Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit & Festival 2026 - Aberdeen Edition

​Scotland's energy transition is the largest industrial shift in a generation, and the North East sits at its centre. A £25bn green infrastructure ambition, offshore wind expansion and the hydrogen economy will reshape tens of thousands of careers. Ethnic minority professionals must be part of that story, not an afterthought to it.

​The Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit & Festival 2026 opens in Aberdeen on Monday 5 October 2026 at Elphinstone Hall, University of Aberdeen. Hosted by the University of Aberdeen, in partnership with The DataKirk and the Africa-Asia Centre for Sustainability, this edition brings together the energy sector, academia, local government and diverse talent to ask who steers the just transition.

​With the theme "Navigating Disruption: All Scotland's Talent at the Helm", the Aberdeen Edition focuses on ESG, net zero skills pipelines, and how AI and data are reshaping energy roles.

​Event Highlights: Monday 5 October 2026

​🔹 Afternoon summit (13:00–17:30): a keynote from the Lord Provost of Aberdeen, with addresses from the Chair and from The DataKirk, followed by two blocks of parallel roundtables in the Linklater Rooms — green jobs and the ethnic minority talent gap, global talent and immigration routes, decolonising the energy transition, AI and clean energy, and skilling, mentorship and retention.

​🔹 25 speakers across five roundtables, from the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, the Net Zero Technology Centre, the National Decommissioning Centre, Ashtead Technology, The Data Lab and more.

​🔹 Registration and exhibition open at 13:00. Networking from 17:00.

​📍 Elphinstone Hall and the Linklater Rooms, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Regent Walk, Aberdeen AB24 3FX