{"id":11331,"date":"2026-07-09T09:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=11331"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:16:01","slug":"whitehorn-doctorate-marks-end-of-napier-tenure-daily-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=11331","title":{"rendered":"Whitehorn doctorate marks end of Napier tenure \u2013 Daily Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-197376 lazyload\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"794\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-197376 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony.png 794w, https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony-300x219.png 300w, https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony-768x561.png 768w, https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Will-Whitehorn-at-doctorate-ceremony-600x438.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 794px) 100vw, 794px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Will Whitehorn: \u2018science has been central to my career\u2019<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Will Whitehorn, a leading figure in the space sector, has been awarded an honorary doctorate, marking the conclusion of his five-year tenure as Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Mr Whitehorn is widely known as the founding president of Virgin Galactic, where he led the development of the world\u2019s first commercial space tourism venture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Born and raised in Edinburgh, his professional career began as\u00a0a crewman\u00a0on search and rescue helicopters in the North Sea.\u00a0After roles with Thomas Cook, TSB Group and Lombard Communications, he joined the Virgin Group, where he became a close colleague of Sir Richard Branson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He drew widespread recognition as a figurehead for the space industry in the UK,\u00a0with roles\u00a0as\u00a0chairman\u00a0of\u00a0Clyde Space and\u00a0president of industry group\u00a0UKspace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In\u00a02021\u00a0he\u00a0became chair and floated Seraphim Space Investment Trust that was listed on the FTSE\u00a0250\u00a0index\u00a0in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He was formally awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science during a graduation ceremony at Edinburgh\u2019s Usher Hall yesterday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has been a huge privilege to be Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University for the past five years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is such a vibrant, positive university that continues to inspire, educate and make a difference to society despite the challenges in the Scottish higher education sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is now an honour to be awarded a Doctorate of Science from the University. Science has been central to my career, from my part in designing Pendolino tilting trains to my role in helping to establish the Uk as a serious contributor to the global space economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Last year he received the OBE for his space industry leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Giving Will\u2019s formal laureation at the Usher Hall, the university vice principal for regional innovation &amp; external affairs, Gary Hutchison, said: \u201cWill Whitehorn is a visionary leader, an\u00a0advocate for education, and an inspiring example to our students and graduates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe reminds us that ambition, when guided by learning and integrity, can carry us far beyond what once seemed possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bulletin:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Sign up for our breakfast email of the day\u2019s breaking news<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- Simple Share Buttons Adder (8.5.5) simplesharebuttons.com -->           \t            <\/div>\n<p><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n fbq('init', '1192059580980274'); \nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script>#Whitehorn #doctorate #marks #Napier #tenure #Daily #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Will Whitehorn: \u2018science has been central to my career\u2019 Will Whitehorn, a leading figure in the space sector, has been awarded an honorary doctorate, marking the conclusion of his five-year&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[283,282,12907,12905,979,12908,12909,12906,351],"class_list":["post-11331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-stories","tag-business","tag-daily","tag-doctorate","tag-edinburgh-napier-university","tag-marks","tag-napier","tag-tenure","tag-whitehorn","tag-will-whitehorn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}