It has been a hectic week as we prepare for our Bicentennial celebration this weekend. Thank you everyone who has been involved in planning these wonderful events.
The Festival of Research has now started and so do take a look in at some of the great topics and work of our research leaders and teams. It runs through until 21 October so there’s plenty of time! Thank you to all those who are taking part and who are giving their time so generously, and to those who have organised such an interesting array of events.
I am particularly honoured to be officiating at the installation of Emeritus Professor Sir Geoff Palmer on Friday 15 October. This will be streamed live for those not able to be there in person, and to allow colleagues and friends from around the world to share in this event. We are expecting a number of guests on campus to be in the audience in person, including close friends and supporters of the University, academic colleagues, Court members, other Scottish Principals, our former Chancellor Lord McKay and, of course Sir Geoff’s family. And I am particularly excited to welcome colleagues from Malaysia to our Edinburgh campus – Professor Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, our new Pro Chancellor, and Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, Chair of the Board of Directors in Malaysia. I am sure we are making them most welcome during their visit.
Friday is also when we will be hosting the global Mechanics Institute Conference reflecting the fact that our anniversary also connects with so many other institutes and places of learning and knowledge around the world. At our evening Anniversary Dinner, we will be unveiling a modern Bicentenary Mechanics Institute Charter with our partner Universities who have their origin connecting back to the formation of the Mechanics Institute movement via the creation of the Edinburgh School of Arts inauguration at St Cecilia’s two hundred years ago. We will feature this is news stories ahead.
You can still can register for the Global Gathering, being held virtually on Saturday morning, to connect with our global One Watt community. Led by our Alumni team and alums from around the world, this event will have messages from around our campuses – and from our new Chancellor – and allow time for those taking part to connect and tell their own stories of what it means to be part of our University family. An incredible amount of work has gone into creating this event and I thank the Alums and the Alumni and Development team for the incredible effort – I’ve had a sneak preview and I’m delighted with what I see! There is a special focus on Norwegian and School of Textile and Designs alums within this event.
And Saturday is our actual anniversary – 200 years ago to the day when it all began in St Cecilia’s Hall with the first lecture. We are hosting our HW200 Exhibition in St Cecilia’s, where the venue will be dressed to look and feel like it would at the very beginnings of our University. From there, there will be guided tours around the city to see hear about and see important landmarks that form key milestones in our history. And we will be re-enacting the first lecture – which we will share virtually. How things have changed!
A key message throughout all our celebrations is how transformational education can be – and that the opportunity should be open to all. As part of this, we continue with our 1821 Appeal to support the projects that will help create even more opportunities to change lives.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor