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
- 4th 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 40th 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)