UCL awards 2023 Honorary Degrees and Fellowships

Honorary Degrees were awarded to David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee; Professor Toni Williams, Senior Tutor at Girton College, Cambridge; Harry Bradbeer (Medieval and Modern History 1989), Director of Fleabag, Killing Eve and Enola Holmes; Dr Ali Parsadoust (Civil Engineering 1987), health entrepreneur; Professor Orlando Patterson, historical and cultural sociologist; and Baroness Jo Valentine, former Vice-Chair of UCL Council, business leader and public figure.

Honorary Fellowships were awarded to Richard Blair, son of George Orwell and trustee of The Orwell Foundation at UCL; David Dolby, CEO of Dolby Family Ventures and supporter of UCL neuroscience research; Cathy Chui Lee (Economics and Business with East European Studies 2004), philanthropist; Dr Martin Lee, renowned business leader and philanthropist; Lady Helen Hamlyn, Chairman of the Helen Hamlyn Trust; Jennifer Janes (Laws 1963); Vivan Lee (Chemical Engineering 1970); Zvi Geffen (Economics 1981); and Tres Seippel (MSc International Real Estate and Planning 2012).

Supporting scholarship and research at UCL

Richard Blair is the son of George Orwell and a generous supporter of the Orwell Archive at UCL. He has consistently advocated for his father’s papers to be kept together and be available for interpretation and work at UCL. Over recent years, Richard has bought caches of his father’s letters as they’ve become available and has donated them to the UCL archive. Today, UCL houses the most significant collection by far of Orwell’s papers, thanks to Richard’s generosity and strategic philanthropy. 

David Miliband has been President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee since 2013. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his achievements in helping some of the most marginalised people in the world and of his commitment to tackling some of the most difficult problems in global politics.  

Professor Toni Williams is an internationally recognised scholar and Senior Tutor at Girton College, Cambridge. Her first academic appointment was as a lecturer in law at UCL in 1984 and in the subsequent four decades she has made significant contributions to legal studies and higher education leadership through positions and collaborations in North America, South America, Asia and the UK. 

Lady Helen Hamlyn CBE has, through the Helen Hamlyn Trust, supported many causes in keeping with UCL’s values and mission, including at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. The Trust has invested more than £1.7 million in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy at IOE, which was established in 2018 to extend the work of IOE and the Trust in primary and early years education. 

David Dolby is the CEO of Dolby Family Ventures, a successful technology investor and philanthropist. He is the son of inventor Dr Ray Dolby, who had been living with Alzheimer’s disease and acute leukaemia when he died in 2013. David Dolby has led investment by Dolby Family Ventures in more than 40 life science companies, focused on therapeutics and technology investments for Alzheimer's disease, depression and neuromodulation. The fund has been a major supporter of Professor John Hardy, Chair of the Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and his research into Alzheimer’s disease. It has also supported Professor Selina Wray, Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow at UCL.  

Cathy Chui Lee and Dr Martin Lee’s Honorary Fellowships were awarded in recognition of their commitment to providing hope for a future without dementia, and in gratitude for their support of neuroscience at UCL.

Professor Orlando Patterson is the foremost scholar of slavery and freedom of his generation and the author of nine academic books and three novels. He was awarded his Honorary Degree in recognition of his exceptional contributions to scholarship, literature and public service.

Baroness Jo Valentine’s career has spanned business, industry, regeneration and politics. She served as a member of UCL Council from 2014, and was appointed Vice-Chair in 2017, serving in this role until July 2022 when her term ended. Jo made an exceptional contribution to Council and UCL. In particular, her contributions as chair of the Governance Working Group will have a positive impact on the operation of Council for years to come.

Global champions for UCL

Harry Bradbeer is the director of the phenomenally successful series Fleabag and Killing Eve, and one of Netflix’s top-rated films, Enola Holmes, among other works. Despite his extremely busy schedule, Harry continues to play a role in the UCL community and has generously volunteered his time and expertise to support UCL students and graduates through professional development and career initiatives. 

Dr Ali Parsadoust is an entrepreneur and a pioneer in his field. At UCL he become Chair of the Students’ Union UCL and ULU and then the first international student elected to the executive of the National Union of Students. Throughout his successful career as an entrepreneur and business leader, Ali has cultivated a wealth of experience, which he has generously shared with UCL.  

Vivian Lee, Zvi Geffen, Jennifer Janes and Tres Seippel were all awarded Honorary Fellowships in recognition of their contributions to building UCL’s international community.

Zvi and Jennifer have provided inspirational and longstanding leadership through their volunteering work with the Israel Alumni Association, which they founded in 1996. They were also the driving force behind the establishment of the British-Chevening-UCL Israel Alumni-Chaim Herzog Award, named in memory of the late President of Israel who was also an alumnus (Laws 1941) and Honorary Fellow.  

Vivian has been a dedicated alumnus volunteer and friend of UCL since his graduation more than 50 years ago and has played an important role in building and supporting the UCL community in Hong Kong throughout that time, including through his role as a founding board member of the UCL Scholarship Hong Kong Foundation, which provides scholarships for Hong Kong residents to study at UCL.  

Tres’s award was made in recognition of his commitment to UCL as a member of the UCL LGBTQ+ Alumni Network, member of the UCLFAA Board and Chair of the UCL New York Alumni Club. He has spearheaded significant growth in engagement with UCL’s alumni community in the Tri-State Area, extending this across the US during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, with online events. 

Angharad Milenkovic, Vice-President (Advancement) at UCL, said: “UCL is extremely fortunate to have a strong and committed global community of alumni and supporters. We are delighted to confer these awards in recognition of the exceptional contributions that these individuals have made to UCL through their work, volunteering, advocacy and philanthropy. Congratulations to all our new Honorary Fellows and Honorary Degree holders!”