| University of Liverpool announces 2008 honours |
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01/07/2008 06:42 (588 Day 15:29 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- The musician Elvis Costello and the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, are among 12 esteemed figures to receive honorary degrees from the University of Liverpool next week.
Elvis Costello shot to fame with his band The Attractions in the late 1970s and his music has explored and tested the boundaries of a range of musical genres from soul and pop to rock and punk. He has collaborated with musicians such as Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett and Sir Paul McCartney.
In the year that Liverpool is European Capital of Culture the University will also honour the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. A former Prime Minister of Portugal, he has established himself as the most successful and formidable driver of political and economic progress in recent times.
Professor Sir Drummond Bone, knighted in June for services to higher education and regeneration in the North West, has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool since 2002. He was President of Universities UK, the organisation that represents higher education, from 2005 to 2007. He chaired the Liverpool Culture Company and was instrumental in establishing the Liverpool-Shanghai Partnership. He established Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China, one of only two such developments agreed by the Chinese authorities anywhere in the world.
Edward Stanley, the 19th Earl of Derby will be honoured for his public contribution to Merseyside. Lord Derby has held key positions in the governance of such institutions as National Museums Liverpool, the Liverpool Council of Social Services, and the Knowsley and Liverpool Chambers of Commerce as well as honorary positions in local charitable, sporting and business organisations.
Maurice Flanagan CBE, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Emirates Group, will receive an honorary degree for his strategic leadership, innovation and influence in the aviation industry. A graduate of the University of Liverpool he began his career at BOAC, the forerunner of British Airways. He was invited by the Dubai Government to be the founding Chief Executive of Emirates in 1985, now one of the world’s most successful airlines.
The former Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, is honoured for his support of science and innovation in the UK. Previously Chief Executive of the famous supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, he is also the founder of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which targets funds at areas such as agriculture and industrialisation in Africa.
As President of the Royal Society, the distinguished cosmologist and astrophysicist, Lord Martin Rees leads the most important, independent scientific academy in the UK. He has played an active role in the European Space Agency’s collaboration with NASA, as well as being involved in the Pugwash Conferences and the Kyoto Forum.
The chemist, Professor Jean Fréchet, is one of the world’s foremost researchers in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. His most renowned work explores improvements in the use of drugs, leading to reductions in the side-effects of chemotherapy. His work has already made a significant difference to the successful treatment of colon cancer.
University of Liverpool graduate and philanthropist, Professor David Price Evans, will be honoured for his contributions to medical education and research and his vision as a benefactor. Internationally recognised for his work in Pharmacogenetics or ‘personalised medicines’, he is a former Head of Medicine at the University of Liverpool. He was Director of Medicine at the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia for 25 years.
A lifelong campaigner on equality issues, Trevor Phillips OBE, is the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He became the first and only black president of the National Union of Students in 1978 and has dedicated his career to equality for all with many high-level involvements in the voluntary sector and with charities.
Liverpool Football Club Chief Executive, Rick Parry, will be honoured after a decade at the helm of the club he once tried out for as a player. A University of Liverpool graduate, he was instrumental in setting up and developing the Premier League in to one of the top professional football competitions in the world.
Acclaimed science fiction writer Brian Aldiss OBE, is honoured for his contribution to the development and understanding of science fiction throughout the world. His talent was officially recognised in 1958 with the ‘Most Promising New Author’ award. He founded the first ever journal of science fiction criticism and produced ‘Billion Year Spree’, a major history of science fiction.
The honorary degrees will be conferred during a week of ceremonies at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall from Monday, 30 June, in which more than 4,000 students will graduate.
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