Staff news

RSE Royal Medal honour

Professor Richard Morris CBE has been awarded a 2014 Royal Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).

Professor Richard Morris

He received the award for his outstanding contribution to the field of neuroscience.

His pioneering work on learning and memory in mammalian brains has raised the possibility of treatments to stem the global epidemic of dementia and cognitive decline.

Royal Medals are the RSE’s most prestigious annual awards. The Society must receive the permission of Her Majesty The Queen before they can be granted.

I feel a huge debt to the many laboratory and other colleagues I’ve been fortunate to work with over the years. Their role has been incredible and the medal is as much for the lab as for me.
Professor Richard MorrisProfessor of Neuroscience, School of Biomedical Sciences

Pioneering developments

Professor Morris is the Professor of Neuroscience in the School of Biomedical Sciences. An internationally renowned neuroscientist, he pioneered the development of spatial memory tests now used worldwide.

He began working at the University in 1987 and was instrumental in developing the Centre for Neuroscience. He is co-founder and original Co-director of Edinburgh Neuroscience.

A Fellow of both the Royal Society (FRS) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), he was also a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science (FMedSci).

Leading expert

The RSE has also awarded the Thomas Reid Medal (Early Career Prize) to Dr Katie Stevenson, a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities.

Dr Stevenson received the award for outstanding work on the cultural and political history of late medieval Scotland, which has established her as a leading international expert in the field.