The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education
On the 24th of February 2026, The University of Edinburgh was awarded The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education, recognising the achievements and contributions of the Centre for Fire Safety Engineering over the past five decades.
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education are part of the UK national honours system, recognising at the highest level of state outstanding work in UK universities and colleges that demonstrates excellence, innovation and benefit for the institution and the wider world.
Professor Luke Bisby, accompanied by the University Principal Professor Sir Peter Mathieson and other fiery academics, had the honour of receiving the prize at a ceremony in St James’s Palace.
"I’d like to congratulate everyone involved with Centre for Fire Safety Engineering – they truly deserve the recognition that this prestigious award signifies. For more than 50 years their extraordinary teaching, research and global diaspora of graduates have made the world a safer place. There is no better testimony to the difference a University can make than to say the Centre’s work and influence has unquestionably saved lives."
Professor Sir Peter Mathieson
