“The purpose of the Alumni Awards is to showcase the diverse and remarkable ways in which Edinburgh Napier alumni are making a difference in their professions and communities,” explains Miia MacDougall, Senior Alumni Relations Manager. “The awards provide an opportunity to shine a light on role models for our current students and individuals who are an inspiration to the entire University community.”
Award winners are identified through peer, student and staff nominations. “I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to nominate an alumnus for an Alumni Award,” comments Miia. “This is very much a community-driven process, and we are delighted so many nominees were put forward this year.”
There are three categories of award: the Impact Award recognises a former student who is dedicated to making a difference and whose ethos and approach supports the University’s work, while the Rising Star Award recognises the achievements of an early career graduate. “This year we also introduced our Excellence Awards which honour outstanding alumni who have achieved significant success and are making an exceptional contribution to their chosen professional fields,” Miia explains. “Through them we can highlight graduates across diverse fields and inspire our current learners regarding career opportunities and possible pathways.
Celebrating the award winners
Zander Murray: Impact Award winner
Zander Murray is a courageous individual who is working to build greater acceptance and understanding within the sporting world. In 2022, he made headlines as the first Scottish professional football player to come out as gay. “I felt my life in football and my sexuality could not coexist, that I needed to keep it hidden,” Zander explains. “I struggled for years, knowing that coming out would be difficult in the world of football.”
He has since become a passionate role model, empowering young sports people, and particularly young footballers, to be their true authentic selves. This work has seen him receive numerous accolades and awards. “Although my experience was difficult, I am now at peace with myself and proud to be visible. More importantly, I have become part of an amazing community and am committed to making sport a place for all.” As an inspirational speaker and workshop leader he uses his story to encourage others and to help shift attitudes across Scottish football and beyond.
Different Maker Zander is the Red Triangle magazine 2025 front cover star, click here to read the article.
Larissa Engelmann: Rising Star Award
Dr Larissa Engelmann is pioneering research to support better police interactions with vulnerable groups. As a rising star, Larissa’s dedication to making a difference is an inspiration to others at the beginning of their careers.
Currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre, based at the University of Leeds, Larissa’s work is helping to drive forward approaches to improve the police’s response to issues including violence against women and girls, domestic abuse, and child sexual abuse.
“I moved to Scotland from Germany and completed my undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD degrees at Edinburgh Napier,” she explains. “Studying criminology here brought all my interests together; it was a perfect fit! Undertaking the PhD really cemented things for me; when I was younger my dream was to become a police officer, but it was at this moment I realised I didn’t want to join the police, I wanted to improve policing, and doing this PhD could be the way to do it.” Her research looked at learning and development within Police Scotland and the findings were implemented into their Strategic Review of Training and Development. Larissa continues to work with colleagues at the University and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, and supports Police Scotland with their learning.
Currently, one of the critical projects Larissa is working on is focused on online child sexual victimisation (OCSV). “This issue presents a clear and present danger to thousands of children across the country, and traditional law enforcement approaches are struggling to keep up,” Larissa explains. “Our work is seeking to establish approaches with local communities to improve resilience to OCSV, develop local best practice, and build tools to enhance early intervention, in order to better protect and support young people and parents.”
Our new Excellence Awards honour outstanding contributions former students are making in their chosen fields
Four inspiring individuals received a 2024 Excellence Award: Graeme Jones, Gill Duncan, Harry McLaren, and Jill Douglas.
Jill Douglas
Jill Douglas is a renowned sports broadcaster and a champion for Motor Neurone Disease (MND), who was awarded an MBE for services to sport and charity in 2022.
“I started in news journalism before I worked in TV, and I was a sub-editor before becoming a reporter and presenter,” she explains. When Jill was approached by BBC Scotland to screentest as their rugby presenter, she didn’t expect to get the role. “It was a big decision to move away from news and become a dedicated sports journalist and broadcaster.” It also made her the first female presenter of the BBC’s Rugby Special. Since then, she has consistently covered major sporting events including rugby, cycling, and the Olympics.
Until recently, Jill was CEO of MND charity, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. “Doddie Weir was one of rugby’s most recognisable personalities, and a great friend; his MND diagnosis was a terrible shock. Through the Foundation we wanted to raise funds to improve the lives of those affected by the disease and support research to better understand it. We’ve since raised millions, providing grants to individuals with MND and investing more than £18 million in research.” Jill is still actively involved as a patron of the charity.
Gill Duncan
Gill Duncan has spent the last 14 years working for Edinburgh Science, an educational charity best known for organising one of the world’s largest science festivals, first joining as an intern before advancing through the organisation to become the Director of Edinburgh Science Worldwide managing their events and festivals overseas.
She has driven new collaborations and partnerships, and developed projects for various partners around the world, working to produce high quality science engagement opportunities that inspires the public and builds understanding.
“One of my proudest achievements was working with Abu Dhabi Science Festival. I helped to curate, produce and deliver the event for ten years, and over that time we welcomed half a million visitors to the festival and engaged many young people in the UAE.”
Having recently completed an MBA, Gill is now embarking on a new venture with her family business Kailzie Gardens in the Scottish Borders. An historic walled garden with a café, self-catering accommodation and a fishery, Gill plans to develop the offer for visitors, developing a unique events programme as well as working to preserve and enhance the natural environment.
Graeme Jones
Highly regarded in the world of professional football, Graeme Jones was recently appointed Sporting Director at Heart of Midlothian Football Club and continues to drive standards to be as high as they possibly can be.
When appointed as the Scottish Football Association’s (SFA) Head of Football Science and Medicine in 2015, the first role of its kind, Graeme worked to establish best practice across the whole association. Two years later, he became the SFA’s Head of High Performance, focused on developing and managing a high-performance culture across the national and youth teams. Graeme helped the Women’s team qualify for the 2019 World Cup, and the Men’s A team qualify for the EURO 2020 and 2024 finals. He then become the SFA’s Performance Director.
A top operator in his field, Graeme has demonstrated outstanding ability across strategic leadership and performance strategy. “My role at Hearts is a new step and proud moment for me. As Sporting Director I will oversee the football department, from the Men’s and Women’s First Teams down to the Academy. I feel very fortunate to have this career and I’m still relishing every moment.”
Harry McLaren
Harry McLaren is an award-winning computer security and forensics industry leader. Currently working for Tesco as their Head of Cybersecurity Engineering, where he manages three engineering teams, Harry previously worked for Adarma, helping different enterprises with their security operations.
“My consultancy role at Adarma was really successful,” he explains, “and I was tasked with building an enablement programme to scale supply and meet customer demand. I trained up talented new graduates, growing four consultants to 47, and about half of them were from Edinburgh Napier!” In 2022 Harry joined SenseOn as Director of Product before moving to Tesco in 2024.
His commitment and dedication has been recognised through various awards including, ‘Best New Cyber Talent’ (Scottish Cyber Awards 2016), and ‘2018 Security Professional Under 30’ (Security Excellence Awards). Harry co-founded Cyber Scotland Connect, designed to bring information security professionals, enthusiasts and students together across Scotland. He was awarded ‘Cyber Evangelist of the Year’ (Scottish Cyber Awards 2018) for this work to help diversify, unify and encourage a thriving Scottish security community.
Alumni Awards celebration event
Last November we held an event at our Craiglockhart Campus to celebrate the winners of the 2024 Alumni Awards.
Click here to watch a recap video of the evening and scroll through the images below and have a peek into the celebrations