News

Honorary degrees for remarkable achievement

(14 May 2007)

Durham University is awarding honorary degrees to leading figures in engineering, anthropology, criminal justice and wildlife documentary-making, in recognition of their significant contributions and leadership.

Durham graduate and much celebrated director Alastair Fothergill is amongst those to be honoured at the ceremony, alongside the eminent engineer, Lord Broers, leading Judge Navanethem Pillay and internationally-acclaimed anthropologist Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern. The ceremonies, which will take place on 27 June and 29 June, are to be held in Durham Cathedral. Each honorary degree, to be conferred by Chancellor Bill Bryson, will be awarded as part of a student graduation ceremony. Professor Chris Higgins, Vice-Chancellor of Durham University, said: “The exceptional dedication and talent of each of these individuals reflect the values of Durham University. They are inspirational by example and their successes, often accomplished through sheer hard work, have provided a benchmark for excellence in their respective fields. “I am proud to award their remarkable achievements with the highest accolade the University can offer – the honorary degree.” The University is also planning a special honorary degree ceremony in celebration of its 175th anniversary, the details of which are soon to be announced. Mini Biographies: Lord Broers As a distinguished engineer and leading international figure in the development of nanotechnology, Lord Broers represents values strongly upheld within Durham University. His research links with industry include IBM, where he worked in senior research roles for almost 20 years. A Board Director of Vodafone and President of the Royal Academy of Engineering until earlier in 2006, Alec Broers has widespread influence in the development of engineering. In recognition of this he was granted Life Peerage in 2004. At Cambridge University he was Professor of Electrical Engineering 1984-96 and Master of Churchill College 1990-96 before becoming Vice-Chancellor 1996-2003. His awards and honours include a Fellowship of the Royal Society as well as several honorary degrees. Alastair Fothergill The celebrated and award-winning director, Alastair Fothergill, has worked on some of television’s most memorable wildlife documentaries, including ‘The Really Wild Show’ and ‘Wildlife on One’. Now setting a new benchmark for exceptional documentary making, Alastair Fothergill has recently produced the outstanding ‘Blue Planet’ series and the more recent ‘Planet Earth’ series. As an undergraduate of Durham’s Zoology Department in the 1980’s, he was selected to submit a short film of a university expedition for a BBC and Royal Geographical Society competition. Despite not winning, Alastair joined the BBC Natural History Unit after graduating, later becoming head of the unit. Working with Sir David Attenborough, Alastair has also directed and produced The Trials of Life and the series on Antarctic Life in the Freezer. His work has contributed substantially to public understanding of science and to a sense of responsibility for the global environment. H.E. Judge Navanethem Pillay As standard bearer for women’s rights in South Africa and Justice of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court, Judge Pillay demonstrates her commitment and important contribution to international humanitarian law, international criminal justice and more particularly, crimes of sexual violence in conflicts. Educated at Harvard and Natal University, she was the first black woman to start a law practice in Natal Province, South Africa, where she defended many opponents of apartheid. She has handled precedent-setting cases, such as establishing the rights of political prisoners in Robben Island Prison – including Nelson Mandela - to have access to lawyers. In 1995, Pillay became the first black woman to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge in South Africa. Shortly after this, she was elected to be a judge on the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda where she served for eight years, including four years as president. Judge Pillay is currently honorary chair for Equality Now, serves on the Board of Directors for Nozala Investments, and is Chairwoman of the Durham University Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern DBE, FBA As a world-leading social anthropologist and international scholar on human behaviour, Dame Marilyn Strathern has gained an international reputation for her work on aspects of society, kinship, gender, reproductive technologies and, more recently, intellectual property rights. Carrying out much of her extensive fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Dame Strathern has contributed greatly to Pacific ethnography, using insights from Melanesian culture and sociality to question the universality of some Western categories often taken to be fundamental: society, individuals, relation, property, substance, effect, nature and culture. For more than a decade now she has held the William Wyse Chair in Social Anthropology at Cambridge, where she has been Mistress of Girton College since 1998, having been an undergraduate and PhD student at Girton. Prior to this appointment she served as Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester from 1985 to 1993. Her academic career has also included research in Australia and a visiting professorship in California.