Jess Lonsdale, who recently completed her Biomedical Sciences degree, has been awarded The Sir William Darling Memorial Prize

This Prize is in the gift of the Principal, and is to be awarded to and paid to such student in the University of Edinburgh, who, in the opinion of the Principal of that University for the time being, shall, by his/her conduct, example, scholarship, or pre-eminence in sport, have done in any year most to advance or enhance the reputation of the University.

Jess Lonsdale is one of the winners this year and was given this award to recognise her work acting as an ambassador for the University in advocating neurodiversity. She is actively involved in voluntary work. She was the secretary for Best Buddies Scotland, a volunteering society that operates out of the University of Edinburgh (Scotland – Best Buddies International; Edinburgh University Students’ Association). Jess also designed and executed an outreach project called ‘Building bridges with the autism community’ through having been awarded a competitive ‘Our Minds’ summer scholarship. (Our Mind cohort introduction 2024). Work generated through this project was exhibited in Inspace as part of the ‘Developing ’ exhibition sponsored by the Patrick Wild Centre and is currently on display in the Drum café at QMRI Successful opening night for ‘Developing Brain’ exhibition – The Patrick Wild Centre. She has now started her master’s degree in Integrative Neuroscience at Edinburgh. We wish her all the best in her future endeavours.