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Annual Review 2008/09

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Annual Review 2008/09 Ann ual Rev iew 2008/ 2009 www.ed.ac.uk “We have a great res po nsi bility to our st udents, and to t he world which t hey will go on to s hape, a nd it is vitally i mportant to d emo nstrate to them, and to all our sta keholders, t hat being a sustaina ble and s oc ially res po nsi ble organisati on is an abs olute co rnerst on e of our et hos .” Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea BSc, PhD, FRSE Principal and Vice-Chancellor Contents 03 Our vision and our mission 05 Principal’s foreword 06 A new world view: ensuring access for all to life-saving drugs 08 Diaspora studies: how far flung Scots shaped the world 10 Teaching excellence: students’ voices heard in recognising outstanding teachers 12 Going global: striving for worldwide partnerships and international excellence 14 From campus to community: university societies come of age 16 Safer mountains: cracking the avalanche code 18 Gene hunting: tracking down the causes of disease 20 Research excellence: latest rankings confirm international standing 22 News in brief 26 Financial review 28 Honorary graduations and other distinctions 30 Awards and achievements 32 Appointments 34 Appendices Appendix 1 Undergraduate applications and acceptances Appendix 2 Student numbers Appendix 3 Benefactions Appendix 4 Research grants and other sources of funding Front cover: Student volunteers clear a community walkway. Annual Review 2008/2009 02/0 3 Our visi on To shape the future by attracting and developing the world’s most promising students and outstanding staff. Our missi on The mission of our University is the creation, dissemination and curation of knowledge. As a world-leading centre of academic excellence we aim to: • enhance our position as one of the world’s leading research and teaching universities and to measure our performance against the highest international standards • provide the highest quality learning and teaching environment for the greater wellbeing of our students and to deliver an outstanding educational portfolio • produce graduates fully equipped to achieve the highest personal and professional standards • make a significant, sustainable and socially responsible contribution to Scotland, the UK and the world, promoting health and economic and cultural wellbeing. Annual Review 2008/2009 “It is through our core activities of research and teaching that we really make our mark on society – at a regional, national and international level, helping to change peopl e’s lives for the better .” 04/0 5 Pri nc ipal’s f ore word In these troubled economic times, it is publication, you will read about how we’ve immensely gratifying to note how the work adopted a humanitarian agenda for the licensing undertaken by the University – in all its of our medical research to ensure that life-saving manifestations – is more important and drugs developed in our laboratories will be made relevant than ever. available to people in developing countries. You will also learn about our network of international Despite the global financial uncertainties, it has partnerships, Edinburgh Global, and the research been another year of success for the University we are undertaking in countries such as Uganda as we continue to produce research of genuine to tackle the problem of serious diseases like international significance and to innovate in the sleeping sickness. Other international partnerships areas of teaching and the student experience. are bearing fruit in the field of avalanche research that could help to save the lives of skiers and It is through our core activities of research and mountaineers around the world and, closer to teaching that we really make our mark on society home, we are focusing on Orkney to conduct – at a regional, national and international level, research into the role genes play in determining helping to change people’s lives for the better. our risk of serious illness. In that sense, institutions like the University of Edinburgh are leading the way in the drive to The quality and breadth of our research, and ensure that public and private sector organisations its ability to have meaningful and practical are accountable and socially responsible. applications well beyond the sphere of academia, is something of which we are extremely proud. In our commitment to sustainability and social This was upheld in the most recent Research responsibility, I find it particularly pleasing that Assessment Exercise (RAE), the results of which we work in such successful collaboration with our demonstrated beyond doubt that we are a student body and listen to the generation for whom world-leading research institution. Alongside issues such as climate change mean so much. research is our other core activity of teaching. Historically as an institution we have had a strong Inspiring our students via continued excellence environmental track record, with pioneering and innovation in teaching and providing them initiatives in the fields of energy conservation, with the skills and knowledge to make useful recycling and green transport schemes. Our contributions to society is at the heart of what partnerships with the student community have we do. It is for this reason that I was delighted allowed our activity in this area to extend even to support the first Teaching Awards, established further. It was one of our own students who came by EUSA, to recognise the many outstanding Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea BSc, PhD, FRSE up with the concept of a combined heat and teachers within our University community. power (CHP) generation plant, which has resulted in a significant reduction in our energy costs and We live and work in an age of great uncertainty harmful emissions. Over the course of the past – economically, politically and, perhaps most year we celebrated five years as Scotland’s first importantly, environmentally. The future of our Fairtrade university, having worked closely with our planet is of great concern to all generations but that student colleagues from the Edinburgh University concern is often felt most acutely by young people Student Association (EUSA) to attain Fairtrade status. at the dawn of their careers who come to study at institutions like ours in large numbers, year on The extent to which our students contribute to the year. The education that we are able to offer them wider community is evidenced in an article in this needs to reflect current interests and passions and Annual Review which focuses on the diverse range that is why the groundbreaking MSc programme of activities undertaken by our student societies in Carbon Management offered by our Business and the differences they are making to people School has been so tremendously popular. beyond the boundaries of campus life. We have a great responsibility to our students Increasingly the University is an institution that and to the world which they will go on to seeks to transcend national boundaries – and the shape and it is vitally important to demonstrate impact of our research is testament to that. Our to them, and to all our stakeholders, that efforts to make significant contributions to the being and continuing to be a sustainable and global community are mirrored in the role that socially responsible organisation is an absolute migrant Scots played in shaping the modern world cornerstone of our ethos. I thank all the staff of – and we are seeking to track and explore this role the University of Edinburgh for the determined through our Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies, and effective way in which they are meeting that a truly innovative research initiative which we responsibility and for the tremendous hard work feature in this year’s Review. Elsewhere in this they put into all of the University’s activities. Annual Review 2008/2009 A new world view: ensuring acc ess for all to life-saving drugs The University of Edinburgh is one of the first But Professor Webb also points out that the policy The policy is part of a broader drive by the University universities in the UK to adopt a humanitarian is a natural fit with the University’s ethos: “Our to participate in international collaborations agenda for the licensing of its medical research. role as a world-leading research university extends to improve healthcare for poorer countries and beyond innovation. We have a responsibility to make promote innovation. The initiative has been As a result of this new policy, life-saving drugs a significant and socially responsible contribution warmly welcomed by students at the University, developed in campus laboratories could soon be to society at large. Millions of people die from and by Professor Webb’s colleagues. made available to populations in lesser developed often-preventable diseases every year, and we are countries that would previously have been unable hopeful that by making our medicines as accessible Jonathan R Seckl, Professor of Molecular Medicine to afford them. as possible to those in greatest need, a genuine and Director of Research at the College of Medicine difference will be made.” & Veterinary Medicine, explains: “We are absolutely The University has worked with students from the delighted to do whatever it is we can to support group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines The College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine education, access to research and access to (UAEM) to take forward the initiative. is a hub for research into how drugs can be medicine for developing countries. We see this as created to combat diseases in the world’s poorer an absolutely central part of the overall mission of UAEM is a coalition of students, faculty members countries. It struck Professor Webb that drawing the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.” and researchers at more than 50 universities on the College’s pool of expertise in this area across Europe and North America.
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