Jeshreena now has an MBA as well as a beautiful son!
BUSINESS student Jeshreena Palakkal had a good excuse for failing to turn up for a crucial exam – she had just given birth!
Jeshreena was due to sit the test as part of her MBA in Leadership Practice at Edinburgh Napier University.
However, she had to change her plans after the exam was scheduled for the day she was due to become a mum.
In the event, the heavily-pregnant student felt feverish and her unborn baby’s pulse was high so medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary decided to bring him into the world by emergency C-section 10 days early.
And by the time classmates were sweating it out in the exam room, Jeshreena was already getting to know her new son.
Baby Elan recovered well from his premature birth in April 2018 and is enjoying good health. And now, more than two years on, his mother is celebrating becoming a graduate.
Jeshreena, 25, originally from Kerala, south-west India, but now living in Leith, said: “I couldn’t believe it. I only had one exam in the whole year, and it turned out to be the day my baby was due.
“Fortunately I was able to delay the exam until the following April, and I was also able to secure extra time to complete written assignments. It has been hard but I have finally made it to the end of my degree journey and I also have a lovely little boy.
“I feel so proud of myself for getting to graduation and also extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to study here and meet such wonderful people. I am planning to stay in Edinburgh.”
Jeshreena found out she was pregnant just days after getting a visa to come to Edinburgh Napier to study for her Masters after taking her first degree in India.
Her husband Hashim persuaded her she should not give up on her academic dream and they came to Scotland together, Jeshreena battling through morning sickness, giving birth then postnatal depression while safety adviser Hashim – who has since then began his own MBA course at Edinburgh Napier – worked night and day to support them.
Jeshreena said: “There were times when I was in extreme pain due to my C-section stitches but I didn’t rest even for a day, with housework and university assignments to do as well as looking after the baby.
“There were days when I had a feeding baby in one hand and with the other I was typing out an assignment on my laptop, but I finally did it with the support of my husband and my wonderful tutors.”
Dr Paul Langford, lecturer in financial services at Edinburgh Napier, said: “Jeshreena has shown admirable resilience in overcoming the obstacles in her way to graduation – gaining her MBA Leadership Practice is an impressive achievement and we wish her well in her future career!”
“The ups reminded me where I wanted to go, and the downs pushed me to get there”
A STUDENT who lost five family members to violent crime in two months has told how she battled through grief to graduate with distinction from Edinburgh Napier University.
Hazina Alladin’s world was turned upside down by the deaths of two cousins, a cousin-in-law, an uncle and his wife in two separate home invasion robberies in her home country of Trinidad.
She admits the murders brought her “to her knees”, and led to her ignoring her mental and emotional health as she threw herself into the demands of both her day job and study programme.
Hazina credits the university’s Wellbeing & Support online pages with helping her eventually come to terms with her grief, anger and disbelief, as well as her Christian faith, confidence-boosting voluntary work and creative hobbies like photography and dancing.
Now she has learned that she has graduated from Edinburgh Napier with a BA with Distinction in Business & Enterprise. Despite the family tragedies in her Caribbean homeland, she achieved merits and distinctions for all of her assignments on the online course.
Hazina, 28, who was also elected Online Programme Representative at the university, said: “Coping with my losses while working full-time, volunteering, studying for a degree and being away from my family was indeed challenging. However, I realised I needed both the peaks and the valleys to keep moving forward. The ups reminded me where I wanted to go, and the downs pushed me to get there.”
The first incident happened in Penal, south Trinidad, in August last year. While working on a course assignment, Hazina learned in a call from her mother that two cousins and one of their wives had been found dead in their house with gunshot wounds and cuts to their throats.
She said: “I fell to my knees and cried uncontrollably. I screamed the word ‘no’ for hours until my voice was gone. It was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Two months later, a retired uncle and his wife were killed in a violent home invasion in Central Trinidad. A 24-year-old suspect was later arrested after being spotted driving their stolen vehicle.
In the weeks that followed, Hazina experienced outbursts of grief but also began following processes that helped her create space for herself.
She said: “I was afraid that these tragic events would affect my ability to continue learning.
“Grief made everything feel like an extra effort, whether it was making friends or submitting work, but there were plenty of resources available at Edinburgh Napier to help me work though my feelings. The Wellbeing & Support site was extremely helpful. I explored books on the Shelf Help section and strategies to reduce pain and boost my ability to cope.
“I also enjoyed networking with Edinburgh Napier’s global community of students, and the online programme rep role was a big help in this. It involved keeping abreast of student issues on our degree programme, representing students’ interests and addressing issues that impacted on the quality of their experience at the university.”
Now Hazina – who earlier studied at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School – is putting what she learned from her one-year online course at Edinburgh Napier to good use in her current job with a property development firm in New York City, where she has lived for four years.
She said: “I was offered a position as Administrator just two months after enrolling at Napier. I am responsible for coordinating office activities in compliance to company policy and procedure. Now, I can better relate to the company after learning about business plans and how to calculate the return on the investments a company makes and how different business models work.
“I’ve found that when you are able to apply the material and talk about how it relates to life today, you’re much more able to remember it. It’s almost like your brain presses an ‘on’ switch and you start to absorb the material better because you are at least partially invested in it.”
Dr Kingsley Omeihe, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Edinburgh Napier’s Business School, said: “Hazina is an outstanding, dedicated and talented student.
“Achieving a distinction is an impressive feat, and the fact that she has been able to do as well as she has, given the circumstances, says a lot about her. Her personal qualities are as impressive as her intellectual accomplishments.”
Edinburgh Napier University and Scottish Enterprise deliver sector-wide recovery initiative
From April to June, four themed workgroups reviewed the challenges facing Scottish tourism as it reeled from the impact of Covid-19. The scale of the challenge facing the sector – one of Scotland’s largest employers – was obvious from the first day of lockdown and, ultimately, more than 85% of personnel have been furloughed over the period.
In response, in March, Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh Napier University, the partnership which runs the ground-breaking Destination Leaders Programme (DLP), acted to harness the experience and expertise of more than 120 DLP alumni, launching DLP Assembles to support a pathway to recovery.
“When we launched, the aim was to provide identified actions, outputs and outcomes to help recovery,” explains Professor Jane Ali-Knight of the Edinburgh Napier Business School.
“Involvement was designed to ensure participation came under the acceptable category of professional training for ‘furloughed’ professionals, and we used the DLP alumni network to form the project groups to ensure a good mix of experience and expertise. We also matched the workgroups with mentors and professional support to guide participants on their themes and tasks.”
DLP alumni used their connections to bring together the network of professionals who considered each theme – guided by weekly discussions with mentors drawn from DLP alumni and Edinburgh Napier. Mentors helped focus each group’s actions around the Scottish tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, and provided regular updates on government funding and initiatives.
Aileen Lamb from Scottish Enterprise adds: “We wanted the programme to encourage innovative thinking across a range of themes, but most importantly we wanted to help maintain and extend participants’ professional skills, expertise and experience, and their networking during furlough.
“This project was built upon the alumni network of the Destination Leaders Programme. It is an excellent example of successful collaboration across academia, the public sector and the tourism industry. What Covid-19 has shown us, despite empty hotels, attractions and airports, is the passion, innovation and resilience of the people who work in this critical industry.”
Kenneth Wardrop, a fellow DLP founder, adds: “Using the DLP alumni we were able to act quickly and ensure we coordinated with groups such as Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group.
“Everyone involved is to be commended for the quality, professionalism and practical solutions identified. They will all be vital in adjusting business operations to post Covid-19 challenges, and the longer-term strategic planning for the recovery of the sector.”
The practical recommendations of each workgroup were presented in individual online sessions in June.
An undoubted highlight has been an interactive toolkit for visitor attractions and experiences, which is now hosted on the VisitScotland website. The Toolkit includes case studies from across the world and suggests technological solutions to suit different budgets, as well as short, medium and long-term ideas.
“It covers everything from online ticketing and social distancing, to moving content online and creating your own podcast,” explains Thayanne Scardini, who volunteered to work on the Toolkit workgroup with fellow tourism professionals Karin Gidlund and Jemma Reid.
“We believe the Toolkit will be a great starting point for attractions and experiences who are looking into diversifying through technology, helping to prepare them for a safe reopening for both visitors and staff, whilst meeting visitors’ expectations and improving customer experience. It has many recommendations for applying technology that can also be helpful for other sectors as well.”
For Antony Carter, and his fellow participants on the Business Events workgroup, they quickly realised that – whether global chain or local venue – the priority going forward is to find ways to reassure clients that operations are safe.
“In the past, operational staff at events were meant to blend into the background; going forward clients and attendees will want to see the operational team front and centre – whether they are cleaning or managing movement around a venue.
“Our report recommends ways that venues can demonstrate how they have alleviated risk effectively, and that includes collaboration throughout the supply chain.”
For Colin Corson and the Whisky workgroup, ‘collaboration’ also became their watchword: “Whether you are a self-catering provider who wants to welcome guests with a fridge full of local produce, (and a local malt of course), or two attractions selling combined tickets online to avoid the need for queuing, collaboration is vital to future success.
” It can minimise congestion in local shops; help improve the experience for guests and local businesses; and help local communities – as well as visitors – feel safer as they move forward.”
From conception to conclusion, collaboration is the theme that sums up the ‘Pathway to Recovery’ project.
Jane Ali-Knight adds: “The University is incredibly proud to have worked with Scottish Enterprise to lead and drive this project forward. We applaud the hard work of all the workgroup participants, against the backdrop of the many challenges of lockdown, and the professional uncertainty, anxiety and disruption.
“That hard work was marked by the presentation of Certificates of Participation to all group members on Friday 10th July.”
Delivery scheme sees nearly 200 orders placed in first week
Nearly 200 students have taken advantage of Edinburgh Napier’s free period product scheme after it was extended to include home delivery during lockdown.
Thanks to Scottish Government funding, the University teamed up with social enterprise Hey Girls last year to provide a range of free period products to students in various locations across Edinburgh Napier property.
The scheme has recently been extended to give students living in the UK the chance to order period products to be delivered to their home – for free.
Within the first weeks of free delivery being available, a total of 177 orders had been placed, meaning students who were in lockdown, or at home for the summer holidays, could continue to benefit from the initiative.
Jamie Pearson, Environmental Sustainability Manager at Edinburgh Napier, said: “The deliveries build upon the fantastic work carried out by the University cleaning supervisors and student-led Bleedin’ Saor team to ensure all students at Edinburgh Napier have access to free period products.
“We’re very grateful to the Scottish Government for providing funding to enable this initiative.”
Social enterprise Hey Girls’ mission since being founded in 2018 is to eradicate period poverty in the UK.
Since 2018, Hey Girls has been working with local authorities, schools and colleges in Scotland and since 2020 in Wales to deliver free period products to students, constituents and service users. Products were made widely available in 2020 in Scottish public spaces.
Celia Hodson, Founder Hey Girls said: “We don’t believe anyone should be denied access to period products, during a global pandemic or not. Access to period products is a human right, yet sadly there is still work to be done across the UK to recognise this.
“It’s been incredible to witness, however, the acknowledgement from so many local authorities and educational institutes that this issue is so important, especially during Covid-19. Working with our partners to provide period protection during the coronavirus pandemic hopefully means that women and girls in these settings have one less thing to worry about and can feel confident whilst on their periods.”
“We are working to expand this initiative across the UK, and welcome the opportunity to work with new councils, schools and colleges to keep everyone period protected during Covid-19.”
The home delivery of free period products is the latest in a number of projects Edinburgh Napier has spearheaded which aim to make products available to anyone who needs them alongside helping put an end to the stigma surrounding ‘that time of the month’.
Last year, a student collective called ‘Bleedin’ Saor’ successfully worked with the University, Hey Girls and PR agency Wire to successfully deliver the first-ever University Bloody Big Brunch as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of period poverty.
The same collective also worked with Hey Girls and the University’s Property and Facilities team to develop a new dispenser for its range of period products. This dispenser can now be found in key bathrooms across the University and is also being used by Hey Girls’ clients throughout the country.
Later this year, Bleedin’ Saor will also debut an exciting new collaborative documentary project about period poverty.
Filmed and edited by Edinburgh Napier BA Film and BA Television students, the film takes its inspiration from the Scottish Government’s ground-breaking initiative to provide free products in all schools, colleges and universities. The film will also cover the collective’s trip to Uganda where it researched international contexts and projects tackling period provision.
More information on Edinburgh Napier’s free period products and where to find them can be found here.
A science education programme is turning social distancing into an opportunity for school pupils and teachers to spend their summer learning online.
The Summer STEM Academy www.stemacademyscotland.org is making workshops on a wide variety of science and engineering topics available online for free from Monday 15 June.
Led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier, it features 26 workshops containing videos and activities for teachers, pupils and wider school communities.
All but one involve a video introduction from an expert to a unique project which can be done at home and an explanation of the science behind it. Each of the workshops offer a worksheet to guide learners through activities and experiments such as designing racing cars and measuring the speed of sound.
Volunteers from Edinburgh Napier and the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and Strathclyde have crafted workshop activities on topics including robotics, biodiversity and space colonisation.
Edinburgh Napier’s Professor Mark Huxham (above) has organised activities based on biodiversity, and there is also the use of coding to design and control robots with the computer engineering team, and the use of CAD/CAM software to design F1 cars with industry leading experts and Edinburgh Napier engineers in a schools challenge.
Representatives from organisations including the SS Explorer, BioCity UK, Heart of Midlothian FC, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Academy of Engineering have also contributed their expertise on aeronautical engineering, life sciences, sports science, climate change and the science of sound.
Teachers and students will also have the opportunity to brush up on new science teaching skills with a workshop provided by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Connecting STEM Teachers initiative. They’ll also have the chance to design their own science teaching resources during a workshop provided by Timstar UK and the WF Education group.
Andrew Gallacher, Head of Teacher Education at Edinburgh Napier, said: “Even three months ago the idea of organising a major Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths event and placing it online would have seemed ambitious.
“However, this is exactly what we have done with the Summer STEM Academy. It represents a fantastic opportunity for pupils, teachers, academics and business innovators to explore stimulating workshops that are structured to offer blended learning and enthuse participants of all ages.
“Such is the global appetite for such an event that the organisers have now received countless information requests from many countries that include Japan, South Korea and the USA.”
The Summer STEM Academy was launched in 2018 and brought high school pupils from 13 local authorities to locations in and around Glasgow, along with registered and probationer primary and secondary teachers.
Follow-up interviews with participants found that both pupils and teachers were significantly more engaged with science, and a reduction in anxiety about both learning and teaching STEM subjects.
Dr Margaret Ritchie, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry, has organised each of the Summer STEM Academy events and led the effort to put this year’s projects online.
Dr Ritchie said: “The Summer STEM Academy programme was built from the ground up to create quality partnerships between universities, schools and businesses and find new ways for them to benefit from working together.
“It gives students the chance to see academia and industry up close, student teachers the chance to learn new methods of teaching, and academics and industry professionals the chance to reach out to younger people and shape their understanding of how science and business intersect.
“The coronavirus turned our plans for the third year of the Summer STEM Academy upside-down, but it’s also given us the opportunity to open up our workshops and reach a much bigger audience by putting them online. We also hope that it will keep participants engaged and interested in science while schools remain closed, and ensure they’re motivated to learn when schools reopen.
“Our content comes from volunteers across a broad spectrum of backgrounds, from an undergraduate student through academics to industry veterans. They’ve given us a lot of great content for school pupils and student teachers alike, and we’re really excited to make it available for them to explore over the summer.”
Foodel app is free for local businesses and charities to use
AN Edinburgh Napier lecturer has created a simple app to help local businesses and charities organise home deliveries during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Dr Neil Urquhart, from the School of Computing, based Foodel on a simple program originally designed to teach students about practical uses of artificial intelligence.
The user creates a file of deliveries which is dropped into the app. The app divides the deliveries into rounds, and arranges each round in an efficient order. It also produces maps and schedules.
The app has been used by the Leaf & Bean Café in Edinburgh’s Morningside, and Neil is also working with other businesses and charities in a bid to make the technology as user-friendly as possible.
He said: “The routing is driven by artificial intelligence and is based on research carried out here at the School of Computing.
“The app is free to download from www.foodel.info for any organisation to make use of free of charge, and is one of a number of Edinburgh Napier initiatives designed to support our communities through these troubled times.”
Foodel takes its input in a simple spreadsheet and produces GPX and KML files which may be uploaded to maps and GPS devices.
Written in Java, it can be run on Windows as well as Mac OS. It uses Open Streetmap data and GraphHopper for routing, with the rounds organised using a state of the art Evolutionary Algorithm.
Neil said: “It is designed to be easy to use, but I am happy to be contacted at n.urquhart@napier.ac.uk if support is needed. It is also free to use during the current public health crisis – all I ask is that I get some feedback.”
Edinburgh Napier students combine love of trainers with entrepreneurial spark for new business venture
A trio of entrepreneurial Edinburgh Napier students are shining brightly in the start-up world as their shoe cleaning service continues to expand into new regions.
Shoe Fix Edinburgh was established last year by Edinburgh Napier marketing students Euan Bodie and Lewis Holman and sport and exercise science student Hannah Thomson.
The business puts life back into shoes and trainers by offering a high-end cleaning service that includes a range of services from midsole repainting, body cleaning and shoe protection alongside free collection and delivery.
The trio met while studying at Edinburgh Napier University, with the idea sparking from a conversation they had whilst working a hosting shift at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on how best to clean their designer trainers.
Upon quickly realising there was no company that could provide the service they were looking for in Edinburgh or surrounding areas, the students realised there was an evident gap in the market and Shoe Fix Edinburgh was born.
Since its creation, the business has overseen rapid growth, with 100s using the service to breathe new life into their designer shoes and trainers.
The service has also proved popular with some of the city’s footballers, with Heart of Midlothian defender John Souttar and Hibs midfielder Fraser Murray among Shoe Fix’s growing customer list.
Interest in the shoe-fixing service has grown so much that the business has recently expanded into new areas and now covers Falkirk, Stirling and Livingston as well as Edinburgh itself.
And with the trio’s time at Edinburgh Napier soon to come to an end, the team is looking to build on their success across the country.
Shoe Fix Edinburgh’s Lewis Holman said: “We all have an interest and passion in trainers, as do loads of other millennials across the UK today.
“With a collection of designer shoes between us, we regularly used to browse the web and supermarket shelves to track down the best product to clean our shoes when they needed some TLC, but this wasn’t enough.
“As we are students we can’t afford to regularly purchase high end designer trainers and replace those that we think are beyond repair, and we know we are not alone in this so the idea for Shoe Fix Edinburgh really stemmed from there.
“We were initially surprised with the interest in the service – we didn’t expect to experience high growth in such a short space of time. However we have backed ourselves and knew there was a clear gap in the market. As marketing students we have used what we have learnt over the past four years to our advantage and made use of marketing communications to the best of our ability.
“We believe that our popularity is down to the quality of the service we provide. Through social media we are able to share customer feedback and post the results from a service at Shoe Fix. Our followers on Instagram love to see our before and after shots in which you can see how the shoes have transformed – check them out!
“As university is coming to an end, we thought now is the perfect time to put all of our time and effort into Shoe Fix, expand where we can and meet the existing demand. We love working together and what we do and that’s when we are at our happiest, so we have made the decision to put our all into this.”
Shoe Fix Edinburgh offers three levels of service: basic, advanced and professional. Prices start from £20 with free collection and delivery for all customers.
More information on Shoe Fix Edinburgh can be found on Instagram here.
Royal Academy of Engineering supports University-led research project
A project led by an Edinburgh Napier academic to provide homes for refugees fleeing conflict and natural disasters has been awarded major research funding.
A grant worth up to £300,000 over three years will help Francesco Pomponi and his team pursue their ambition of creating comfortable environmentally-friendly shelters in Jordan, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The cash will fund collaborative research to develop an earlier award-winning prototype called Makazi, which means ‘home’ in Swahili, into permanent housing with features like adobe plastering and thatched roofs which can then be customised in line with local traditions.
Dr Pomponi believes millions of people could ultimately benefit from the backing he has secured from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers Follow-On Funding programme, which supports research which tackles international development challenges. He will also be mentored by a Fellow of the Academy as a result of the award success.
Dr Pomponi, Associate Professor of Sustainability Research at Edinburgh Napier, said: “More than 70 million people have been displaced as they flee persecution, conflicts and natural disasters, and half of all refugees are children.
“Existing emergency shelters become their semi-permanent homes despite being soulless, wholly inadequate, impacting negatively on the environment, and in disregard of the social habits and traditional values of the people they host.
“Our project SHELTERs – Sustainable Homes Enabling Long Term Empowerment of Refugees – follows on from earlier funding and will allow us to build full-scale prototypes in different countries.”
Two-thirds of the world’s refugees come from just Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia, but they are generally not hosted by wealthy nations but poor and middle-income countries next to their own.
Francesco’s project team – which includes Edinburgh Napier colleagues Professor Mark Huxham and Dr Bernardino D’Amico as well as academics and experts from the UK, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa – want to develop a model for permanent housing that can be adapted to different settings, and build prototypes through participatory design involving local communities and intended users.
The project will collect unprecedented data on life cycle costs and environmental impacts whilst assessing users’ comfort and the social suitability of the regional variants developed from the Makazi concept to ensure economic viability and environmental issues are fully considered.
With the involvement of Plan International, the UN Office for Project Services and ARUP International Development, Francesco believes the project can achieve substantial impact and benefit the lives of millions.
Francesco said: “As a privileged, white male born and bred in the Western world, I always had a desire to know more of the life of others and their cultures and grew up with a sense of moral duty of ‘giving back’.
“This project is part of a life-long ambition of leaving a positive impact with what I do and I am grateful that so many international partners from developing countries have supported this idea and committed to working together for the next three years.
“I can’t wait to see what we will achieve together, and how our diverse backgrounds will offer novel insights to tackle old problems.”
Professor Mark Huxham said: “Across the world the numbers of displaced people and refugees are growing, and the difficulties these vulnerable people face are getting worse.
“Many attempts to house refugees that are intended as temporary solutions become long term settlements, and these can have major environmental impacts. This unique project brings together engineers, development experts and environmental scientists such as myself to help find solutions that are better for people and for the environment.”
Dr Bernardino D’Amico, a structural engineering lecturer whose role focuses on construction aspects of the project, said: “I feel very excited about the opportunity this represents to help the displaced. Too often temporary camps, deployed as a result of an emergency, become a permanent place of life for many people.”
The Frontiers Programmes are a suite of activities that address global development challenges using an interdisciplinary and innovative approach. The programmes establish a global community of early- and mid-career researchers, innovators and practitioners, with different perspectives from the forefronts of their disciplines.
The Frontiers Follow-On Funding programme offers mid-sized grants, worth up to £300,000 over three years, to build on previously funded projects, helping them to scale up previous activities into fully formed research projects that tackle global challenges.
Innovative training while they studied sees students join Police Scotland Covid-19 response
Five Edinburgh Napier students are ready to support Police Scotland in its Covid-19 response after becoming the first individuals to qualify in the country as Special Constables through a new on-campus training programme.
The students – Larissa Engelmann, Campbell Cunningham, Annelise Hoey, Sumaiyah Shafique and Amy Murphy – who all study within the University’s School of Applied Sciences – have been training as Special Constables since January and have completed 136 hours of training while studying at Edinburgh Napier.
The project to bring the Special Constable training in-house was led by Edinburgh Napier’s Dr Andrew Wooff, who worked with Police Scotland to adapt the training to allow it to be built into the students’ timetable.
Regular Special training requires three full weeks at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan or every weekend for 12 weeks. The in-house training saw the students undertake their training every Wednesday at Edinburgh Napier’s Sighthill campus, allowing them all to continue their studies and work part-time as they trained.
The training also included a visit to Tulliallan for officer safety training alongside giving the students a chance to meet other probationers and to learn about the discipline required to be a member of Police Scotland.
The programme was devised because of a growing demand from students to get involved as Special Constables, with the five students now ready to go out onto the front line and join Police Scotland community teams in working across their areas. The students will be available to help Police Scotland with its Covid-19 response, alongside offering support during periods where officers may be self-isolating because of the virus.
Dr Andrew Wooff, Lecturer in Criminology at Edinburgh Napier University, is delighted to see the first cohort of the training pass out as qualified Special Constables.
He said: “We are delighted that Edinburgh Napier could be the first to use this new on-campus training module so that our students could train to become Special Constables as they continue their studies at the University.
“Our main priority when devising – and carrying out – the on-campus training was maintaining the high Police Scotland standard while supporting students to become Special Constables. Their time at Tulliallan also gave them an insight into the discipline and standard required by a member of Police Scotland. The training is rigorous and will hopefully facilitate the successful candidates in pursuing a rewarding career with Police Scotland.
“The feedback from both the students and Police Scotland has been great and we’re really proud to see them out on the frontline already, supporting the Force in its community operations. Planning for the next cohort is already underway and we’ve had more than 50 individuals express an interest so far. We feel this type of flexible training benefits our students greatly and we look forward to playing our part in strengthening Police Scotland’s Special Constabulary in the coming months.”
Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins said: “Police Scotland is extremely grateful to all five students for the time and effort they have already dedicated to their roles as Special Constables, from juggling their studies alongside training to now deploying on the frontline.
“Special Constables have always been a vital and valued feature of policing in Scotland, however during this extraordinary time the significance of their role is greater than ever and we have been humbled by the response of our volunteers.
“Our thanks also goes to Dr Andrew Wooff at Edinburgh Napier for committing his time to working with Police Scotland to adapt the training to allow it to be built into the students’ timetable.
“While Police Scotland undoubtedly benefits from the experience our volunteers bring, we also hope the opportunity is unlike any other where you gain confidence, new skills and get the chance to help people in need. I wish our new recruits the very best for their future on the beat.”
PhD student Larissa Engelmann recently completed her first shifts as a Special Constable. She said: “I decided to become a Special Constable to explore other ways of giving back to the community as I’ve already been involved in a lot of different volunteering opportunities within Edinburgh and beyond.
“The training – even though it was over three months, rather than three weeks – was still very intense. We had to learn a lot of legislation too but nevertheless it was really enjoyable. We had really great police officers who helped us with the training – and we had a lot of fun as well.
“I’ve had my first shifts at the weekend and although it was quiet, it was great to see some of what we have learned in training in practice and develop our own way of working in Police Scotland as a Special Constable.”
The Special Constable role is diverse, demanding and rewarding. Special Constables could be doing anything from policing a football match to assisting at a road accident. Special Constables also police major sporting and public events and provide an excellent bridge between the Police Service and the public, representing both the community within the police service and the police service within local communities.
More details on Police Scotland’s Special Constabulary can be found here.
For Edinburgh Napier students interested in becoming a Special Constable, they can contact Andrew Wooff on a.wooff@napier.ac.uk
Students from Edinburgh Napier University have spoken of their pride at taking up placements alongside NHS workers as part of the national drive to combat coronavirus.
Almost 1000 undergraduate and postgraduate student nurses and student midwives from the School of Health & Social Care are now being assigned to hospitals and care homes mainly across the Lothian and Borders NHS areas in response to the public health crisis.
The second and final year nursing and midwifery students have begun taking up caring roles following in-depth discussions involving a number of organisations to hammer out the details of the emergency measures to support the NHS. Those who have chosen to get involved will work on placement for an initial period of six months or until the crisis is over.
The recruitment of student talent to the national effort follows talks between the UK Government, Scottish Government, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, higher education and health officials aimed at putting in place the necessary regulatory and governance arrangements while also respecting students’ course requirements.
Changes to learning and teaching arrangements had to be made, supported by dedicated academic teams, and professional services staff worked tirelessly to help allocate students to paid placements.
Lecturer Dr David Whiteley has put together a continuously updated online support package so both students and School staff have all the latest information and guidance they need at their fingertips.
Edinburgh Napier staff are also supporting the health authorities and NHS Education for Scotland with the wider background infrastructure by collating details of developments like ward closures and mergers, initially from NHS Lothian and NHS Borders, so students can be allocated to roles where they will offer the most effective support.
Dr Hazel Willis, Interim Dean of Edinburgh Napier’s School of Health & Social Care, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has changed all of our lives and is requiring universities, NHS boards and student nurses and midwives to work in exceptional ways to address the requirements of the NHS and the wider population.
“Our students have demonstrated outstanding levels of professionalism during this period of uncertainty, and these remarkable people have the support of all of us as they go out to both aid and assist but also to learn from our frontline doctors, nurses and midwives in these challenging times.”
Lesley Murray, 47, of Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, who is in the second year of a Bachelor of Nursing (Mental Health) degree, has been placed in the Hermitage Ward at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
She said: “This is the opportunity of a lifetime, to be needed on the frontline and able to meet that need to support our much-loved NHS. It’s a frightening time for all of us, and although I’m paying attention to those fears and anxieties, mainly I’m choosing to focus on the unique learning experience that will come from it.
“Being in mental health, it will be interesting to see how this affects the mental health and resilience of the population during and after the crisis. I imagine the impact will be felt for a long time, so to be involved directly in the care of others during the crisis will give me the context for people’s difficulties as they arise in the future.
“I feel fortunate that I’m in a position to do more than just applaud the NHS at this time; I can get involved and support it.”
Euan Hill, 21, from Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, has been placed in the emergency unit at Borders General Hospital.
Euan, who is in the third year of a Bachelor of Nursing (Adult) undergraduate degree, said: “I feel privileged to be asked to assist the workforce.
“Throughout my training, the support offered by my colleagues within the NHS has been amazing, and the prospect of working alongside them at this difficult time is daunting but very satisfying. There will be lots of challenges over the next few months, but I know that the guidance offered by the NHS and the University will put me in the best position to give the support my colleagues need.”
