impacted on decisions made in Scotland.
With historians also debating the actions of Henry Dundas, the programme asks how Scotland as a country can come to an agreement on this and its long connections with slavery.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nrpb/scotland-slavery-and-statues