Napier Principal wins leadership award

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University has been awarded the prestigious Public Sector Leader of the Year award.

Professor Dame Joan Stringer received the Scottish Leadership Award at the National Museum of Scotland on 6 October. The Scottish Leadership Awards recognize influential leaders in the private and public sectors, and are orchestrated by Scottish Business Insider Magazine. The list of candidates are compiled by the magazine, followed by a group vote to decide who amongst them will win top honours in various leadership categories.

Professor Dame Stringer told The Journal, “I was honoured to receive this award as it demonstrates that Edinburgh Napier University is now recognised not just as a leading Scottish university but as a highly-regarded international university.”

Professor Dame Stringer has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Napier University since January 2003. Her assumption of this role made her the first woman leader of a Scottish University. Before gaining her current position, she served as Principal and Vice-Patron of Queen Margaret University College. Under her leadership, the college experienced wide expansion and transitioned from a college to a university with full degree-awarding power.

Professor Dame Stringer has been involved in the advancement of both local and national higher education in Scotland. She currently holds positions as Chair of Education UK Scotland, along with board memberships at the Universities Scotland Executive Committee. As an advocate for the public sector, she fulfilled the 1998-1999 appointment as chairwoman of the Northern Ireland Equality Commission Working Group. Her work for this group involved brokering a peace process between four different equalities commissions.

From 2002 until 2007 she was Lay Member of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. She has also been a member of the Secretary of State’s Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament. This group has the important role of laying out methods and rules for the proper operation of parliament.