Community Gateway team attend opening of the Watson Building at the University of Brighton in honour of Professor Sir David Watson.

Members of the Community Gateway team were delighted to present at the new Watson building dedication on 13 September that has been formally rededicated in recognition and memory of Professor David Watson who was Vice Chancellor of the University from 1992 to 2005.

Sir David sadly passed away in February 2015 after a short illness and is considered one of the foremost academic leaders of his generation, playing a vital role in the University’s history.

The event brought together over 70 former colleagues and current staff as well as members of Sir David’s family. It was his long-standing commitment and passion for community-university engagement that led to the establishment of the Professor Sir David Watson Award for Community-University partnerships in 2016 and the Community Gateway project was delighted to receive the award in 2017.

Dr Mhairi McVicar and Lynne Thomas from Community Gateway attended the event, giving a presentation about the Community Gateway project, sharing both the successes and the challenging aspects of the project and highlighting the huge impact Community Gateway has had across the University as well as in Grangetown itself.

Dr Mhairi McVicar said:

“We were delighted to attend and present at such a wonderful event in recognition and memory of Professor Sir David Watson. Winning the inaugural award last year was a real honour and we are very grateful that the University of Brighton has recognised the hard work, not just from the team, but also from our community-university partners. We are very much looking forward to what the next few years of the project may bring.”

The Vice-Chancellor then invited Lady Watson to unveil a commemorative plaque to acknowledge Sir David’s wide-ranging contributions to both the University of Brighton and the Higher Education section more generally.

Find out more about the Sir David Watson Award here.