The DUCHESS OF ROTHESAY WILL UNDERTAKE ENGAGEMENTS IN ABERDEEN
Wednesday 16th January 2019
Engagement 1
HRH The Duchess of Rothesay, Chancellor, University of Aberdeen, will install Professor George Boyne as Vice-Chancellor of the University and also confer an honorary degree and present an award in recognition of outstanding service to the community at Elphinstone Hall, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 3EE.
Around 400 guests – University alumni, staff, students, supporters, civic and industry leaders and chancellors and vice-chancellors of other universities – will attend the formal ceremony.
The event will also see Her Royal Highness confer an honorary degree upon Edward Stevenson who worked in the University’s biomedical physics department for 42 years and supported the pioneering team that created the world’s first clinical MRI scanner. The retired technician – awarded an MBE in 2010 for his services to healthcare and charity – is known to many Aberdonians for the festive display he used to create every Christmas in his garden in the city’s Ashgrove Road West, raising tens of thousands of pounds for local children’s charities.
Aberdeen initiative Food and Fun – set up to provide free meals during the school holidays to children in most need – will also be recognised at the ceremony, with the founding partners presented with University’s inaugural Principal’s Award for Outstanding Service to the Community.
Scottish performers Fiona Kennedy and Robert Lovie will both sing at the installation ceremony which will also feature musical arrangements by the University’s Royal composer Professor Paul Mealor whose motet Ubi Caritas et Amor was performed at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
After the installation ceremony, Her Royal Highness will meet and greet guests at a short reception.
Engagement 2
Her Royal Highness will also visit the University’s School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition and in her role as President of the National Osteoporosis Society and Patron of the Versus Arthritis meet researchers working in arthritis and musculoskeletal health, breast cancer and women’s health at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill Health Campus, Foresterhill Road, Aberdeen AB25 2XE.
Her Royal Highness will initially meet researchers working in the Centre for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health that enables innovative interdisciplinary clinical, research and training activities at the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian. Both are working together to improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Centre research investigates the role that stem cells – the cells that can form new joint tissues – play in joint health and osteoarthritis. This knowledge will help devise new treatments for osteoarthritis by harnessing the ability of the stem cells to maintain and repair joints.
HRH will then see poster presentations and hear from scientists and students conducting breast cancer research and meet a breast cancer charity representative.
HRH will then be updated on the University’s osteoporosis research.
The Duchess has a great interest in osteoporosis with both her mother and grandmother dying of it. HRH has been President of the National Osteoporosis society since 2001.
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