Staff achievement

Principal receives Lifetime Achievement
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies receives a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to education from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

Our staff continued to lead their fields in 2022. As well as conducting ground-breaking research and inspiring our students, they are shaping our world as advisers to the Scottish, UK and international governments and to bodies such as the World Health Organization.

GCU Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies CBE FRSE was presented with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2022 Glasgow Business Awards in recognition of her services to education.

In the Queen’s Birthday Honours list Jan Hulme, University Secretary and Vice-Principal Governance, was awarded an MBE for services to Higher Education in Scotland, while Jacqui Reilly, a Professor of Infection Prevention and Control, received a CBE for services to healthcare and public health.

Professor Lesley McMillan was awarded the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship by Advance HE, a charity committed to world-class teaching in higher education. The award celebrates individuals who have made an outstanding impact on students and the teaching profession.

Professor Cam Donaldson was appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was among 80 leading names from the arts, business, public service, and civil society, to be appointed.

Dr Ania Escudero became part of a £3.5 million initiative funded by Scottish Water and the Scottish Funding Council to position Scotland as a global leader in water research.

Professor Lesley McMillan
Professor Lesley McMillan

Professor Tahseen Jafry won a Scottish Women's Award for her work in inspiring a generation of young leaders to take up the fight for climate justice. In addition, research conducted by Professor Jafry into the effects of climate change on the mental health of women in Malawi was Highly Commended at the Green Gown Awards.

Professor John McKendrick was appointed to the national board in charge of closing the poverty-related attainment gap in Scottish education. The co-director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit is the only academic on the Scottish Attainment Challenge Programme Board (SACPB).

Professor of Health Behaviour Dynamics Sebastien Chastin has been named in the top 1% of the world's most influential researchers in the Clarivate's Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list for the third year running.

Professor Billy Hare
Professor Billy Hare

Professor Billy Hare received the CIB Wim Baken’s Best Coordinator Award for his contribution to safety, health, and wellbeing in construction.

Established in 1953, the CIB is a global network for international exchange and cooperation in building and construction research and innovation.

To help chart the early history of women's football in Scotland, Dr Fiona Skillen was awarded a FIFA research scholarship. This will fund the first in-depth study of the origins of women's football from the 1880s to 1939 and will build on a pilot study by the University.

Our Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses (SHBBV) research group won the Emerald Publishing International Real Impact Award for their world-leading HIV and hepatitis C prevention research. Their efforts were also recognised in a letter of commendation from Scotland’s Public Health Minister, Maree Todd MSP

The award celebrates researchers who make an outstanding difference to their communities and wider society.

The University’s hepatitis C expert Dr Dave Whiteley was invited to join the world-renowned Commission for The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology on Liver Disease in Primary Care.

Together, they explored the crucial role of primary care for people with liver disease from prevention and diagnosis to end-of-life care.

Heart failure nurse and Senior Lecturer Yvonne Millerick was nominated for the Patient’s Choice Award at the Royal College of Nursing’s annual Nursing Awards. Yvonne is one of the UK’s first dedicated heart-failure nurses.

Dr Mark Williams
Dr Mark Williams

GCU Law’s Dr Andrew Tickell, cancer expert Dr Mark Williams, and PhD research student Mohamed Elsharkasi were appointed members of the much sought-after Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Young Academy of Scotland.

The institute brings together entrepreneurs, academics, business leaders and other professionals to work collaboratively on projects that benefit Scotland and the wider world.

Three of our optometrists are now NHS Education for Scotland Glaucoma Education and Training (NESGAT) accredited, joining less than 60 throughout the country.

Professor Sebastien Chastin and PhD candidate Michail Georgiou’s research on physical and mental-health benefits of living near a blue space such as canals won a prized place in an anthology on water by the prestigious Johns Hopkins University Press.