Staff from the University of Aberdeen are celebrating their success at the annual Aberdeen Ambassador Network Awards, which were held on Wednesday (May 10).
The awards are held to celebrate the achievements of those who promote the north east as a conference destination, and a number of academics from the University were recognised for their contribution in attracting conferences to the region over the last 12 months.
Among the winners were Professor Bettina Platt, who helped bring the three day Alzheimer’s Research UK annual conference to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Meanwhile John Scrimgeour, Executive Director of the University’s Aberdeen Institute of Energy, picked up an award for his work in bringing the 2016 UK Oil & Gas Collaboration Conference to the University.
Graeme Mackay, ambassador programme executive of VisitAberdeenshire said: “We have worked with a variety of conference organisers from many different industries which demonstrates the strength of our ambassador programme and our conference facilities in Aberdeen, but we still have the capacity to grow the network further, and this can only be achieved through engaging with our local academics and business leaders.
“There is an association for nearly everything, and we’re fortunate to have distinguished universities that specialise in medical science and research here on our doorstep, while our buoyant business sector has an array of thought-leaders from a range of professions which include chartered accountants and engineers as well as haulage and farming.
“These are all industries which we have a strong representative in, and we should, as a region, be doing more to highlight our UK and global contribution to these individual industries by hosting conferences here in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.”
Nikki Pearce, from the University of Aberdeen, said: “It’s great to see so many of our own Ambassadors rewarded for their efforts in bringing events to the city and, I’m delighted the Network are able to recognise their efforts.
“Aberdeen Ambassadors Network provides support for those involved in bidding for and organising these events and we are always keen to encourage others to consider bringing an event here.”
The award winners from the University of Aberdeen are:
John Scrimgeour - Maximising Economic Recovery (MER) in the Oil and Gas Industry – The Issues
The University of Aberdeen and Scottish Energy News hosted the 2016 UK Oil & Gas Collaboration Conference, focussing on Maximum Economic Recovery (MER); discussing the supply and operating chain to share best practice and benchmark with other process industries to achieve MER. Company culture, ethos, collaboration with peers and regulators, legal issues and enhanced oil recovery were the core discussion.
Dr Margaret Watson - Social Pharmacy Conference 2016
The Social Pharmacy Conference was held at King’s College, University of Aberdeen, and attracted a wide audience with keynote speakers from Canada, The Health Foundation and the Scottish Government.
Paul Schlicke - Dickens Fellowship International Conference
The Aberdeen branch of the international Dickens Fellowship, hosted the Fellowship’s 110th annual conference, celebrating the life and work of Charles Dickens and his visits to Aberdeen. Receptions were hosted by the University Principal and the Lord Provost, and the highlight was a discussion of Dickens’ fiction by Scottish novelist Ian Rankin and BBC presenter James Naughtie.
Professor Marijn De Bruin and Dr Clare Cooper - European Health Psychology Conference
The University of Aberdeen hosted the joint conference of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) and the British Psychology Society Division of Health Psychology at the AECC. The conference marked the 30th EHPS annual conference and celebrated the impact that Health Psychology has made over three decades.
Dr Jeff Pan - 12th Reasoning Web Summer School
The Summer School series is devoted to a perspective centred on the reasoning techniques complementing other research efforts within the areas of semantic web, linked data and knowledge graph. The popular Summer School, held at the AECC, provided further insight into logical foundations of knowledge graph construction and query answering, producing also one of the first books on systematic introduction of knowledge graph.
Neil Curtis - UMIS / SUSCAG
Held at the University of Aberdeen, the joint conference between University Museums in Scotland & Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives Group, brought together museum staff, archivists, librarians, researchers, students and others who have developed effective and sustainable initiatives and so help to develop models of best practice for governance, management, partnership and delivery.
Professor Bettina Platt - Alzheimer’s Research UK
The three day Alzheimer’s Research UK annual conference was held at the AECC, welcoming dementia researchers from across the world. The conference brought together a range of researchers working on discoveries in the laboratory to those with more clinical perspectives. This is the largest dementia research conference renowned as an opportunity to share new insights and forge diverse collaborations.