The University of Edinburgh’s Saving Lives project team, led by students from Nursing Studies and Edinburgh Medical School, have won an award at the Scottish Cardiac Arrest Symposium on Thursday 21 May 2026. Students received the prestigious Newton Award - SCAS for their contribution to raising awareness and education around cardiac arrest response and lifesaving skills. The Newton Award recognises individuals and teams who have made an exceptional contribution to strengthening Scotland’s “Chain of Survival” and improving outcomes following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The award is closely linked to Save a Life for Scotland, the national initiative led by the University of Edinburgh and partner organisations, to increase public confidence in CPR and defibrillator use. The award is selected by Gregor Newton, who survived a cardiac arrest in 2014 thanks to rapid bystander CPR and the effective implementation of the Chain of Survival.Students Camille Tourneret (Master of Nursing (Pre-registration), Year 4), Steven Campbell (Master of Nursing (Pre-registration), Year 2), and Jack McGillvary (Medicine, Year 5) attended the conference to receive the award on behalf of the group. We love being part of this project - it’s allowed us to build our confidence in our own clinical skills and knowledge, develop our public speaking & teaching abilities, and allows to reach out to & help so many people - the latter ultimately being the main reason we’re studying to become nurses & doctors in the first place. We’re deeply grateful to the nursing & medical students who have volunteered at our events, and to the nursing & medical faculty for their support - we could not do this without them. We are part of this project simply because we care passionately about saving lives, but winning the Newton award & getting that extra recognition that comes with it really means a lot to the team. It was an absolute honour to be nominated alongside so many inspiring people, especially given the deeply personal background of the Newton award. We want to say a huge thank you to the staff who nominated us - and for keeping it all a secret literally up until our names were read out!We’ve met so many wonderful people across so many events, and have taught life-saving CPR awareness to hundreds. There’s such a bright future ahead for the saving lives project, and we can’t wait to see where it goes. Being part of this project will no doubt have a real positive impact on our clinical practice far into the future. Steven Campbell Master of Nursing (Pre-registration), Year 2 The students were nominated by Lorraine Close, Lecturer in Nursing, who supports the project alongside Lissette Aviles (Nursing Studies), Kate Leech (Clinical Skills Team, MVM), and Emma Hearn (Clinical Skills Team, MVM). We are exceptionally proud of our students in both Nursing and Medicine who are working interprofessionally to provide high quality CPR education training to a team of volunteer health care students who in turn are training the public in how to perform good bystander. These students go above and beyond to run this project and exemplify excellence in nursing and medical practice, showing care, compassion, expertise professionalism and outstanding organisational skills. Lorraine Close Lecturer in Nursing Studies The award recognises the group’s commitment to promoting lifesaving training within the community and highlights the important role students can play in improving public health education and cardiac arrest survival outcomes across Scotland.Originally focused on educating fellow students in CPR, the group has since expanded its outreach to deliver lifesaving training in schools, religious organisations, sports clubs, and community centres across areas of socioeconomic deprivation in Edinburgh. Related LinksNursing StudiesNewton Award — SCASSave a Life for Scotland Tags 2026 Publication date 26 May, 2026
