Celebrating Nick Hastie’s legacy
Hastie's Career Advancement Fund will support talented early-career scientists at IGMM: November 2018
To celebrate Professor Nick Hastie’s long legacy of mentoring, ahead of his retirement at the end of 2018, his former trainees, colleagues and friends at the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) have launched the Hastie Career Advancement Fund.
Professor Nick Hastie CBE FRS FRSE, as Director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit (1994 – 2015) and inaugural Director of the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (2007-2016), has invested enormously in both the personal mentoring of researchers and the implementation of training programmes that prepare scientists for the next step in their career.
Nick is an inspirational speaker, particularly to young scientists. I remember hearing how my fellow PhD students always looked forward to his talks, given to packed audiences. I have always been impressed by how much he knows about everyone’s projects, throughout the whole of the IGMM, which testifies to his infectious passion for science. I am forever grateful he gave me the opportunity to develop as a scientist under his mentorship as a PhD student in his lab and now as a postdoc, and he still provides me with the support, encouragement and energy, which have been so valuable to me especially during the difficult times.
The Hastie Career Advancement Fund celebrates this legacy by supporting talented early-career scientists within the IGMM, enabling scientific exchange or the generation of initial data to support bids for career development awards in high-priority areas for IGMM, for example fundamental questions of cell function, eye disease, kidney disease, cancer, developmental disorders and population health. Awards will be made annually via a competitive process judged by a panel of IGMM researchers.
Giving young scientists the freedom to explore and develop their own ideas is the most precious gift. I have Nick to thank for giving me that opportunity in my career and I hope that together we can continue this legacy for the next generation.
More information about Nicks’ retirement celebrations and the Hastie Career Advancement Fund can be found here: edin.ac/hastie-legacy
Current staff may donate to this fund in a tax-efficient manner using University of Edinburgh Payroll Giving: https://www.ed.ac.uk/giving/payroll-giving