Edinburgh academics left out of 2010 academic honours

No academics from the University of Edinburgh (UoE) are to receive knighthoods in 2010, a list published by the Times Higher Education Supplement has confirmed.

The news comes despite the high score for research achieved by the university in this year’s league tables.

Almost 60 figures from higher education will be awarded honours in the New Year's list—either a Knight’s Bachelor, DBE, CBE, OBE or MBE.

Of the UK's top research universities, only UoE and the London School of Economics (LSE) are not represented amongst the recipients of honours.

According to the 2010 Good University Guide, the best universities in the country for research quality are Oxford, Cambridge, UoE and the London School of Economics, followed by Imperial College and University College, London.

Lecturers from UoE have been included in the honours list for the last four years in a row. Three were awarded knighthoods in 2007.

Noteable Scots on the honours list include the owner of Ultimo, Michelle Mone and the "extremely proud" Ian McGeechan, former Scotland and British & Irish Lions rugby player and coach.

Mr McGeechan said: "My passion for rugby and for sporting excellence remains undimmed."

The noticeable absence of UoE representatives from this year’s list follows a year in which several lecturers from the university won prestigious prizes for academia.

Amongst others, Dr Paul Nimmo was awarded the John Templeton Prize for Theological Promise, whilst Dr Ben Panter won the Thales Scottish Technology Prize for a concept that uses a ‘real time’ software filter to detect homemade or improvised explosive devices.

UoE also achieved a place in the top 20 universities in the world, according to the Times Higher Education and QS World Rankings published towards the end of last year.

According to this ranking system, Edinburgh is one of the top five British universities, alongside Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL, and is the only one of these not to be recognised in the New Year Honours list.

However, Dr Maria Dlugolecka-Graham, Edinburgh University’s Coordinator for the Polish School of Medicine, will receive an MBE for services to medicine and Polish-Scottish relations.

The Polish School of Medicine was founded in 1941 at the University of Edinburgh, with the aim of meeting the needs of students and doctors in the Polish armed forces. The Edinburgh branch of the school closed in 1949, but it maintains strong links with the university.