Honorary graduates for 2024 announced

Posted on 27 July 2024

The University of York has announced that 11 leading figures will receive honorary degrees during graduation ceremonies at Central Hall.

Honorary graduates will take part in ceremonies held at Central Hall

Actors and writers, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith; Playwright and lyricist, Chris Bush; Public health champion, Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead; and artist and curator, Professor Sunil Gupta, will be among those honoured during the celebrations.

Honorary degrees will also be awarded to author and expert on poverty, inequality and social policy Helen Barnard; General Practitioner and healthcare leader, Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard; electronics and computer engineer, Dr Heba Bevan; author and peace worker, Dr Harsh Mander; President of Arizona State University, Dr Michael M Crow; and Psychologist and author, Professor John Amaechi.

League of Gentlemen

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are actors, writers and comedians, and alongside fellow creators Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson, they won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the League of Gentlemen, in which they wrote and starred in. Major success followed as the same show became a TV comedy hit, going on to become a multi-award winning TV series.

They have since created the BAFTA award-winning series Inside no. 9, which again they both wrote and performed in. Following the huge success of Inside No. 9. Reece and Steve went on to write and release the script books of the series along with an insiders guide.

Health and equality

Olivier Award-winning playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker, Chris Bush, has seen her work produced by organisations such as the National Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Headlong, Almeida Theatre, Paines Plough, Lyric Hammersmith, Birmingham Rep and the Schaubühne in Berlin. Her musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge won the 2023 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and is currently playing in London’s West End.

Dame Margaret Whitehead is a Professor in Public Health, and a graduate of the University of York, where she studied Biology soon after the founding of the University. She was also founding Head of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on the Determinants of Health Equity at the University of Liverpool, and provided guidance for countries across Europe on making population health policies more equitable.

The work of Indian-born photographer, Professor Sunil Gupta, is known for its strong social and political commentary. During a career spanning more than four decades, he has focused on race, migration and queer issues. His work is in many private and public collections including the Tokyo Museum of Photography, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Royal Ontario Museum, Tate, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

Pioneering work

Helen Barnard is Director of Policy, Research and Impact at the Trussell Trust. She was formerly Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Research and Policy Director at Pro Bono Economics. Helen’s research and policy work has covered poverty, destitution, labour markets, housing, social security and civil society. She is the author of Want (Giants: a new Beveridge Report), which examines modern-day poverty and the institutions and reforms required to address it.

NHS GP Principal, Professor of GP Education at the University of Birmingham and a non-executive director on the Board of NHS England, Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, has held several prestigious positions in the medical field, most notably serving as the Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Helen sits on several national advisory groups and boards, including the expert panel advising the National Frontier AI Taskforce.

Dr Heba Bevan is a businesswoman and electronics and computer engineer. She is known for her pioneering work in wireless sensors and artificial intelligence. Following her studies in electronics and computer engineering at York, Heba embarked on a career as a CPU engineer at ARM – a leading microchip design company. Her contributions included the development of ARM Cortex processors, which have become ubiquitous in mobile phones. Heba currently serves as the Vice-Chair for the Netherlands British Chambers of Commerce.

Law and justice

Human rights and peace activist, Dr Harsh Mander, is a columnist, researcher and teacher. He is the Chairperson of the Centre for Equity Studies in Delhi, devoted to the analysis and development of public policy and law for justice and rights of disadvantaged groups. He leads a national initiative called Karwan e Mohabbat, or Caravan of Love, which visits the families of those who have lost loved ones to hate violence to help support them with healing and seeking justice.

Dr Michael M Crow became the 16th president of Arizona State University (ASU) in July 2002. He has spearheaded ASU’s rapid and transformative evolution into one of the world’s best public metropolitan research universities. It has been voted the US’s most innovative university by US News & World Report for nine continuous years. Under Michael’s leadership, ASU has established more than 25 new transdisciplinary schools, including the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Psychologist and author, Professor John Amaechi, is an organisational psychologist and Founder of APS Intelligence, which provides coaching, advisory, training and speaking services. John is a Professor of Leadership at the University of Exeter Business School and a Fellow of the Institute of Science and Technology. He is a non-executive director of a FTSE 250 company and was a 10-year director of the UK’s largest healthcare organisation.