Welcome to the Young Project News & Events

Stay up-to-date with our latest discoveries, upcoming family gatherings, and important project milestones.

2026: Help Us Bridge the Gap!

The General Fund is Now Open for Donations Our General Fund is officially open! One of our most important ongoing missions is to fund strategic Y-DNA testing for qualified Young candidates currently living in Scotland. Testing these "Old World" locals is the key to bridging the gap for our international members, allowing us to connect modern diaspora families to their specific, ancient Scottish homelands. Please consider supporting this groundbreaking research by contributing to the General Fund via the FTDNA "Donate" link. Every contribution helps us uncover another piece of the puzzle!

2025: Upcoming Gatherings & Education

• September 7, 2025 | Youngs of Scotland Family Gathering: Join us in person at the historic Blairgowrie & Rattray Highland Games! It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our shared heritage. Learn more about the games here.
• Dates TBA | Annual FamilyTreeDNA Conference: The premier conference for Genetic Genealogy will return in 2025 with highly focused, small virtual sessions. Stay tuned for dates so you can learn the latest DNA research techniques from the comfort of your home.

2024: Expanding Our Roots

• June 7–8, 2024 | Advancing Genetic Genealogy Conference: Our community engaged with cutting-edge academic research at this phenomenal conference hosted by the Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies, focusing on how the past informs the present through revolutions in genetic research. Read about the conference here.
• March 15, 2024 | New Genealogy Website Launched: We were thrilled to announce the launch of the Youngs of Scotland genealogy portal. Dive deep into traditional Scottish paper-trail research at youngsofscotland.com/genealogy.

2023: Breakthroughs in Ancient DNA

• November 29, 2023 | Presentation: Pinpointing Our Genetic Homelands! In an incredible milestone for our project, Dr. Tyrone Bowes (of ScottishOrigenes.com) presented his revolutionary work on Ancient DNA at the Youngs of Scotland meeting in Edinburgh. Using the Youngs of Morayshire as a research model, Dr. Bowes demonstrated exactly how we can map genetic data to historical homelands. Catch up on this fascinating work through the following links (available in the members' portal): Ancient DNA Overview, Young Ancient Paternal Reconstruction and Timeline, Young: Pinpointing a Scottish Paternal Origin, and the Video Presentation.
• November 3–5, 2023 | 15th Annual FTDNA Conference: Project administrators and members gathered for the annual FamilyTreeDNA Conference for Genetic Genealogy. Read a detailed recap of the keynote and events here.