Feature

Celebrating our community - The Bridge Alumni Awards 2024

From emerging leaders and trailblazers to entrepreneurs and lifetime achievers, let’s celebrate your successes, whatever they look like, since graduating from the University of Dundee

Published on 16 July 2025

As summer looms, the 2025 Bridge Alumni Awards have appeared on the horizon too! This year, the awards have evolved and will celebrate many more members of your alumni community who have made an impact across the globe. 2021 saw the University hold its first Bridge Alumni Awards, and last year we celebrated the fourth cohort of award winners, shortlisted from over 70 nominations!

These awards recognise alumni who have kindly given back their time to the University, to support students and your community, as well as recognising alumni who have had a real positive impact in their field or community.

Thank you to all of our alumni who continue to dedicate their time and energy to their University of Dundee community and help make a real difference worldwide. Now, let's find out more about your 2024 winners!

Outstanding Support of the Alumni Community

A group of people are sitting round a table in a restaurant, all looking in the same direction

Awarded to: an alum or group of alumni who have gone above and beyond to support the alumni community, inspiring others to remain connected with the University and significantly contributing to the advancement of our global community.

Winner: The Singapore Alumni Society, aptly named SingASoc, has done a fantastic job in organising a series of successful, engaging events throughout the 2023/2024 academic year, which has driven the growth of our alumni community in Singapore. SingASoc is represented by Cindy Adriaan, Joshua Benjamin, Jashan Singh, Jolene Poh, Zhi Hua Chua, Pamela Wee, Wan Teng Tay, Dayang Asyiqin, Pon Poh Hsu, and Raymond Ng, to name just a few!

Outstanding Support of Student Recruitment

Alex Fotinos

Awarded to: an alum who has gone above and beyond to support the recruitment of students to the University, going the extra mile to share their experience and skills as well as giving invaluable advice and guidance to applicants and offer-holders.

Joint Winner: Alex Fotinos (English Law, 2022) has supported the School of Law by engaging with enquirers, applicants, and offer holders. His ability to captivate and inspire prospective students has led to many offer holders placing Dundee at the top of their list. Since Alex began volunteering, we have welcomed 27 Canadian students to the Law School, with many stating that Alex influenced their choice.

Joint Winner: Tarek Himida (Dental Public Health, 2017) has led a number of engaging webinars and presentations for the School of Dentistry, where he highlighted the unique features of the School’s taught postgraduate courses, as well as sharing his insights into campus life, academic excellence, student support, the vibrant close-knit community, and the natural beauty of Scotland. This has resonated with many international applicants.

Outstanding Support of Students

Aaron Geddes

Awarded to: an alum who has gone above and beyond to support the student experience, inspiring current students and providing them with invaluable guidance, contributing to their success.

Winner: Aaron Geddes (Accountancy, 2016, and Data Science, 2022) has given his time and expertise to talk to undergraduate students about the growing importance of data analytics in accountancy. In addition, Aaron has helped deliver a series of lab sessions, showing how data analytics programs are increasingly used within accounting firms and business. Furthermore, Aaron has supported the School of Business by participating in the accreditation process.

Outstanding Student Ambassador

Heidi Le

Awarded to: a student who has been an exceptional Student Ambassador, helping to enhance the University’s reputation and others’ experiences through regular volunteering

Winner: Heidi Le (Graphic Design, 2026) has volunteered at events and showcased her passion for the arts, whilst supporting many Vietnamese students in their transition to Dundee. Heidi was the first President of the Vietnamese Society and through various events, she fostered a deeper understanding and appreciation of her culture, enriching the University's cultural diversity.

Outstanding Alumni Ambassador

Arif Adnan

Awarded to: an alum who has been an exceptional ambassador, helping to enhance the University’s reputation across the world through regular volunteering. 

Winner: Arif Adnan (Energy Studies, 2011) regularly supports University delegations in Indonesia and has assisted the University in delivering multiple alumni and partnership events in Jakarta. He is driving the development of the Indonesian Alumni Chapter, helping to grow the alumni community and has been instrumental in connecting the University with his contacts in Southeast Asia, creating many key partnership opportunities for the University.

Transforming Lives Award

The Transforming Lives Award recognises alumni who support the University’s commitment to transform lives by inspiring change and making a positive difference within their local community, region, or on a global scale.

Local Winner: John Fyffe MBE (Teaching in Primary Education, 2003) and his wife Carolyn, also a University of Dundee graduate

Johnn Fyffe

John and Carolyn conceived the idea of the Dundee Tapestry. Together with Dr Francis Stevenson and Andrew Crummy MBE, the Designer of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, John organised funding and resources to progress the idea. John's contribution to the community saw 140 stitchers from across Dundee come together to tell the city’s story. Not only did this provide many community spaces for people to come together but showcased Dundee's fascinating history. The Tapestry was displayed in the V&A Dundee in early 2024 and again in early 2025, with more than 80,000 visitors to the exhibition.

National Winner: Julie Rattray (Psychology, 1995 & PhD Psychology, 2000)

Julie Rattray

Julie Rattray (Psychology, 1995 & PhD Psychology, 2000) was born with very limited vision and has been blind since early adulthood. Julie is Director of EDI in Durham University's School of Education and the Lead for Durham's Disability Network. She has been a leading light in the threshold concepts community of practice for almost 15 years. This community has a wide, international membership and the threshold concepts framework is underpinned by a motivation to support students, particularly when learning is difficult, and to transform understanding. Julie is an internationally known researcher in educational research, having published prolifically in this area and co-leads other international threshold concepts work, notably organising the biennial international threshold concepts conference, with associated publications.

Global Winner: David Cunningham (Psychology, 1999) and Dave Tipping (Architecture, 2005)

David Cunningham

David and Dave founded Kids Operating Room - a global health charity which has provided nearly 100 paediatric operating rooms in low-and-middle income countries around the world, ensuring as many children as possible have access to the surgery they need. In addition, they train local surgeons and paediatric teams in-country, advocate for global health and work with Ministries of Health in country to make lasting change. Recently, they have pioneered the concept of solar surgery to address the ongoing issue of regular black outs, which frequently interrupts lifesaving surgery, particularly in sub–Saharan Africa. The solar surgery system was developed by David and Dave and is run entirely from a warehouse hub in Dundee.

Nominate an entry for The Bridge Alumni Awards 2025

Remember to keep an eye on your email inbox over the coming weeks for information on the 2025 Bridge Alumni Awards nomination process! Not sure if you're opted in to emails? Update your details on our website to receive occasional updates from the Alumni Relations Team, tailored to your location.

Story category Alumni story