2018 Principal's Medals winners

Undergraduate Bharat Chaturvedi receives the Contribution to the Community Medal, and Professor Helen Sang, Dr Vicky MacRae and Ms Catherine Eastwood receive the Exceptional Service Medal.

First awarded in 2008, the Principal's Medals celebrate the achievements and dedication of the University's community members. Recipients are nominated by colleagues or fellow students.

Contribution to the Community

The Principal's Medal for Contribution to the Community honours a student or staff member who plays a key role in a project or service that has been of benefit to the wider community.

Bharat Chaturvedi, is an undergraduate studying Politics and receives the award in recognition of his work in developing project Sanitree in his home town of Bhind, India.

The project seeks to provide females in Bhind with access to affordable, reusable sanitary pads. Started in September 2017, through the student society Enactus, by January 2018 they had a pilot scheme running in Bhind. The project organised workshops to show previously unemployed local women how to produce, market and sell the pads to their communities. Materials were sourced locally, helping to keep costs low, and the initial group were trained to transfer their knowledge to other women and girls in their community. The local district administration also became involved, and were supplied with thousands of pads to distribute. The pilot scheme reached over 2200 women and young girls. Following such success, the project is seeking to expand its activities through its website Sanitree.

Exceptional service

The Principal's Medal for Exceptional Service recognises a staff member, or team, who makes a contribution to the University that far exceeds what is expected of their role.

Professor Helen Sang, Dr Vicky MacRae and Ms Catherine Eastwood lead the Roslin Institute’s Athena SWAN related activities, advancing support of gender equality. Earlier this year, these activities resulted in the award of a departmental Athena SWAN Gold Award. At the time of nomination, The Roslin Institute was the only holder of a departmental gold award in Scotland, and one of only ten awards in the UK.

The team’s activities in support of Roslin’s Athena SWAN aspirations over the last decade have benefitted other departments in the University through mentoring, and have also involved the delivery of talks at other institutions, to share their knowledge and the guiding principles for gender equality and career development. Their activities have formed the basis of what are now University-wide initiatives such as exit questionnaires, involvement in the ”Career Ready” programme, hosting apprenticeships, and providing 1:1 career coaching for academic staff.