Professor Richard Mellanby receives the Chancellor’s Award for Impact

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Professor Richard Mellanby, along with Alan Convery, Jenny Culbertson, and Charles ffrench-Contant,  were congratulated by the Chancellor, at a gala dinner held at the Palace of Holyrood House. 

Established in 2003, the Chancellor’s Awards now reward staff in four categories for teaching, research, impact and showing great potential in early career research.

Impact

Professor Richard Mellanby received the Chancellor’s Award for Impact. Richard was recognised for the impact of his work in developing strategies for rabies elimination in dogs in the developing world and the resulting dramatic decline in human rabies deaths. Richard holds the Personal Chair of Comparative Medicine and is based at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.

Innovative teaching

Dr Alan Convery, Senior Lecturer in Politics in the School of Social and Political Science, received the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching for his exceptionally valuable and distinctive teaching contribution to the University of Edinburgh and wider community. This was through his own courses, as Widening Participation coordinator, and with initiatives creating several successful and well regarded Massive Open Online Courses on understanding both British and Scottish elections.

Research excellence

Professor Charles ffrench-Constant was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Research in recognition of his outstanding internationally regarded research in the field Neurobiology and also for inspiring and supporting colleagues, peers and younger scientists. Charles is a Professorial Fellow based at the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Dean of Research for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Rising star

Dr Jennifer Culbertson, Reader in Linguistics and English Language in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences received the Rising Star Chancellor’s Award. The Award recognises her outstanding contribution towards enhancing the research reputation of the University, both nationally and internationally, through ground-breaking research that has led to fundamental advances in our understanding of how language is shaped by the way in which the human minds work.

This is a tremendous achievement and recognition of Richard’s outstanding work and leadership in Rabies Control in Low and Middle-Income Countries.  Working with the Mission Rabies charity, Richard has overseen a mass canine rabies vaccination, education and surveillance programme which has resulted in the vaccination of over one million dogs and in the education of over two million children. This work has resulted in the decline of human rabies deaths in Goa from 15 in 2014 to zero deaths in 2018. Similarly, their work has resulted in the dramatic decline in rabies deaths in Blantyre where they have vaccinated over 200 000 dogs in the past 4 years.

Professor David Argyle

Related links

Chancellor’s Awards – https://www.ed.ac.uk/principals-office/the-chancellors-awards

Dr Alan Convery - http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/politics/alan_convery

Dr Jennifer Culbertson - https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/jennifer-culbertson

Prof. Richard Mellanby - https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/prof-richard-mellanby

Prof. Charles ffrench-Constant - http://www.crm.ed.ac.uk/people/charles-ffrench-constant

About the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies is a one-of-a-kind centre of excellence in clinical activity, teaching and research. Our purpose-built campus, set against the backdrop of the beautiful Pentland Hills Regional Park, is home to more than eight hundred staff and almost fourteen hundred students, all of whom contribute to our exceptional community ethos.

The School comprises:

• The Roslin Institute
• The Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security
• The Roslin Innovation Centre
• The Hospital for Small Animals
• Equine Veterinary Services
• Farm Animal Services
• Easter Bush Pathology
• The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education

We represent the largest concentration of animal science related expertise in Europe, impacting local, regional, national and international communities in terms of economic growth, the provision of clinical services and the advancement of scientific knowledge.