Watson Building dedicated in memory of former Vice-Chancellor

Sir David sadly passed away in February 2015 after a short illness. He was considered one of the foremost academic leaders of his generation and played a vital role in the university’s history.

An event was organised, hosted by our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Debra Humphris and Sir David’s widow, Lady Betty Watson, at the Watson Building, bringing together over 70 former colleagues and current staff, as well as members of Sir David’s family.

The Vice-Chancellor welcomed guests by highlighting how relevant Sir David’s views on the critical importance of civic and community engagement for universities were today, despite the Higher Education sector having changed so much.

The Professor Sir David Watson lecture theatre

Members of Sir David’s family

She spoke of Sir David’s contributions to the successful joint medical school and also in the creation of the award-winning Community University Partnership Programme (or CUPP) at the University of Brighton in 2003. It is his long-standing commitment and passion for community university engagement that led to the establishment of the Professor Sir David Watson Awards for Community-University Partnerships, which launched in 2016.

As part of the building dedication, we were delighted to welcome the winners of the inaugural award given in Sir David’s name – Dr Mhairi McVicar and Lynne Thomas from Cardiff University – who gave an energetic and positive presentation about their project, Community Gateway. In addition, to the Professor Sir David Watson Award, the project has also secured £1.25million in external funding.

Community Gateway works with residents and local organisations to help make Cardiff’s Grangetown district an even better place to live and work by developing world class research, teaching and volunteering opportunities which respond to residents’ ideas.

Mhairi and Lynne shared the successes alongside the challenging aspects of their project, highlighting the huge and varied impact Community Gateway has had both across the university amongst staff and students, as well as in the district of Grangetown itself, often in ways they could not have imagined!

Their experience very much brought to life the following quote from Sir David: “Civic engagement presents a challenge to universities to be of and not just in the community: not simply to engage in ‘knowledge-transfer’ but to establish a dialogue across the boundary between the university and its community, which is open-ended, fluid and experimental.”

Following the presentation, guests were invited to enjoy a celebratory drink, a light buffet, and a chance to catch up with old friends and new.

The Vice-Chancellor then invited Lady Watson to unveil the commemorative plaque after commenting that the end of the university’s 25^th anniversary year was the perfect moment to acknowledge Sir David’s wide-ranging contributions to both the University of Brighton and the Higher Education sector more generally.