Two University of Aberdeen academics have been elected to become Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).
Professor David E Salt 6th Century Chair and Co-Director of the Centre for Genome Enabled Biology and Medicine, and Professor Robert McMeeking, Chair in Engineering Materials, received the honour in recognition of the excellence they have achieved within their disciplines.
Annually the RSE elects individuals to become Fellows from a wide variety of disciplines, spanning the arts, business, science and technology sectors.
They join the 1590 Fellows, from Scotland, the rest of the UK and beyond, whose goal is to attain the RSE’s founding mission: ‘the advancement of learning and useful knowledge’.
Professor Salt said: “I have been working in the US for 20 years and only recently came back home to the UK. Being elected to the Fellowship of the RSE is a delightful and rewarding way to be welcomed back to the intellectual life of the British Isles.”
Professor McMeeking said: “"I am honoured and delighted to be elected to Fellowship of the RSE as it represents the pinnacle of recognition for Scots academics, engineers and scientists. It is very rewarding to be able to join the Fellowship, who are individuals whom I respect and admire for their accomplishments and contributions, and it is very flattering to be considered worthy of joining their ranks."
President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Sir John Arbuthnott, said: “The Fellowship is at the very heart and soul of the work of the RSE. One of my most rewarding duties is to oversee the highly-selective process that identifies which of the outstanding candidates nominated each year should be recommended for election to the Fellowship of the RSE.
“With such a great number of highly distinguished individuals joining this year, I have every confidence that they will bring the exceptional skills and experience needed by the RSE to continue its 230-year history of supporting excellence across all areas of academic and public life in Scotland.”