SPN at Pride Edinburgh

We invite members, allies and students to join us for the Pride Edinburgh March on Saturday 25 June!
The SPN marching troupe will be meeting at 11:30 on the day at Levels Café on Holyrood Road. Speeches start at 12:30 and the march moves off at 13:00.

If you can’t make it to Levels beforehand but still want to join in, just look for our marching banner – it will be 3 metres wide and looks like the image above!

For a quiet space after marching:

Members are invited to meet at the Informatics Forum from 14:00 – 17:00. Join us for refreshments and a marching troupe debrief! Please note that this private space is being facilitated for University of Edinburgh staff and students only. Entry will be via Robbie on the march, through the side entrance and building sign-in. Call/TXT/iMessage/WhatsApp (07905517428) or even teams message Robert (Robbie) Court to access later in the afternoon.

Note: We will keep this post up to date throughout the day and I’ll try and share our location during the march. 

Live updates:

Live location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/d8d45uCRVSKGdAi67

14:00 we’re meeting by the rino head / gift shop by informatics

12:40 were by the traffic lights

10:20 myself and the banner are now in levels cafe having breakfast so feel free if you want to be fashionably early.

8:44 Prepping for meeting at levels cafe. The refreshments are all ready at the informatics forum at the end of the Parade route. The banner has poles this year so wind permitting should be above the crowd. [fingers crossed].

Scientific pioneers recognised

In October, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Scotland’s National Academy, announced the six winners of its highly prestigious medals.

The RSE medals recognise exceptional achievement in science, academia and public engagement.

University of Edinburgh LGBT+ champion awarded medal

Dr Luke Graham Boulter, of the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, was awarded the RSE Patrick Neill Medal.

Dr Boulter received the award for his discovery of a number of processes that are required for cancers to develop during chronic disease, and his identification of a series of therapeutically targetable signals that cancers use to grow.

Being awarded the Patrick Neill medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh is a real honour and I am delighted to see such a prestigious organisation celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community in science”.

• Dr Luke Boulter

Dr Boulter’s LGBTQ+ work

Dr Boulter is also an active champion of LGBTQ+ diversity in medicine and science and is a member of the Royal Society Diversity Committee.

In an interview last year with the Royal Society, Dr Boulter talks about his work and being a part of the LGBTQ+ scientific community.

How can scientists be great allies for their LGBT+ colleagues?

“Just treat them like people. Recognising diversity gives you better results and better science. LGBT+ people have a different perspective and those experiences are important. Just embrace that and enjoy the diversity.”

Looking back, what advice or words of encouragement would you give to your younger self, or to aspiring LGBT+ scientists?

“I would say to my younger self: be proud of who are you and be comfortable with who you are because it’s OK.

To other young LGBT+ scientists: I would say that this is a great career- you will discover things about yourself and the world that no one else knows.

So be a scientist – it’s inclusive, it’s friendly and you can be who you want to be here.”

Other RSE award winners

The other winners of this year’s RSE medals are:

• RSE Royal Medal: Professor Peter Kennedy of the Institute of Infection Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Glasgow
• RSE Lord Kelvin Medal: Professor Alan William Hood of St Andrews University
• RSE Sir James Black Medal: Professor Ian David Duncan of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• RSE Innovator’s Prize for Public Engagement: Dr Paul O’Mahoney, a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant working within the Photobiology Unit at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital
• RSE Senior Prize for Public Engagement: Professor Niamh Nic Daéid, Director of The University of Dundee’s Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science

This year’s medallists have all made truly exceptional contributions to their own field of science.  This year’s recipients join a small but brilliant group of pioneers that have been advancing learning and knowledge since the RSE’s Royal Charter was awarded in 1783.

Scotland can be proud that such a cohort of brilliant talent, making a vast difference to lives all over the world, can be found within our small nation.

• Professor Dame Anne Glover, President of the RSE

Related links

Scientific pioneers recognised by 2020 Royal Society of Edinburgh Medals

The Royal Society Blog: Celebrating LGBT History Month