Strathclyde University and Associates News: Honorary degrees for eminent trio on University Day

A leading businessman, a renowned chemistry professor and a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland were the distinguished recipients of honorary degrees from Strathclyde this week. 

Jim McColl OBE, Chairman and Chief Executive of business development company Clyde Blowers, James Gimzewski, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Very Rev David Lunan, who served as Kirk Moderator in 2008-9, received their doctorates in a ceremony at the University's Barony Hall on Wednesday, 5 May, as part of University Day celebrations. 

The awards were made in recognition of their outstanding service in, and contributions to, their respective spheres.

Strathclyde Principal Professor Jim McDonald said: "It is a pleasure to award honorary degrees to such eminent figures. The depth of their knowledge and experience reflects the ethos of Strathclyde as a university with impact in education, research, industry and public life.        

 

"Our honorary graduates are at the forefront of the fields they work in and we are proud to welcome them to Strathclyde."

Mr McColl graduated from Strathclyde in 1978 with an Honours degree in Technology and Business Studies. He went on to work with Weir Pumps, while studying part-time for an MBA at Strathclyde. He later took up a senior management position with Diamond Power Speciality Limited and studied part-time for a Masters in International Accounting and Finance.

Mr McColl joined Coopers and Lybrand as a senior consultant in 1985 and went on to acquire 29.9% of Clyde Blowers plc. The company now has 55% of the world market in its original product line, as well as expanding into other growth engineering sectors. It has a portfolio of 83 companies in 27 countries, employing a total of 5,000 people. 

Professor Gimzewski gained a BSc and a PhD in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry from Strathclyde and has gone on to become an internationally-recognised pioneer in the field of nanotechnology. He spent 18 years at international technology firm IBM's Zurich research laboratory and there created what is officially recognised as the world's smallest calculator.   

After joining UCLA, Professor Gimzewski developed the use of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) in the imaging of molecules and his team has used the method to identify cancerous cells in patients with lung, breast and pancreatic cancers. He is also involved in a series of collaborative projects between art and science which have been exhibited in museums across the world, with the aim of making scientific insights accessible to non-scientific audiences.

Professor Gimzewski is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Carnegie Centenary Professor in the Department of Physics at Strathclyde.  

Mr Lunan studied at the University of Glasgow and took up his first assistant ministry in the Calton area of Glasgow. He served as Minister of St Andrews Lhandbryde Parish Church for 12 years from 1975 and was Moderator of the Presbytery of Moray in 1985-6.

In 1987, Mr Lunan returned to Glasgow as Minister of Renfield St Stephen's Parish church and oversaw the rebuilding of the church after its steeple collapsed. He was Glasgow Presbytery's Clerk from 2001 to 2008 and its Moderator in 1999, before being named Moderator of the General Assembly for 2008-9.

Mr Lunan has been active in world mission and development, taking study tours with Christian Aid to Malawi, the Philippines and South Africa. He has also been a hospital chaplain in Elgin, chaplain to the Tom Allan Counselling Centre and the Lord High Commissioner and honorary chaplain to the church's mission partners.              

           

A Fellowship of the University was also conferred on Dr Peter West OBE, former Secretary to the University of Strathclyde, in recognition of more than 25 years of service as a senior administrator. He is also Convener of the University's Malawi Millennium Project and a former Convener of the Secretaries Group of Universities Scotland. Dr West is currently a special adviser to the Principal.

A further presentation was made of the Strathclyder of the Year Award, presented to a member of the Strathclyde community who has made an outstanding contribution to the University or to society, and in doing so has enhanced the University's reputation.

This year the award has been made jointly to Dr Scott Strachan and Mike Dolan of the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering for their work in bringing sustainable energy facilities to villages via the Gambia Project.

Strathclyde is a great place to study and enjoy life at the same time. And this is where you can find out everything about us - from how we teach, to what's on in Glasgow and how to get around. We want to help you make the most of your time here, so we hope you'll come back to these pages to get all the latest news about what's happening on campus and in and around the city.

Strathclyde University and Associates News: Strathclyde receives $100,000 Gates Foundation grant for innovative global health research

Strathclyde has announced that it has received a US $100,000 (£65,329 approx) Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.

The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Dr Owain Millington and Dr Gail McConnell, for a laser-targeted system to vaccinate against the virulent Leishmania infection. 

Dr Millington’s project is one of 78 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the fourth funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries.  The grants were provided to scientists in 18 countries on six continents.

To receive funding, Dr Millington showed in a two-page application how their idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health.  The initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 2,700 proposals in this round.

There are two million new cases each year of Leishmania in nearly 90 countries, mainly in Asia, Africa and South America. It is a chronic, disfiguring and potentially fatal infection but many of the treatments used against it have serious side effects and it is often resistant to first-line treatment.

The multi-disciplinary research will combine immunology, parasitology and laser-based imaging to design and build a new vaccination system. It involves using one laser system to create images of Leishmania parasites, subsequently deploying a second laser to kill the parasites within cells. Importantly, the cells which harbour Leishmania also control the induction of an immune response. Hence, the researchers intend not only to directly destroy parasites in these cells, but also to determine whether the treatment brings long-lasting protective immunity against reinfection.   

Dr Millington and Dr McConnell are both Research Councils UK Fellows with the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. Dr Millington said: "The Leishmania parasite is hugely damaging and one of its worst features is that it manipulates the immune system to prolong its survival. This means there's an urgent need for new drugs to control the diseases it creates, and protect against infection.

"There has been a great deal of research into the development of vaccines but it has had only limited success in preventing infection. Our aim is to work towards creating immunity with new and improved imaging systems to find, target and kill Leishmania parasites in a way which is less invasive and less time-consuming than current methods. We also hope to investigate the possibility of extending it to the treatment of other diseases.

"The multi-disciplinary nature of the work reflects the ethos of the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, where biological, pharmaceutical, chemical and physical scientists work together with the common goal of discovering and developing treatments for the biggest health challenges of the 21st century. The Institute's new building, for which funds are currently being raised, will enable better, swifter and more efficient delivery of these treatments for patients around the world."      

“The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world’s greatest health challenges,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program.  “I’m excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.”

The Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences is currently the subject of an £8 million fundraising campaign for a £36 million new building to expand and enhance its work in developing new medicines for diseases including cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and schizophrenia.

Strathclyde is a great place to study and enjoy life at the same time. And this is where you can find out everything about us - from how we teach, to what's on in Glasgow and how to get around. We want to help you make the most of your time here, so we hope you'll come back to these pages to get all the latest news about what's happening on campus and in and around the city.

University of Strathclyde and Associates: Top Universities

The evolution of the University of Strathclyde is complex. It began in 1796 when John Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University, left in his will instructions for 'a place of useful learning', a university open to everyone, regardless of gender or class. His vision was realised and Anderson's University opened its first premises in High Street, Glasgow, in late 1796. It moved to George Street and developed rapidly throughout the nineteenth century. By the 1890s, Anderson's University had become a major technological institution with a wide reputation for research and learning.

Since its foundations over 200 years ago, the University has evolved and expanded, while remaining true to the vision of its founder - to be a place of useful learning for all.

The University of Strathclyde was founded in Scotland as a place of useful learning, to make higher education available to all, and to combine excellence with relevance. In fulfilling this mission in today's world it will Contribute to the advancement of the knowledge society, to social cohesion and to the quality of life in Scotland, and in the wider national and global community;Generate, through excellence in research and scholarship, new ideas, knowledge and skills to create opportunities for individuals and society; Provide high-quality education to all of its students, regardless of background, inspiring them to develop to the full their abilities, and creating outstanding professional and creative people; Offer the opportunities for all staff to develop their full potential, and contribute fully to the achievement of the University's Vision.

Our aim is to convey to our graduates notonly a high level of professional knowledge, but also the ability to think innovatively andcreatively, and to be capable of becoming the entrepreneurs of the next generation. For this we need dedicated staff – which we have in abundance – and improved facilities, including more teaching clusters such as the recently-opened Crawfurd Complex at Jordanhill which is proving to be an enormous success. From this vanguard position we are continuing to develop a unique interactive IT-based teaching environment across both campuses. Our learning and teaching strategy encourages diversity. We believe that a student population drawn from a range of backgrounds, nationalities and ethnic groups enriches the learning experience of all students. We are promoting opportunities for wider access to higher education by building more effective progression routes from further to higher education, and through our commitment to the GOALS initiative (Greater Opportunity of Access and Learning with Schools), a partnership of the West of Scotland universities and schools which inspires pupils to be successful. There are also major changes taking place in Europe, particularly through the Bologna agreement. We have the opportunity to be at the forefront of these through our membership and current chairmanship of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), a group of like-minded universities to our own. This group has been developing joint Masters’ programmes that will allow students to study at more than one European centre.

Strathclyde University and Associates is a great place to study and enjoy life at the same time. And this is where you can find out everything about us - from how we teach, to what's on in Glasgow and how to get around. We want to help you make the most of your time here, so we hope you'll come back to these pages to get all the latest news about what's happening on campus and in and around the city.