24 Notable alumni of Edinburgh Napier University
Updated: June 03, 2026 EliteDegrees
Edinburgh Napier University is ranked #1,151 in the world and #87 in United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 24 notable alumni from Edinburgh Napier University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Edinburgh Napier University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Jim Thompson
1984-. (aged 42)
rugby sevens player
rugby union player
James Gordon Thompson is a Scottish former professional rugby union player who played as a full-back.
2. Graeme Morrice
1959-. (aged 67)
politician
council member
Graeme Morrice is a Scottish Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2010 to 2015. Prior to his election to Parliament, he served as the Leader of West Lothian Council from 1995 to 2007.
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3. John Barrett
1947-. (aged 79)
politician
John Andrew Barrett is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh West.
4. Jayne Baxter
1955-. (aged 71)
politician
Jayne Baxter is a Scottish Labour Party politician. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 2012 to 2016. She succeeded John Park when he resigned his list seat to take up a position with the Community trades union.
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5. Douglas Dalton
1913-1995 (aged 82)
rugby union player
Douglas Dalton QSO OStJ was a New Zealand rugby union player. He was educated at Nelson Park Primary School and then Napier Technical College. A prop and hooker, Dalton represented Hawke's Bay at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1935 to 1938. He played 21 matches for the All...
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6. Danielle Rowley
1990-. (aged 36)
politician
Danielle Rowley is a Scottish Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian from 2017 to 2019.
7. Owen Thompson
1978-. (aged 48)
politician
Owen George Thompson is a Scottish National Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Midlothian from 2015 to 2017 and from 2019 to 2024. He was elected in 2015, defeated at the 2017 general election, and regained the seat at the 2019 general election.
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8. Sara Cox
1990-. (aged 36)
rugby union match official
rugby union player
Category:Rugby sevens referees
Sara Louise Cox MBE is an English rugby union referee and former rugby union footballer. In 2016, she became the world's first professional female rugby union referee, and in 2018 she became the first woman to referee a Premiership Rugby Cup match. On 25 September 2021, she became the first woman to referee a Premiership Rugby Union Match when she...
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9. Neil Poulton
1963-. (aged 63)
designer
Neil Poulton is a Scottish product designer, based in Paris, France. He specialises in the design of 'deceptively simple-looking mass-produced objects' and has won numerous international design awards. Poulton is best known for his designs in the fields of technology and lighting design and is often associated with manufacturers LaCie and Artemide.
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10. Scott Ainslie
1968-. (aged 58)
politician
Scott John Ainslie is a British politician and actor.
11. Bill Buchanan
1961-. (aged 65)
computer scientist
Bill Buchanan is a Scottish computer scientist. He is a professor at Edinburgh Napier University, where he leads the Blockpass ID Lab, and the Centre for Cybersecurity, IoT and Cyberphysical. In 2017 he received an OBE for services to cyber security.
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12. Tavish Scott
1966-. (aged 60)
farmer
politician
Tavish Hamilton Scott is a former Scottish politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Shetland from 1999 to 2019, and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011. He stepped down as Leader following the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in which the Liberal Democrats were reduced to five seats, down from 16 in the...
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13. Lynne Ramsay
1969-. (aged 57)
film director
director
cinematographer
film producer
screenwriter
Lynne Ramsay is a Scottish filmmaker known for films such as Ratcatcher (1999), Morvern Callar (2002), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), You Were Never Really Here (2017), and Die My Love (2025). She has received numerous accolades. Her work is marked by a fascination with children, young people, and mothers, as well as the recurring themes of grief,...
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14. Marli Siu
1993-. (aged 33)
actor
Marli Siu is a Scottish actress. Her films include Anna and the Apocalypse (2017), Our Ladies (2019), and Run (2019), the latter of which won her a Scottish BAFTA. On television, Siu has appeared in the spy thriller Alex Rider (2020–2024) and the BBC drama Everything I Know About Love (2022).
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15. Bruce Mouat
1994-. (aged 32)
curler
Bruce Mouat is a Scottish curler from Stirling. He currently skips his own team out of the Gogar Park Curling Club. Mouat has led his team to two world championship titles in 2023 and 2025, four European championship titles (2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023) and twelve Grand Slam titles. He also earned a silver medal in the men's team event...
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16. Lynsey Sharp
1990-. (aged 36)
middle-distance runner
Lynsey Sharp is a former Scottish track and field athlete who competed in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the seventh fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in...
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17. Wasfia Nazreen
1982-. (aged 44)
social worker
Wasfia Nazreen is a Bangladeshi mountaineer, activist, social worker and environmentalist.
18. Tom Harris
1964-. (aged 62)
blogger
journalist
politician
trade unionist
Thomas Harris is a Scottish journalist and former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow South, formerly Glasgow Cathcart, from 2001 to 2015. A former member of Scottish Labour, he left the party in August 2018.
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19. Lesley Laird
1958-. (aged 68)
politician
council member
Lesley Margaret Laird is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2017 to 2019, and Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland during the same period. Laird was a Member of Fife Council from 2012 to 2018 and served as...
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20. Carol Kirkwood
1962-. (aged 64)
television presenter
writer
presenter
Carol Kirkwood is a Scottish weather presenter. She was trained by the Met Office and works for the BBC on BBC Breakfast. She is also a published author.
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21. Anna Meredith
1978-. (aged 48)
composer
musician
Anna Howard Meredith MBE is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA.
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22. Tasnim Nazeer
journalist
Tasnim Nazeer is a British journalist, author and Universal Peace Federation Ambassador for Peace Nazeer became Scotland's first hijab-wearing freelance TV reporter in July 2020. She has written for Al Jazeera, HuffPost, The Independent online, CNN, BBC News Online, The Guardian, TRT World, Middle East Eye and others. Nazeer was awarded The Muslim News Ibn Battuta Award for Excellence in...
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23. Serhii Babak
1978-. (aged 48)
economist
jurist
politician
Serhii Vitaliiovych Babak is a Ukrainian politician, lawyer, economist, psychologist, is a who is currently a member of the Verkhovna Rada since 29 April 2019 from the Servant of the People party.
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24. El Mafrex
1984-. (aged 42)
singer
songwriter
El Mafrex is a Nigerian-born, urban gospel singer-songwriter, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.