Neal Juster scoops award
Published: 13 March 2014
Senior Vice Principal Professor Neal Juster scooped the business/academic award in the 2014 Scottish Adventurers Awards at a ceremony in central Glasgow earlier this month.
Senior Vice principal Professor Neal Juster scooped the business/academic award in the 2014 Scottish Adventurers Awards at a ceremony in central Glasgow on 5 March.
The awards were established to celebrate the best of Scottish adventure. One of the eleven categories of was for the Business/Academic Adventurer of the year for an individual who, in the course of their business or academic work, endured adventure where that adventure was not their primary objective.
Professor Juster was nominated for the educational and research links he has helped establish with Mongolia. These include the signing of an MOU with the country’s premier University - National University of Mongolia, establishing a student recruitment agency and forging links between Mongolia’s Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and the work of the Hunterian, the Centre for Battlefield Archeology and the Textile Conservation Centre.
Professor Juster explained what the Mongolian connection had led to. ”Since my first visit we have seen students come to Glasgow through Glasgow International College and we are investigating the possibility of some Mongolian Museum directors and conservationists coming to take short courses.
“The trip that prompted my nomination was to some remarkable and historic standing stones in a remote area approximately 130km South East of the capital Ulaanbaatar to consider the feasibility of the university helping to conserve and develop an interpretation centre. The stones were approximately 40km from the nearest obvious road and were not signposted. The outside temperature was -35C and, although we were in a 4x4 my guide and I didn’t see another vehicle whilst we were away from the road. I think the judges were swayed by their expectations of how University Vice-Principals are usually transported abroad and this trip did not fit that image!”
Professor Juster added, “I am very pleased to be given an award at a ceremony that also recognized Sean Conway (who swam from Land’s End to John O’Groats). However, I hope that the award has helped highlight the wide range of internationalisation activity undertaken by staff across the university, both building our reputation and helping develop research and teaching capacity overseas.”
First published: 13 March 2014
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