‘Putting the 4th J into Dundee: The rise and rise of the video games industry’

Published On Mon 26 May 2014 by Grant Hill

One of the leading figures in Dundee’s much-vaunted video games industry will deliver the next instalment of the Saturday Evening Lecture Series (SELS) at the University of Dundee.

Chris van der Kuyl is a highly experienced entrepreneur whose expertise combines the start-up, development and market-listed business in the technology, media and entertainment sectors. His talk, entitled ‘Putting the 4th J into Dundee: The rise and rise of the video games industry’, takes place at the University’s Dalhousie Building on Saturday, 31st May and will see him discuss his own career, as well as the industry generally.

Chairman of both the Tayforth Group and 4J Studios, Chris helped develop Minecraft, the fastest selling and most successful Xbox Live Game in history which is now being developed for Xbox One, PS3 and PS4. He is fully committed to building the next generation of business people by encouraging enterprise education in schools, colleges and universities.

SELS is Scotland's oldest continuous free public lecture series and celebrates its 90th anniversary with a specially extended programme in 2014. It attracts thousands of people each year eager to hear from prestigious, world-class speakers.

The tradition of holding public lectures dates right back to the founding of University College Dundee in 1881. The early professors and staff were keen to establish and strengthen ties with the people of Dundee and Tayside holding evening classes, giving public lectures and undertaking welfare projects such as those of the Dundee Social Union, with which Mary Lily Walker was involved.

The public lecture programmes reflected research interests of College staff as well as topics that were of a more general nature. The evening lectures as we know them today can be traced back to a series of lectures held jointly with the Dundee Naturalists Society beginning with a lecture by Principal John Yule Mackay on Primitive Man in October 1924.

‘Putting the 4th J into Dundee: The rise and rise of the video games industry’ takes place at the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, on Saturday, 31st May at 6pm. Free tickets for this event are available from events@dundee.ac.uk, www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets, Tower Building Reception or by calling 01382 385564/385108.

Please note that overflow theatres may be in use and the Main Lecture Theatre is filled on a first come, first seated basis.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277