Our history

Building upon a remarkable heritage of involvement with sport dating back to at least 1591, the Academy of Sport, established in 2014, was born from a desire to serve communities locally and globally.

History

1583

• University founded

1591

• First University of Edinburgh playing fields allotted by the City Council “ College Pitch” on the Burgh Muir

1824

• Edinburgh Law student John Hope founds the first organized football club in the world

1873

• Foundation of the Scottish Rugby Union

1905

• The Hygienists, one of the first places in the world to provide specialist education for women in physical activity and education

1924

• Eric Liddell wins a gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games. The link continues through the awarding of the Liddell Scholarship in 2012 and the display of the Olympic Medals in the University

1997

• The current Institute of sport, physical education and health sciences designated as the Scottish Centre

2000

• Edinburgh social anthropology student Luke Dowdney founds Fight for Peace dedicated to realizing the potential of young people in communities that suffer from crime and violence

2012

• Katherine Grainger and Sir Chris Hoy sustain the continuity of Olympic Gold Medal performances from Edinburgh Alumni

2015

• Hosted World Sports Values Summit for Peace and Development in Cape Town, South Africa

2016

• Enabled Sport, Mental Health and Dementia Symposium at Hampden Park

2017

• Global Impact of Sport - Summer School launched

2018

• Partnerships with Homeless World Cup and Barcelona Football Club Foundation

2019

• Commonwealth consultancy to advance sport and the sustainable development goals
• British Council consultancy to develop sport in Wales as a soft power asset
• Global Impact of Sport Winter School launched
• The future of women’s football symposium
• 4^th in UK Universities league table for sport
• Moray House School of Education retitled to include Sport
• Australian Government acknowledges Edinburgh (Academy of Sport)  in launch of Sports Diplomacy Strategy
• ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship

2020

• Review of the Scottish Sporting Landscape for the Scottish Government
• Production of 40^th Sports Podcast
• Open up Widening Access to the University of Edinburgh through Football
• Baroness Scotland launches sport and sustainable development education
• British Council Soft Power Scotland report acknowledges Edinburgh (Academy of Sport)
• University Award in recognition of Community Engagement

2021

• Win British Council Tender to deliver cultural relations and sport education internationally
• International Advisors to British Council Wales Sports diplomacy Strategy ( led by Academy Fellow Dr Stuart Murray)
• Invited to join UK Soft Power Working Group
• Produce Policy briefs on Sport in the Scottish Election and the 46th USA Presidential Election
• Lead Data Driven Innovation Research in support of the Scottish Football industry

2022

• 1st in Scotland for sports research as part of Moray House School of Education and Sport submission to Research Assessment Exercise
• Hibernian Fan Engagement Survey
• Sport and Mental Health Report for Qatar Foundation
• UK Government soft power working group
• Attend Commonwealth Heads of Government Forum in Rwanda to help with sport for development
• 170 countries reached through our online education offering
• Research partnership with the University of Toronto

Today

The University of Edinburgh

• 1st in Scotland and 13th in the THES World University Rankings (2022)
• 16th in the QS World University Rankings (2022)
• 13th Guardian Good University Guide (2022)
• Creates on average 2 companies every week
• 1st in Scotland and 11th in the UK for research (Research Evaluation Framework 2014)
• More than 12 000 international students from 140 nations
• 19 Nobel Prize winners and 15 Olympic medals

Sport at the University of Edinburgh

• 1st in Scotland for sport related subjects in World QS World University Rankings (2021)
• 10th Guardian Good University Guide Sports Science (2022)
• 1st in Scotland for sports research (Research Evaluation Framework 2014)
• 1st Massive Open Online Course in Football – widening access (2014)