I am delighted to highlight the opportunities afforded to academics – and to the University – by becoming a Glasgow Conference Ambassador.

Managed by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, the Conference Ambassador Programme provides free, impartial support to help the city’s academic, medical and scientific communities to persuade their professional associations to meet in the city.

As well as offering opportunities for showcasing your research and that of your department to an international audience of your peers, conferences have a key role to play in promoting the University’s reputation as a world class centre of excellence for learning. They also represent significant additional economic benefit for the city.

More than 250 of academics at the University of Glasgow already save valuable time and money in this process with help from Glasgow City Marketing Bureau’s wide range of conference support services. I urge you to join them in helping the University and the city of Glasgow flourish.

When the University of Glasgow hosted the Executive Committee of the European Society of Hypertension in Glasgow in October 2009, thanks to the Glasgow Convention Bureau, they were given a warm welcome and I was able to introduce my colleagues from across Europe to key opinion-formers in Glasgow.

The feedback we have had from delegates has been overwhelming, with comments like ‘it has restored my faith in science’. Without the Convention Bureau’s financial support and considerable hospitality, we would not have been able to host such a successful event.

Hosting an International meeting for the first time is a formidable task and access to professional help was critical in our success.

The members of the Bureau who supported us were very much a part of the team. They came to meetings, made suggestions, and showed how they could help.