Professor Pete Downes, Principal, University of DundeeBack to Dundee Ambassadors

Manchester born Pete is well known in the fields of commercial pharmaceuticals having worked for GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.  In his academic life he has spent periods at Birmingham, Cambridge and Dundee Universities.  Eventually settling in Dundee Pete is now Principal of Dundee University.

My managerial role and reputation as a scientist have grown in tandem. I've been living in Dundee for just over 20 years now and, somehow, I've managed to take up increasingly senior roles in the University without ever having to move from institution to institution to get these opportunities. It's also been a place where my personal research has gone from strength and these two roles have developed hand in hand so it's just been tremendous from my point of view. As a result of that I've got a remarkable amount of loyalty and commitment to ensure the university continues on its upward trajectory.

We've brought millions of pounds of funding to Dundee to ensure we have internationally competitive research. We've now reached the stage where we have contributed to some of the most important research in understanding human cancer. The majority of pharmaceutical companies in the world are now using the fruits of our research to develop anti-cancer treatments.

I've always thought the physical location of Dundee is absolutely stunning. We've been able to bring up our family here with good schools in the region. Even though my wife and I both have busy professional lives, we've both been able to pursue our interests here. What is there not to like about Dundee? It's a city that's had its troubles and there is still a lot of deprivation but one of the things I find paradoxically attractive is that both universities, and certainly this university, have continued to play a big role in helping to regenerate the city.

There is a great sense of pride in the University. There is often this ‘town and gown' divide but that's where Dundee bucks the trend. It's vitally important that we share responsibility for the city in order to help overcome some of its problems.

I think Dundonians are generous but they're not especially confident. They hold on to this idea that Dundee is somehow less of a city than Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. We should have the aspiration to be ahead of these other cities. The university has always been a leader with a real ‘can do' attitude. I can never see things in a negative light and think being positive about what we do is really important.

Dundee needs to regenerate and provide amenities in the city that people are proud of. It's critical that we don't lose sight of the fact we need to attract people who want to come to the city to live their professional lives, not just visitors who will come and visit and leave again. What attracts people is cities which can offer the things they want to have in their lifestyle.

We've got this fantastic, almost unique, physical environment but we need to make sure everything else lives up to that. People expect to walk around in their city and feel safe, have places to enjoy time off, to shop, to go to restaurants, to have all those cultural outlets like the Rep and the DCA. We need to link all these things together so that we have a more coherent attractiveness to those coming in from outside.

I think that we have the foundations to go from strength to strength. We need to ensure that our leading position in biosciences is maintained but we also need to develop the new components of our economic development in order to regenerate. I think the creative industries is one of the most important parts of that - that's why the V&A is so important. The computer and gaming industry plays a big part of that too. The number of companies that have set up here over the last few years is marvellous. A third area where Dundee can be very successful, because of its geographical location, is the offshore wind industry. These are all areas where the university can align its research and teaching to fit with the needs of the city as it develops.

I think that Dundonians should be proud of Dundee. It's a good place to start. We should be proud of the city and proud of our ability as Dundonians to reinvent ourselves. If we do that we will emerge as one of Scotland's vibrant and dynamic cities.