Professor Sir David Watson memorial lecture

Professor Sir David Watson,  Director of Brighton Polytechnic from 1990 to 1992 and the first Vice-Chancellor of its successor the °®¶¹´«Ã½ from 1992 to 2005, was commemorated at a memorial event on 19 October 2015

3 November 2015

Introduced by David Wolff, Director of the Community and University Partnership Programme, the event highlighted David Watson's extraordinary contribution to developing community and university partnerships.

Professor Stuart Laing in his talk, “The precious path of learning, community-university engagement: past, present and future”, discussed Sir David Watson's legacy and offered insightful thoughts about the future of university and community engagement.

Professor Laing's talk was followed by a panel that included Professor Angie Hart, Paul Bramwell, and Elizabeth Maddison.

A group of staff on stage

The event also saw the launch of The Sir David Watson Award for Community University Partnership. Created in memory of Sir David Watson and his leadership in support of community university engagement and social responsibility in higher education around the world.  

The award will acknowledge Community University Partnership achievements by teams of community and university partners working together to build a healthier, more equal and sustainable society, and is to be spent on furthering partnership work.

The °®¶¹´«Ã½'s Community and University Partnership Programme have begun fundraising for the award. You can . 

The first round of awards will take place in 2016.