Inspired 2018
Edinburgh Napier University’s Donor Magazine
Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation advances mangrove conservation project.
Everyone can make a difference. For more information on how to support the areas featured in this magazine, please email development@napier.ac.uk.
How our students are benefiting
K N A TH YOU
STUDENT EXPERIENCES NUMBER OF STUDENTS BENEFITING
67 EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE
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To be able to immerse myself in a culture very different to my own is an experience I will always remember. Thank you.”
Gary Donaldson, BSc Hons Marketing Management with Consumer Studies
EXCELLENCE IN ART AND SPORT
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Your support makes a huge difference to numerous areas of Edinburgh Napier University, and particularly to our students. Many of your donations directly support opportunities which enhance the personal and professional development of our students. The students who have benefited from your support over the last year say “Thank you” in their own words:
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EXTRA QUALIFICATION
3 OVERSEAS VOLUNTARY WORK
13
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PLACEMENT/ INTERNSHIP
12 RESEARCH
I am extremely grateful to the donors because I would never have had a chance to visit the Faroe Islands and carry out my research without this financial support.”
Zofia Dolnikova, MSc Tourism and Hospitality Management
“
I come from a low-income family and have had to juggle many aspects of my student life just to feel secure with expenditures. Thanks to the grant, I was able to boost my confidence and explore the sights, sounds, and flavours that China had to offer without having to worry about the overall costs.” Engineering Student
Learn more about supporting our students
Student Spotlight - Valentina Marin Echeverria, MA Interaction Design
Valentina designs app for ex-offenders who are ready for employment Valentina used funding from the Student Grant Initiative to develop a ground-breaking new app aimed at providing professional and personal support to ex-offenders. She collaborated on her idea with The Wise Group, which offers mentoring services for people serving short-term prison sentences and upon their release. The app, called Tribe Spot, is a digital platform for ex-offenders who are ready for employment. It offers activities to gain knowledge in their area of interest, encouraging them to fulfil objectives to receive microcredits and certificates. These build towards a profile similar to a CV, which they can use when looking for employment to show their experience and commitment towards achieving their goals. During development workshops with the ex-offenders, Valentina asked them how they searched for information and connected to others. They answered, “through their phones” and this response defined the digital platform of the app in order for it to meet their needs.
Valentina believes that Tribe Spot is the “helping hand” needed to support change from within, saying: “This project was never meant as a magic solution to the challenges that arise during the re-integration process, but as a tool designed to help the people involved with it, mentors, organisations, employers, and of course the customers. Re-integration is a very complex situation that needs everyone’s participation and that is the perspective I always kept during the design process. This project is meant to enrich ex-offenders’ relations with others similar to themselves and even if the circumstances they come from are not ideal, they can find understanding and a safe space to grow in the re-integration community.”
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Leonardo DiCaprio foundation advances mangrove conservation project
Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation advances mangrove conservation project
SOUTH SUDAN
P
ETHIOPIA
UGANDA
KENYA
SOMALIA
MOMBASA TANZANIA
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rofessor Mark Huxham’s awardwinning Kenyan mangrove conservation and community development project, which featured in last year’s The Red Triangle, has received a significant boost. The project was awarded a grant of $50,000 from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to facilitate the expansion of the research from the original site at Gazi Bay, 50 miles from Mombasa, to a new site at Vanga on the south coast of the country. Speaking at a climate change conference at Yale University, hosted by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Leonardo DiCaprio
announced that his foundation would award $20 million of funding to support a range of projects, which included the grant for Professor Huxham’s work. The actor is a dedicated environmentalist and established the foundation in 1998 with the aim of protecting the world’s last wild places. The organisation works on the most pressing environmental issues of the day and has distributed more than $80 million in grants since 2010.
In 2017, the United Nations recognised Professor Huxham’s project as an
“outstanding example of nature based local solution to sustainable development”.
Professor Huxham said: “This support from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will help us expand our efforts to Vanga, the largest mangrove forest in southern Kenya, where local people have asked for our help in securing their forest for the future. The new funding will directly support a democratic community organisation, which will mobilise volunteers and staff in tree protection, conservation monitoring, education and investment in local development. We are grateful for the support and confident that our model of grassroots engagement combined with the sale of carbon credits will succeed here.”
Professor Mark Huxham
The initiative uses funds raised through the sale of carbon credits to support the planting and conservation of mangrove trees as well as providing a community fund, which has paid for school buildings, textbooks, and new sources of clean water.
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Investment for sales skills & Hub for SUCCESS launch
Investment for sales skills Hub for SUCCESS launch In last year’s Inspired we reported on our plans to launch a collaborative project to improve the postschool educational outcomes for people of all ages with experience of care in south-east Scotland. Thanks to the investment of the three project partners, Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University, and the University of Edinburgh, along with a generous grant from the Scottish Children’s Lottery, and infrastructure support from Edinburgh City Council, the Hub for SUCCESS project was launched on the 17 September at the project’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
Professor Neil Rackham, honorary graduate and donor to the Centre for Strategic Selling & Business Development, with Dr Tony Douglas, Associate Professor, Strategy and Sales
The Rackham Foundation has invested £50,000 to establish the Centre for Strategic Selling & Business Development. This hub will drive the professionalisation of sales through research, teaching, industry engagement, and best practice. This will be a unique opportunity for Edinburgh Napier business students to gain a competitive edge after graduation by receiving bespoke sales learning which addresses skills gaps identified by employers. The Rackham Foundation was set up by Professor Neil Rackham, who received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2017. It is Professor Rackham’s hope that high-level sales training will encourage more students into a field that is urgently in need of talented graduates. Skills for professional selling are skills for life and skills to set graduates on successful career trajectories. He said:
“In the past, when my students asked me, ‘Should I make a long-term career in sales?’ I replied that it was a great place to start, but it wouldn’t get them to the top. Today I tell them ‘It’s the future. There’s no better way to the top than through sales’.”
In the print version of this magazine the gift is incorrectly listed as $50,000.
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With only 4% of school leavers with experience of care progressing to university, it is clear that any improvement in the educational outcomes of these young people must involve intervention very early in their educational journey. This is exactly what the Hub will offer. With input from a range of educational, local authority, and thirdsector partners, the Hub will utilise a number of touch points to work directly with young people. It will provide activities and services for the whole educational journey, starting in primary school and going through to college or university completion. It will actively support transitions into, through, and out of college and university. The staff will also reach out to support care experienced adults who have missed out on Higher Education at an earlier age and are keen to have this learning experience. Speaking at the project launch Edinburgh Napier University Principal, Professor Andrea Nolan, said: “I am grateful to Scottish Children’s Lottery and all the project funders for making the Hub for SUCCESS a reality. I am very proud of Edinburgh Napier University’s involvement in and commitment to this vital work and I am particularly delighted that Dr Joe Morrow QC, an honorary graduate of Edinburgh Napier, has agreed to chair the advisory board. As a member of the Faculty of Advocates and President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, Dr Morrow brings a wealth of experience that will be key to driving the success of the Hub.”
Frank Prior Prize and inspiring addition to the War Poets Collection
Frank Prior Prize For the second year running, alumnus Dr Frank Prior, MBA 1993, has rewarded innovation and collaborative working through the Frank Prior Prize for Interdisciplinary Practice. This year’s competition required student groups to design an interactive experience inspired by the theme “travel” and compose an original piece of music to be used in their presentations to the awarding panel. Two groups were declared joint winners and included students from both Product Design and Popular Music courses.
[Photo of winning students by Alan and Gillian still being arranged]
Inspiring addition to the War Poets Collection Thanks to your support, an original manuscript of Siegfried Sassoon’s acclaimed war poem, “Aftermath”, has been secured for permanent exhibition in the War Poets Collection at our Craiglockhart campus. The poem was written in March 1919, after the First World War had ended, and first published in Sassoon’s 1920 volume of poetry entitled, Picture-Show. The manuscript is hand-written in ink, dated, and signed by Siegfried Sassoon.
Aftermath reminds us of the horrors and hardships of war and the importance of remembrance, concluding with the line, ‘Look up and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget’.
Image copyright of the Estate of George Sassoon Published by Marketing & External Relations, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh, EH11 4BN +44 (0) 131455 3221 I
development@napier.ac.uk
Editor: Stephanie Miller Contributors: Students, Staff, and Alumni at Edinburgh Napier University Photography: Edinburgh Napier Staff, Students, and Alumni
Opinions expressed are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of Marketing & External Relations or Edinburgh Napier University. ©Edinburgh Napier University 2018. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way or filed in an information system without the consent of the publisher. Edinburgh Napier University is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number SC018373. Edinburgh Napier Development Trust is a registered Scottish charity. Registration number SC030725
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Caroline N Low Martin T Lunn
K N A TH YOU To all of our supporters who made donations between 1 August 2017 and 31 July 2018
Kenneth M Macdonald Christine M Macdonald Donald Macdonald Iain Macdonald Lianne Mackay Christopher J MacKinnon Lindsay J MacMaster Rachel MacSween Laura J Maguire Marchmont St Giles Woman’s Guild John L Martin Alastair McArthur Janice H McBlane Ian McCann Paula L McClements Marisa Mcculloch Colette McDonagh Douglas G McDonald Anne M McFarlane James N McGoogan Angus Mcgorman
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Frank G Prior Alison S Punnett Neil Rackham Julie K Rankin-Perez Gavin Rennie Neil Robertson Kenneth Robinson J G Ross Stewart Ross The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc Brian J Russell Inmaculada Sanchez Santander Universities Terence Scally Scottish Building Federation Edinburgh & District Charitable Trust Scottish Children’s Lottery Adrienne Scullion Victoria Semple Duncan Sharp Chanda Shula Michael Simlett Bobby A Sinnet Paul W Smith David W Smith Sirwan Sorani The Sportsman’s Charity The Springford Family Trust
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Thank you also to our many anonymous donors