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University Honorary Degrees July 2008

Sir John Tusa, journalist and former managing director of the BBC World Service, will be among those receiving honorary degrees from the University of Kent at the degree ceremonies being held at Canterbury Cathedral in July 2008. The University will also award honorary degrees to Simon Jenkins, journalist and author; Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independent; Professor Janet Thornton, Director of the European Bioinformatics Institute; Professor Keith Gull, microbiologist; Robert Neame, President of Shepherd Neame; Dr John Williams, Head of Heritage Conservation for Kent County Council; and Becky Parker, Head of Physics at the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury.

Sir John Tusa joined the BBC in 1960 as a trainee. He presented the BBC's Newsnight programme and 24 hours before becoming managing director of the BBC World Service from 1986 to 1993. Two years later, he became managing director of London's Barbican Arts Centre. Since 1998, he has been chairman of the Wigmore Hall Trust and was appointed chairman of the Court of Governors for the University of the Arts London in 2007. He continues to be a prolific writer and broadcaster and has co-written two books with his wife Ann Tusa: The Nuremberg Trial and The Berlin Blockade. He was awarded a knighthood in 2003.

Simon Jenkins is a journalist and author. He writes columns for the Guardian and for the Sunday Times, as well as broadcasting for the BBC. Previously he wrote columns for the Times and the London Evening Standard, both of which newspapers he edited. His career began on Country Life magazine and continued on the Times Educational Supplement, the Economist and the Sunday Times. He served on the boards of British Rail and London Transport and was deputy chairman of English Heritage and a Millennium Commissioner. He was Journalist of the Year in 1988 and Columnist of the Year in 1993. His books include England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) and Thousand Best Houses (2003). Thatcher & Sons was published in October 2006 by Penguin.

Robert Fisk has over thirty years of experience in international reporting. He has been the Middle East correspondent for The Independent for nearly twenty years and is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden. He has numerous awards for journalism, including two Amnesty International UK Press Awards and seven British International Journalist of the Year awards. His books include The Point of No Return: The Strike Which Broke the British in Ulster; In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality, 1939-45; Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War and The Great War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the Middle East.

Professor Sir David Melville was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent from 2001-2007. Under his direction, Kent expanded its activities and student numbers and led the development of the £120m Universities at Medway partnership, now a role-model for others in the higher education sector. During his wide-ranging career, Sir David has also made outstanding contributions in further education and schools nationally and locally in Kent and Medway, and he is seen as one of the great champions of lifelong learning. He was Chief Executive of the Further Education Funding Council from 1996 - 2001 and he is currently Chair of Lifelong Learning UK. Sir David was awarded a knighthood for services to higher and further education in 2007.

Professor Janet Thornton is Director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, an academic organisation which is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. She was previously Professor and Director of Biomolecular Structure and Modelling Unit at University College London and held the Bernal Chair in the Crystallography Department at Birkbeck College, University of London. A Fellow of the Royal Society, she is also a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, Extraordinary Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge and Honorary Professor, University of Cambridge. In 2001, she received the Commander of the British Empire award.

Professor Keith Gull began his career at the University of Kent where he became Professor of Cell Biology. He subsequently played a key role in the development of the School of Biological Sciences in the University of Manchester as Head of Biochemistry and Research Dean. He has served on numerous research committees and was Chairman of the Biochemical Society. A Fellow of the Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences, he was awarded a CBE for services to microbiology. He is currently a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford.

Robert Neame is President of Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer. After joining the company in 1956, he was appointed to the Board and served as Chairman and Chief Executive for thirty years before becoming a Non-Executive Director. He retired from the Board in 2006 and is now the company's first President and is Chairman of the trustees of the Shepherd Neame Company Retirement Account. Robert Neame has made a key contribution to the region and was a member of Kent County Council from 1965 to 1989. He was Leader of the Council from 1982 to 1984 and High Sheriff of Kent from 2001 to 2002.

Dr John Williams joined Kent County Council nearly twenty years ago. As Head of Heritage Conservation, he has presided over a number of large-scale excavations resulting from major developments such as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and recently edited a book on the outcome of much of this work. He was also instrumental in securing futures for the Oare Gunpowder Works and for Thurnham Castle and his team oversaw the restoration of the County Council's eight historic windmills. Dr Williams has also been actively involved in developing European cooperation on heritage matters.

Becky Parker, Head of Physics at the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury, and Director of the Langton Star Centre, plays a key role in enhancing astronomy and science education for the school's students. As a result, one in every 200 students studying physics at university has come from the Simon Langton. Formerly Head of Education at the Institute of Physics and a senior lecturer in physics at the University of Kent, Becky Parker has also served on numerous science committees and, last year, became an Academic Visitor at Imperial College London.

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 9:00am 7 July 2008