In a year that saw us retain our position as the top university in Edinburgh for student satisfaction, our schools, students, and staff were busy leading the way in research, teaching and more.
We encourage you to hit pause and reflect on a year that hasn’t been without its challenges, but that has also thrown up many, many successes. Let’s take a look at a few of the highlights…
January: Collaborating with SGN
At the start of the year, Edinburgh Napier launched a collaborative project with gas company SGN to reimagine six old fossil fuel sites in response to climate change. Students worked in groups throughout the year to design proposals for improvements to the sites, and presented these through blogs, videos, exhibitions, and demonstrations.
February: Entrepreneurs in Residence
Edinburgh Napier announced two Entrepreneur in Residence appointments through The Royal Society-funded programme aimed at helping UK academic institutions turn world-leading research and ideas into commercial impact and success.
Dr Jamie Graves and Robert Goodfellow will spend 20 per cent of their time over a 12-month period with the university, sharing their experiences and helping to mentor, inspire and support students and academics with entrepreneurial goals and ideas.
Read the full story here.
March: Success for Cyan Forensics
Edinburgh Napier spin-out Cyan Forensics Ltd, the tech company that helps law enforcement, social media and cloud companies find and block harmful content from paedophiles and terrorists, successfully completed a Series A investment round of just over £5 million led by Par Equity.
Read the full story here.
April: Journalism students cover the election
A group of students from Edinburgh Napier’s Journalism department provided live coverage of the Scottish election results, including an exclusive interview with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Around 20 students took part in the Merchiston campus event, which featured eight hours of live broadcasting on the Radio ENRG platform plus online support on the ENRG Debrief website.
Read the full story here.
May: Partnering with the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network
In the same month that the Covid-19 vaccine became available for 18-29 year-olds, academics in the School of Applied Science joined forces with the UK’s Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN) to drive development of opportunities emerging in vaccine manufacturing.
The new training centre was created as a direct response to concerns over a UK vaccine manufacturing skills gap shortage, ATSTN is being backed by £4.7m from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK (IUK).
June: Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement is launched and the Degree Show
Scotland’s first Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement was launched at Edinburgh Napier in the run-up to Armed Forces Day. This centre, which has been launched at the university’s Craiglockhart campus, taps into Edinburgh Napier’s rich military past. The centre will further develop Edinburgh Napier’s reputation as a military-friendly university and will progress its far-reaching research and education activity.
Final year students from the School of Arts and Creative Industries displayed their work at the 2021 virtual Degree Show. Their incredible work received recognition and praise from across the University and indeed across the globe. You can still browse their projects here.
July: Celebrating our graduates
In July, we took the difficult decision not to hold in-person graduation ceremonies. However, we quickly got to work on our #NapierNames celebration. Our Principal said at the time:
“Our graduates have shown enormous resilience in completing their studies. We wanted to give them the same euphoria you get when your name is called out on stage."
With that in mind, graduates’ names were displayed across Edinburgh on billboards and bus stops, and even on a taxi and tram!
August: Our new Chancellor takes up his position
Space industry pioneer and leading business executive Will Whitehorn was appointed as the next Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University back in July. The Edinburgh-born President of industry group UKspace took up his post at the University on August 1.
September: Rankings success
We climbed six places in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022, jumping from 63rd to 57th in the UK! The University is also the highest placed of the Scottish post-1992 modern universities.
Browse our rankings page here.
October: Returning to the Usher Hall
After two years away, it was so special to return to the Usher Hall for in-person graduation ceremonies. The University’s first intake of Graduate Apprentices graduated from the School of Computing and, as ever, we shared stories from our Inspirational Grads - from those who have faced particular hardship during their time with us. One of those stories was from Kate.
November: After the Pandemic and Cop26
We partnered with After the Pandemic to host a Cop26 fringe event at Strathclyde Union in Glasgow, urging people to #GetOnWithIt to save our planet. Together we put on a packed schedule of exhibitions, workshops and performances, welcoming everyone from primary school pupils, activists, academics, business leaders and politicians, including Barack Obama.
To read Ruth Cochrane and Kirsty Connell-Skinners' reflections on the conference, visit
here.
December: #1 in Scotland for Sustainability
What better way to round of the year than to be named the top University in Scotland for sustainability? People and Planet awarded us the only 2:1 rating in Scotland! This fantastic news came in the same week that we launched our Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Huge congratulations to colleagues across the University who helped make this a reality.
A thank you
Thank you to everyone in the Edinburgh Napier University for another fantastic year. You have all helped drive us forward and further cement our reputation as the home of difference makers. We look forward to seeing what 2022 holds.