Principal’s Medal: Emma Louise Gale
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE
Tuesday 3 December – morning ceremony
I would now like to introduce the Principal’s Medal. This award was inaugurated 15 years ago with a gift from three anonymous donors and is supported by Ede and Ravenscroft, believed to be the oldest firm of tailors and robe-makers in the world.
The award of the Principal’s Medal recognises students who display exceptional endeavour and achievement during their time at St Andrews. The medal may be awarded to final-year undergraduates and postgraduates in any discipline, and the achievements celebrated are both academic and extra-curricular.
Today, the Principal’s Medal is being awarded to a truly outstanding student, Emma Louise Gale, who has just graduated with a PhD in Medicine.
Emma is first and foremost a formidable researcher, who has gained international recognition for her work on the associations between poor sleep and the development of obesity in children and adolescents. Her research explores modifiable determinants of sleep and lifestyle, identifying key areas that could be targeted by health-promoting interventions to reduce the risk of childhood obesity, and it has been published in leading journals in the field.
While undertaking her PhD, Emma represented the University of St Andrews at 18 major conferences and was invited to deliver oral presentations at seven of them. Remarkably, each of these seven presentations resulted in accolades. Her international contributions have been recognised with awards at the 2023 World Sleep Congress in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2024 Sleep Europe Congress in Seville, and she has won international awards for every component of her PhD thesis.
Emma has also undertaken a number of leadership roles within the international sleep research community. She currently holds a committee position on the European Sleep Research Society, representing early career researchers, and she is also spearheading the development of a similar committee within the British Sleep Society. At St Andrews, she serves as the early career researcher representative on the Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences Committee, and she sits on the research management group meetings of the School of Medicine.
Importantly, Emma’s influence extends beyond the realm of academia. She has attended several policy-making symposia with the Scottish Government and has contributed to grant applications aimed at driving policy changes to improve child sleep health across Scotland.
Emma’s excellence goes well beyond her academic achievements. For three years, she was an integral member of the University of St Andrews Badminton Team, where she competed in both British Universities and Colleges Sport Individuals and the Scottish Student Sport Championships. Emma has also distinguished herself on the Scottish badminton circuit, reaching a peak ranking within the top 15 players in Scotland for mixed and women’s doubles. She has represented Scotland in the 4 Nations Graded International tournaments, winning a silver medal in 2023 and a gold medal in 2024.
In order to give back to the sport and the community, Emma has volunteered as a coach for the University’s development squad, sharing her expertise with emerging players, served as tournament and trips coordinator for the University’s Badminton Committee, and contributed to local school programmes through Fife Council’s and Perth and Kinross Council’s Active Schools Programme, coaching children aged from six to ten in four different schools. Additionally, Emma organised a charity tournament at the University of St Andrews, raising more than £200 for the Brain Tumour Charity.
Beyond her involvement in sports, for two years Emma has provided dog walking and sitting services for elderly residents of St Andrews, regularly assisting eight households. She further designed and ran interactive school and family sessions for Medical Research Scotland, the Sutton Trust, Dundee Science Festival, Edinburgh’s Pint of Science, National Science Week, and the University of St Andrews Community Engagement Days. She also volunteered as a tutor at multiple local schools, where she has provided academic support to students, and she ran workshops for disadvantaged students around the UK.
Emma’s academic achievements, leadership and service to the community are truly exceptional, and we are very pleased that she is continuing her career at the University of St Andrews as a Research Fellow in Child and Adolescent Health.
Emma, in recognition of your many accomplishments both academically and personally during your time at St Andrews, it gives me great pleasure to bestow upon you the Principal’s Medal.