The University thanks all donors and friends. With special thanks to Dr Alfred Bader and Dr Isobel Bader Mr Richard Burns Dr Neil Cross Mr George David Mr Richard Davidson Rev Robert Funk Dr Alastair Macdonald Mr Donald MacDonald and Mrs Louise MacDonald Mr Alan McFarlane and Mrs Anne McFarlane Mr David Miller and Ms Tina Marinos Mr Derek Moss and Mrs Maureen Moss Professor Walter Nimmo and Dr Norma Nimmo Mr Malcolm Offord Miss Gladys Ogilvy-Shepherd Mr Sandy Orr Mr John Paterson Dr Joanne Rowling The late Mr Stephen Somers Mr Christopher Stone Mr Ronald Storey Mrs Jennifer Tomlinson and Rev Bryan Tomlinson Lady Valerie Trotman and the late Dr Alex Trotman The late Dr Anthony Watson Dr Alfred Wild Dr William Zachs and Mr Martin Adam
A G Leventis Foundation Albert Bartlett & Sons Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation Binks Trust Citigroup Foundation Coca-Cola Foundation Council of American Overseas Research Centers Deutsche Post DHL Drever Trust Fidelity International Global Health and Security Initiative Heineken UK Kirby Laing Foundation Marchig Animal Welfare Trust Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd Mary Kinross Charitable Trust Nicola Murray Foundation PiggyBankKids Robertson Trust Row Fogo Charitable Trust Santander Plc Scottish Power SELEX Galileo Shell UK Ltd Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust The Crerar Hotels Trust The Doreen Maguire Trust for Cancer Research The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler 1988 Foundation The Gannochy Trust The Muir Maxwell Trust The Royal Bank of Scotland The RS Macdonald Charitable Trust The Scottish Government The Shirley Foundation The Sutton Trust The Wolfson Foundation Total E & P UK Ltd Walter Scott & Partners Ltd William Ramsay Henderson Trust Wolfson Microelectronics Worldwide Support for Development
Dear Reader When the £350 million Edinburgh Campaign launched in 2006, it was the largest fundraising campaign in Scotland’s history. The economic situation has greatly altered since then and funding continues to be a challenge across the higher education sector. Our Campaign’s success is testament to the supporters, alumni, staff and students of the University, who have met this challenge with a generosity of spirit, time and dedication that is to be greatly admired. In this publication we have chosen 12 representative stories which show the impact philanthropy has on the University’s landscape. Teaching spaces and libraries have been redesigned and reconfigured. New buildings bring groundbreaking discoveries through collaborative opportunities. Life-changing research has been made possible across the medical and scientific disciplines. Investment in the humanities has extended our cultural understanding of other nations, as well as our understanding of Scotland, and the history of the University itself. Old College quad was revitalised as a meeting place for staff, students, and those visiting and living in the city. The provision of new scholarships and bursaries is crucial to ensuring Edinburgh continues to attract the brightest minds, and reinforces the University’s commitment to providing financial support to those with the ability to study here. All of this has only been made possible thanks to the unstinting support of the University’s community of donors, alumni and friends. To you all I say, a very big thank you.
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea BSc, PhD, FRSE Principal and Vice Chancellor The University of Edinburgh
Creating tomorrow’s technology At its heart the University of Edinburgh’s award-winning Informatics Forum, home to some of the world’s most pioneering research in computing science, is charmingly analogue: it is all about people. With a glorious central atrium, glass walls and floating stairways, the Forum is designed to be a place to congregate, communicate and collaborate. The ability to look into each of the building’s six floors, like a cross section, leaves no one isolated. The idea of creating a cuttingedge space for some of the world’s brightest minds to meet, caught the imagination of donors such as social science alumnus Mr Crawford Beveridge. After graduating, Mr Beveridge moved to the US to take up a senior position within Sun Microsystems and was latterly Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise. He had always wanted to give back to the University and the idea of the Forum was compelling.
Designed by Bennetts Associates and opened in 2007, the Informatics Forum brought together, for the first time, the University’s 500 scientists working on artificial learning, virtual reality, bioinformatics, computational linguistics and robotics. In one of the Forum’s meeting rooms hang a series of prints by the artist Eduardo Paolozzi, which show scientist Alan Turing cracking the Enigma Code. Geometric shapes clash in all but the central print, where musical notes, fish and birds emerge. It’s a great analogy for the Forum, thinks Professor Michael Fourman, who was Head of the School of Informatics at the time of the build. “Inspiration in science is just like inspiration in art. It’s about people having crazy thoughts and creating new ideas,” he says. “Before, there were a lot of intellectual opportunities for collaborative work that weren’t being fully exploited.”
A lot of innovation happens on the edges, where different disciplines touch each other. That was a winning proposition for me, and the magnificent building causes a lot of that to happen. Mr Crawford Beveridge Alumnus and donor
Today, the Forum houses the academics who will produce the technology of tomorrow. Linguists are collaborating with programmers; neuroscientists are at work with robotic specialists. The ability to talk to your phone, or the algorithm behind predictive text, started here, and it is discoveries like these that have helped place the University at the top of the league tables for computing science. Donations such as Mr Beveridge’s have brought about these opportunities. When the £42 million Informatics Forum opened, every donor’s name was illuminated in binary code on a digital board that hangs in the atrium, to say ‘thank you’.
Revolutionising veterinary medicine When Edinburgh alumnus Dr George Gunn was growing up on the Shetland Isles in the 1950s, there was only one vet for the entire archipelago. His father, a shepherd, would mostly care for his animals himself. Lambing season was particularly fraught. Today, on the southern fringes of Edinburgh, donors such as Dr Gunn have paved the way for a vastly different scenario. Through their support, the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies opened the doors to its new home in September 2011, and together with the adjacent Roslin Institute and Hospital for Small Animals, this stateof-the-art, £42 million teaching facility, forms one of the largest communities of veterinarian practice in the world. Dr Gunn, who leads the global animal health business for Novartis, graduated from Edinburgh’s Vet School in 1973. “You look back and think, if I hadn’t got my vet degree from Edinburgh, I wouldn’t have any of this, so I felt I wanted to give something back,” he explains.
That something has helped create a cutting-edge facility, capable of housing 950 students and 200 members of staff, across 12,500 square metres and three floors. The post-mortem room has a pulley system with capacity for large zoo animals and bulls. For the first time it also has a viewing platform where students can observe procedures. The dissection room can cater for 120 students across 30 steel tables. Elsewhere, students can now practise milking a cow, suturing or blood sampling on life-size animal models. As part of the development, the Hospital for Small Animals opened a £3 million veterinary cancer centre. It offers sophisticated diagnostic procedures and comprehensive cancer therapies for pets, including a linear accelerator, which provides radiotherapy for animals. Together with the Roslin Institute, this new community of practice will revolutionise veterinary medicine in years to come.
Dr Gunn’s father sadly passed away a few years ago, but his memory lives on at Edinburgh’s veterinary medicine campus. The next generation of vets – some of whom will spend their careers lambing sheep, others who will fight disease on a global scale – will all be trained in a tutorial room that bears his name.
The important thing is having all staff and students in one place. The people who donated as part of the Edinburgh Campaign really bought into this idea. It means we’re in a better position to review our curriculum and ensure earlier clinical contact for our younger students. A better curriculum makes better vets. Professor Susan Rhind Director of Veterinary Teaching
In 2006 a valuable contribution to the preservation of musical history was made. The collection of Sir Nicholas Shackleton, award-winning geologist and lover of woodwind instruments, arrived at the University’s Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments. There are more than 900 items in the collection: flutes, oboes, bassoons and overwhelmingly clarinets, an instrument Sir Nicholas played and loved. It is the greatest assembly of these instruments in the world.
Unpara It would be easy to assemble 900 clarinets, but to assemble this amount to tell the story as Sir Nicholas’s collection does, is very special. In this collection we have the whole history of the clarinet. Professor Arnold Myers Director of the Edinburgh University Collection of Historical Musical Instruments
Collected with a geologist’s flair, every stratum in the clarinet’s development, from its basic German form in the 18th century to the contemporary lattices of metal and wood, is visible. Every variation, be it Austrian, American, French or British is accounted for. Sir Nicholas sadly passed away in 2006, and his will stated that his collection, plus an endowment of nearly £700,000, be bequeathed to an institution that would guarantee its accessibility to the public and researchers,
and where each item would be catalogued and appreciated. With its track record of research and preservation of historical instruments, the University of Edinburgh was selected to continue Sir Nicholas’s work. Led by the University’s Professor Arnold Myers, a team has catalogued the entire collection. The 809page result was published in June 2007. The catalogue is also freely available online, acknowledging Sir Nicholas’s wish for these instruments to be accessible to all.
Scholars, instrument makers and musicians have travelled to Edinburgh to witness the unparalleled collection. A bespoke storage system was devised to house all the clarinets, complete with a supportive cushion for each instrument. The endowment ensures the collection is kept alive. Sound recordings have been taken from 18 of the instruments, postgraduate research has been supported and two doctoral theses have been based on the collection. An important clarinet by
August Grenser, a 19th-century instrument maker, which was known to Sir Nicholas, but not for sale during his lifetime, has been purchased. “He would be very happy with everything,” says Penelope Shackleton, Sir Nicholas’s sister. “He was really looking forward to doing research on his collection when he retired, so it is wonderful that the instruments have gone to a place where that research will be nurtured.”
alleled
Fighting back against motor neurone disease
Scotland’s only centre for research into motor neurone disease (MND) started with a thumb that refused to work. In 2003 Mr Euan MacDonald, a University of Edinburgh law graduate, was working in corporate finance. A keen sports enthusiast, he was purchasing a bicycle when he discovered he was unable to move through the gears. It was the first sign of a disease that would slowly chip away at his motor nerve cells. Nine years later he was confined to a wheelchair and restricted to communicating by a computer, but he is anything but powerless.
Mr Euan MacDonald’s family are leading the fight against this corrosive disease. In 2007, together with his father Mr Donald MacDonald, Euan made a seven-figure donation to the University to establish the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research.
The donation has also attracted £3 million of additional investment, which supports the work of six professors, has reanimated the national register for MND and has brought together the work of nearly 70 researchers worldwide. The fight back is gathering pace.
“The donation gave substance and focus to all the relevant activity that was already going on at the University in this area,” says Dr Siddharthan Chandran, the Centre’s Director. “It is a fantastic example of targeted philanthropy.”
One of the Centre’s key projects involves voice banking. Researchers are collecting recordings of patients’ voices, so that a synthesised version of their own voice, rather than an impersonal, robotic alternative, is available, should they lose
their voice through the disease. The project grew out of Euan’s own need. At every turn he has been engaged in the Centre’s work. For the MacDonald family, their donation is all about the patients. “It’s important to give hope,” says Donald MacDonald. “Patients have to know that efforts are being made to help them, that progress is happening, and I think we have picked the right place for it.”
Euan’s input has been huge. That’s great for researchers in the Centre. He takes interest and encourages them to work hard and to produce results. It’s an ongoing conversation rather than a passive donation. It’s a privilege to be part of this. Ms Shuna Colville MND research nurse
Influencing the world In 1855 Huang Kuan graduated from the University as a doctor of medicine. He was the first student from China to graduate from a European institution. More than a century later, what was a rare interaction between the University and far-flung lands, is now commonplace. Donations to the Edinburgh Campaign have helped to make the world a more accessible, more understandable place. In 2006 the Confucius Institute for Scotland opened in Edinburgh. Backed by Hanban,
an arm of China’s Ministry of Education, the Institute works across business, culture, and policy to bring together many facets of public life in both Scotland and China. Of the network of 350 Confucius Institutes worldwide, Edinburgh’s is unique in receiving five consecutive awards of excellence from the Chinese government. In six years the Institute’s student population has grown from six to more than 300. As well as supporting all levels of learning – from undergraduate teaching to PhD study –
Edinburgh’s Confucius Institute organises public film series, business lectures, and works with local schools. It is also in the process of creating alumni organisations in China to maintain links with the significant number of Edinburgh alumni now living there. The Institute’s vision and expertise has attracted many generous donations. One significant gift in 2001 from Dr Harushia Handa established the Handa Chair in Japanese-Chinese Relations, which supports a deeper understanding of one of Asia’s most dynamic relationships.
Edinburgh’s Confucius Institute has become a vital hub for furthering understanding about China. “The level of what people know about China, and the importance of China in the world, is wildly imbalanced,” says Professor Natascha Gentz, the Institute’s Director. “It is obvious that we need to know more about this country, as it is already economically important and increasingly politically significant.” China is not the only country with which the University is developing partnerships. The Princess Dashkova Centre
opened in 2011 to strengthen ties between Scotland and Russia. In 2010, the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World was established after a gift from the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation. Its mission is to advance mutual understanding between Islam and the West. The University can serve as a bridge to some of the most important parts of the globe. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Edinburgh Campaign has helped to extend its reach.
The Confucius Institute has become a recognised hub. It brings China together with a variety of Scottish communities and interests, from Scottish Opera to the Scottish Qualifications Authority. The Institute feeds into all parts of public life. Professor Natascha Gentz Director of the Confucius Institute
King’s Buildings gets its heart Plans for a central library at the University’s King’s Buildings campus have circulated since the 1940s. Numerous proposals waxed and waned over the decades but the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library finally opened its doors to students in 2012.
Ever since Kenneth Murray, Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology, arrived at the University with his microbiologist wife Noreen in the 1960s, he agitated for one. “I’ve always valued libraries,” he says. “From my early days I realised that we can’t live without them.” The Murrays set up the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh in 1983 to administer profits from their patent on a Hepatitis B vaccine, to support science and engineering at the University. The new library is named in their honour. Noreen sadly passed away last year. “It was very kind to name it after us,” Professor Murray says. “Noreen was very inspirational to me. I was a chemist; she was a microbiologist. It was a very useful combination.”
It was what everyone wanted. To have a central point is wonderful for everyone. So many alumni wrote to us saying ‘we want to give that to the next generation’. Professor Lesley Yellowlees Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering
Fittingly, the new library will inspire similar crosspollinations between disciplines. It creates a campus focal point, a place where the University’s 7,000 engineers, mathematicians, biologists, chemists, geoscientists and physicists can congregate to study and share ideas. The £8.5 million building, designed by Austin Smith Lord Architects, is a striking synthesis of wood and glass. As modes of study change, so do libraries. Each floor is designed for a different learning style. The first floor is for social study, but as you ascend through the library, the hubbub dies down and you find yourself on the peaceful third floor, for silent study. Students can gather in group-study spaces complete with digital projectors, or make
use of flat-screen televisions and smart boards. And then there are the books; geology texts nestle beside volumes on particle physics, for the first time in the campus’ history. More than 250 staff and alumni gave to the project. One donor Mr Ian Godden, now Chairman of KBC Advanced Technologies and Farnborough International Limited, remembers commuting to the King’s Buildings campus to study chemical engineering in the 1970s. He says: “For me, this was the way to say thank you to the University and contribute to the future.”
Building on greatness
The gift was anonymous. The impact is anything but. In 2010, £1 million was given anonymously to the University to complete a project that began at the start of the French Revolution. The donation has not only transformed Old College quad into one of the city’s most attractive squares, but it has deepened the University’s appreciation of what it is built upon, in every sense. Work began on Old College in 1789. The original plans belonged to renowned architect Robert Adam, but funds ran dry and he died before he could realise his vision. That task was left to William Henry Playfair, who
took up the mantle in 1817. Unfortunately funding ran out again and the work was never fully completed. The quad was used latterly as a gravel-filled car park, which, during heavy rainfall, would flood and spill its contents onto the street. Generations of University maintenance staff refilled it, with Sisyphean diligence. For Buildings Operations Manager Mr George Boag, the donation and the chance to complete the work of two of Britain’s greatest architects was “the job of a lifetime”. But before the glistening Clashach sandstone and the Yorkshire grass were laid, the
site had much to reveal about its history. An archaeological survey was commissioned and expectations were high. Yet what was unearthed startled everyone. The probable site of the murder of Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband, was uncovered. So too were 80 skeletons from the graveyard of Kirk O’Fields. The remains of Hamilton House – a mansion built for the Duke of Chatelherault in 1552 – and the remnants of the University’s earliest library, dating from 1617 were also unearthed. Archaeologists also retrieved a buried trove of instruments used by Joseph Black, key figure
of the Enlightenment, discoverer of carbon dioxide and, from 1766, Professor of Chemistry at the University. The work has been both revealing and revitalising, as the space comes to be used more and more by the wider community. HRH The Princess Royal officially opened the quad in September 2011, in her first official duty as Chancellor of the University. During her installation ceremony, which took place in the quad, she expressed the gratitude felt by all to the anonymous donor.
The refurbishment has helped to remind us that the University has always been very much a part of the city. The quad is now an important space for the University and the city, and is open to all. Students, locals and tourists now use it to interact. The whole project has been transformational. Professor Mary Bownes Senior Vice-Principal, External Engagement
Easing the pain of childbirth
What makes a pregnant woman go into labour? This fundamental question, one that lies at the start of every human life on the planet, remains strangely unanswered. It is a mystery that perplexed Edinburgh alumnus Dr Albert McKern. Nearly 70 years after Dr McKern’s death, in a Japanese internment camp in Sumatra, his empathetic inquiry is finally being investigated. Dr McKern’s legacy is one of the most unusual received by the University. Having previously attended the University of Sydney in his native Australia, and then Yale University in the US, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a medical degree shortly after the First World War. He practiced medicine in what was known as Malaya – contemporary Singapore – where he wrote his will in 1944. It stipulated that 10 years after the death of his last immediate family member, the proceeds of his estate should be divided between his three alma maters. The bequest instructed that the money should be used to “conduct research into the causes, prevention and
treatment of mental and physical pain and distress during pregnancy, labour and the puerperium.” In 2008 Dr McKern’s bequest was granted and the University received £2.7 million. The legacy has established the Dr Albert S McKern Fellowship, and is currently paying for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows to carry out research into pregnancy, as well as other projects across the University. Researchers are currently investigating whether a disposition for postpartum haemorrhage – excessive bleeding during childbirth – is passed on from mother to daughter, as well as that original question, of why a pregnant woman goes into labour when she does. “It is amazing that we don’t know why labour starts, as it seems such an obvious thing to know,” says Professor Norman, Director of the Tommy’s research centre in Edinburgh. “Clearly Dr McKern thought it was an issue, and it remains an issue today. With this funding we can address that, make labour less painful and the adverse consequences less distressing for women and their families”.
Dr McKern’s foresight has helped cement pregnancy research in Edinburgh. It is so fantastic that he put money into an area that so often seems to be overlooked. When people are making their will they are thinking about heart disease and cancer, but not many go back to the very start of their lives and think about making pregnancy better. Professor Jane Norman Director of Tommy’s research centre
Tracing Scotland’s global reach As early as the 13th century, Scots have been leaving their homeland. Until recently, there has never been a dedicated Scottish centre researching the worldwide impact of these expatriates. Prompted by his own global business travels, Edinburgh alumnus Mr Alan McFarlane was keen to find out more about the heritage of migrant Scots. Amid the skirl of investments, spreadsheets and meetings he encountered as Chief Executive of Edinburgh-based global investment managers Walter Scott & Partners Limited, he noticed a pattern: the boards of international companies were studded with people holding Scottish surnames. Clients in Hong Kong or New Zealand usually held a pre-existing impression of Scotland and its attributes, even though many had never actually visited the country. Mr McFarlane credits the Edinburgh Campaign with connecting his personal interest in Scottish diaspora with the work of historian Professor Tom Devine. In 2007 he donated £1 million to aid the establishment of the first Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies. His generous gift is believed to be the largest, single, private donation to promote a UK-based historical research initiative.
Mr McFarlane’s gift has created scholarships and bursaries to support six postdoctoral fellows and eight PhD students. Their work interrogates popular yarns and myths about why Scots emigrated. Folk tales are coming into focus as historical truth. Professor Devine, Director of the Centre and author of To The Ends of The Earth: Scotland’s Global Diaspora 1750-2010, which successfully articulates the Centre’s research for a popular audience, explains: “We are not introspective. We get the messages out beyond the walls of the University.” The Centre has hosted a series of public events and advises the Scottish Government on its plans to engage with diaspora, and this is just the beginning. Mr McFarlane hopes one of his gift’s legacies will be the Centre becoming a hub for the examination of all kinds of diaspora. Ultimately, thanks to Mr McFarlane’s donation, the University is able to sharpen the picture and shed light on the truth of Scotland’s diasporic and influential history.
It was clear the Scots had left an impression that was deeply and widely held, quite disproportionate to the size of the population. I wanted to get a deeper understanding of Scotland’s role in the world. Why is there a Robert Burns statue in every Australian state’s capital city? Scotland’s place in the global imagination has to be rooted in history but how did the myths come to be wrapped around the historic events? Where better to study these questions than at the University of Edinburgh? Mr Alan McFarlane Alumnus and donor
Bringing together the best minds of our generation
As an explanation of what the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI) is, and what it can do, look no further than its new home, the historic High School Yards building, currently under development in the centre of Edinburgh. The refurbished building, which dates back to 1777, will reopen in June 2013, following a £15 million investment. It is expected to achieve a Building
Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating of “outstanding”, reflecting its green credentials, and will be the first urban building in the UK to achieve this. The building itself embodies everything the ECCI wants to achieve: excellence, impact, and sustainability, and this is what has inspired many alumni to donate to the project. One anonymous donor gave £4 million.
Computer science alumnus Dr Bruce Davie says his concern for the environment and his belief in the ECCI’s vision led him to give. The new home for the ECCI will act as a hub to bring academics, business and government together, and be a place where public policy, business strategy, and low carbon research is shaped and aligned.
“We’ve had 10 years of scientists telling us the climate is changing,” says Dr Andy Kerr, the Centre’s Executive Director. “But what does society do about it? That’s where we operate.” The new building will have suites designed to facilitate meetings, as well as teaching facilities to create the new generation of carbon professionals. Distance learning courses are being developed to educate
senior managers about the latest developments in low carbon research. Since it began life in 2008 as the Edinburgh Centre for Climate Change, the Centre has worked with the Scottish and Chinese governments, Edinburgh City Council, large energy companies and local businesses. Dr Kerr was the only member of staff 18 months ago, but now there are 14 staff members.
“It wouldn’t have happened in the way that it has, without the Edinburgh Campaign,” says Dr Kerr. “We have benefited hugely from the input of alumni, developing really good relationships with people who have committed time and money to help set this up. We are all deeply in their debt.”
The Centre’s ambitions are great. Edinburgh is a place that can bring together world-class people to tackle one of the biggest problems that faces the world. There is so much potential here. Dr Bruce Davie Alumnus and donor
Life-changing bursaries Each year, students arrive in Edinburgh from around the globe and from myriad backgrounds, renewing and revitalising the student body. One of the Edinburgh Campaign’s most palpable successes has been ensuring that more students are financially supported through the University’s Access Bursary Scheme. More than 700 current students are receiving support for the duration of their degrees. This year alone, more than 200 new access bursaries were awarded to incoming students, to help them meet their living costs.
“It would be unhealthy if prestigious universities found themselves with only students from privileged backgrounds,” says Mr Christopher Stone, one donor who helped to make this happen. Mr Stone’s family were refugees from Nazi Germany and unable to support his psychology studies at the University of Edinburgh but the state paid his fees and provided a maintenance grant. He now helps those from disadvantaged backgrounds attain their university goals by personally funding 13 bursaries.
“Giving for this purpose is hugely rewarding,” says Mr Stone. “These are people from difficult backgrounds with many impediments to getting to university. If I am able to help them, that makes me very happy. It is all the reward one needs.” Corporations are motivated to support student scholarships and bursaries too. Since 2003 the Coca-Cola Foundation has given $2.25 million annually, through the Coca-Cola International Scholarships: Scholarships Change Lives Program. It provides full tuition fees
as well as living costs for the best international students to come to Edinburgh. These sums of money are, for many, the difference between attending university or not. One Edinburgh student, Aidan Whan from Scotland, had always wanted to be a primary school teacher. His mother was diagnosed with ME 12 years ago and has been unable to work since. Aidan wanted to study at the University of Edinburgh, but the cost of living away from home was daunting until he was awarded an access bursary of £2,500 a year.
“That made the difference,” he explains. “I wanted to come to Edinburgh to study and the bursary has made that possible.” Aidan has also been inspired by the support given to him. “If I am ever in the position to help someone in the way I’ve been helped, I will do it,” he says.
The Coca-Cola Company has supported educational initiatives for more than 100 years. We believe education is key to socio-economic development and one of the most powerful ways to grow sustainable communities. We support this program because we believe our youth should have access to the best educational opportunities available. Ms Ingrid Saunders Jones Chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation
Seeking health solutions When Dr JK Rowling’s mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the early 1980s, there was no hope for patients, as no treatment existed. Nerve cells just shut down, one, by one, by one. I cannot think of anything more important, or of more lasting value, than to help the University attract world-class minds in the field of neuroregeneration, to build on its long and illustrious history of medical research and, ultimately, to seek a cure for a very Scottish disease. Dr JK Rowling Alumna, Honorary Alumna and donor
The author’s £10 million donation, the largest ever received by the University, is helping to change that. In November 2011, foundations were laid for a new facility next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Early in 2013 the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will open. The purposebuilt facility is named after Dr Rowling’s mother, who sadly passed away in 1990. Scotland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with some 10,500 people with the condition. As well as the building, the donation has supported world-leading research into how stem cell science can treat the disease. It has also established Rowling Scholarships to support and increase the number of researchers working at the Clinic each year. The vision
is that within the career span of these scholars, repairing nervous systems ravaged by the likes of MS will become routine. It is a far cry from the dark days of the early 1980s. Professor Sir John Savill, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, explains: “This donation emphasises that we are now moving into a completely new era. Developments like this give patients and families hope. Set something like this up in Edinburgh and it will become nationally and internationally visible. It will be a beacon for patients and families across the world.” The Clinic will focus on MS, but will also look into other degenerative neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and motor neurone disease. The facilities will allow researchers to directly translate their discoveries into clinical trials, bridging the ‘bench to bedside’ gap. Patients will not be mere bystanders in the fight to end the disease, but will be at its heart. It is a fitting memorial to the woman the Clinic is named after.
The Edinburgh Campaign by numbers The Edinburgh Campaign began in 2006. It was the largest fundraising initiative of its kind in Scotland. The aim to raise £350 million, to ensure the University of Edinburgh maintains its place among the world’s leading centres of learning, was straightforward – but ambitious.
The economic climate that ensued brought unforeseen challenges. Remarkably, six years on from setting this ambitious target, thanks to the outstanding generosity of our donors, the Edinburgh Campaign has exceeded all expectations. This is what happened.
Total income during the campaign
£350m £52m 23,322 Total income for student support
Total number of donors
Increase in number of individual donors 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9
15,417 16,150 16,875
2009/10
18,463
2010/11
20,655
2011/12
22,327
An increase of 45% Increase in number of alumni 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
An increase of 37%
150,000 158,000 168,000 177,000 186,000 205,000
Geographical distribution of donors
America 1,672 Europe 20,001 Africa 71 Asia 235 Oceania 273
Distribution of income by College or Support Group
Percentage of male and female donors
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine 46% University Projects 20% Science and Engineering 20% Humanities and Social Sciences 8% Edinburgh Fund (unrestricted) 6%
Male 61% Female 39%
Distribution of income by types of donor
What’s in a name?
Government and Statutory 33% Individuals 27% Trusts and Foundations 24% Education Partners 10% Companies 6%
Johns, Margarets, Elizabeths and Davids are most likely to pledge their support. The following lists are the order of likelihood:
John David James William Andrew Ian Alexander Michael Richard Colin
Margaret Elizabeth Catherine Helen Anne Fiona Susan Gillian Jennifer Sheila
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