University to award three honorary degrees
Posted on 19 January 2010
Professor Vicki Bruce, Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve and Jatinder Verma will be presented with the honorary degrees of Doctor of the University at ceremonies taking place on Saturday, 23 January.
The University confers honorary degrees on individuals who have made a significant contribution to society. Recipients often have existing links with the University and are chosen from nominations made by its members.
Professor Vicki Bruce OBE
Professor Vicki Bruce is Head of the School of Psychology at Newcastle University and an expert on human face perception, person memory and aspects of social cognition. She has conducted research for the Royal Mint on the design of coins, to ensure that they can be distinguished from each other by sight and touch.
She is an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is President Elect of the Experimental Psychology Society and was previously President of the British Psychological Society and the European Society for Cognitive Psychology. She was awarded the OBE for services to Psychology in 1997.
Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve CBE
Baroness Onora O'Neill writes on ethics and political philosophy, with particular interests in questions of international justice, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and bioethics. She was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1992 to 2006. She was President of the British Academy from 2005 to 2009, chairs the Nuffield Foundation and is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Cambridge.
She chaired the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission. She was created a Life Peer in 1999, sits as a crossbencher, and has served on the House of Lords Select Committees on Stem Cell Research, BBC Charter Review, Genomic Medicine and currently Nanoscience and Food.
Jatinder Verma
Jatinder Verma is the artistic director of the pioneering Tara Arts theatre company. Born in Dar-es-Salaam, Jatinder Verma grew up in Nairobi before moving to Britain in 1968. He graduated in history from the University of York in 1976. The following year he founded Tara Arts, the first theatre company to emerge from the then recently migrated South Asian community.
The company’s formidable reputation has been earned through bringing the influence of Britain’s migrant communities into mainstream theatre and its cross-cultural interpretation of western theatrical works. Outside the theatre, Jatinder Verma is a broadcaster, and, in 1997, became a member of Channel 4’s Poverty Commission and contributed to the work of several universities.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Jatinder Verma will be presented for his honorary degree by Professor Dr Joanna de Groot, of the Department of History in Ceremony One at 9.30am.
- Professor Vicki Bruce will be presented for her honorary degree by Professor Andy Ellis, of the Department of Psychology in Ceremony Two at 12 noon.
- Baroness O’Neill will be presented for her honorary degree by Professor Tom Baldwin, of the Department of Philosophy in Ceremony Three at 3pm.
- To arrange photographs, contact David Garner on 01904 432153 or 07795 315029.
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