UCL staff recognised in King’s Birthday Honours

The King’s annual Birthday Honours list recognises the incredible public service of individuals from across the UK in a range of sectors.

This year, Professor Mariana Mazzucato (UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose) was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to economics.

Professor Mazzucato is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP) and Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value. She is winner of prestigious international awards including Italy's highest civilian honour, the Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2021), the John von Neumann Award (2020), and the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought (2018).

Her work has fundamentally changed the economics of innovation and how economic theory understands the role of government, from market fixing to market shaping. Her ideas have influenced industrial strategies globally from the US to Brazil. Her missions framework has been adopted as official policy by the European Commission, and has influenced the UK Labour Party’s 5 missions, and helped design the Scottish National Investment Bank and Camden’s community wealth fund.

Her leadership of international commissions – including the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All and the Global Commission on the Economics of Water – has influenced global policy frameworks on health financing and water governance. Her recommendations led the WHO to adopt its resolution on the Economics of Health for All.  

Professor Tim Cole (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) was appointed CBE for services to medical statistics.

Professor Cole was Professor of Medical Statistics at UCL Institute of Child Health from 1999 until 2024. He has made many important contributions to the scientific study of human growth and development, with research ranging from forensic age assessment to how early growth relates to later outcomes.

He also developed internationally accepted definitions for obesity and for the category of being overweight in childhood.

Professor Cole said: “I feel very honoured to receive this public recognition of my work over 50-plus years into the statistics of the growth of children. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside my many talented colleagues to improve the nation’s child health.”

Professor Owen Bowden-Jones (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) was appointed CBE for services to addiction rehabilitation and public service.

Professor Bowden-Jones is a consultant psychiatrist who has helped people with mental health and substance use problems for nearly 30 years. An Honorary Professor at UCL, his research has focused on ‘club drugs’, management of concurrent substance misuse and mental health problems, and addressing systemic problems in healthcare. He helped set up the Changing Unwanted BEhaviour (CUBE) clinic for UCL students.

He is also the founder of the Club Drug Clinic, author of How to Talk to Your Child About Drugs, and chair of the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

Professor Bowden-Jones said: “I am honoured to receive this award, which I dedicate to my patients, their families and the many colleagues I have collaborated with over the years in the pursuit of better addiction care.” 

Professor Tilli (Elizabeth) Tansey (UCL Biosciences) was appointed CBE for services to the understanding and promotion of medical history and science.

Professor Tansey is an Honorary Professor of Physiology in UCL’s Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology. She is best known for her Witness Seminar series, funded by Wellcome, recording oral testimonies from those who have contributed significantly to modern medical science.

Professor Tansey, a neuroscientist who switched to history of science, was Honorary Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and then Professor of the History of Modern Medical Science at UCL's Wellcome History of Medicine, within what was then the Department of Anatomy, until 2010.

Professor Tansey said: "I'm absolutely delighted at this recognition, although it also belongs to the Wellcome Trust, who completely funded my research, and the members of my research teams through the years, who contributed to the success of the dozens of Witness Seminars we have conducted and published, and all the audio and video interviews I have undertaken with contributors to modern medicine. 

"I have always been particularly interested in collecting and recording the experiences of some of the 'other voices', especially laboratory technicians, in addition to the distinguished scientists and clinicians, and we have built up considerable, freely available resources for future historians and anyone interested in recent medicine and medical science."

Professor Raman Prinja (UCL Physics & Astronomy) was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to academia and education.

Professor Prinja, Head of the Department of UCL Physics & Astronomy since 2018, is deeply engaged in science outreach, writing more than 20 popular science books, including several for children, and winning multiple awards for his teaching. His research has focused on how massive stars evolve.

In 2021 he was awarded the Institute of Physics’ Lise Meitner Medal and Prize for “distinguished contributions in engaging and inspiring children in physics, including through his inspirational books, lectures and interactive science events”.

The citation noted that his award-winning books had been consistently loaned over 10,000 times a year from UK libraries and that, since his books were often found in schools, they had likely had an influence on millions of children around the world.

Professor Prinja said: “I feel hugely honoured to receive this award. The recognition is founded on the opportunities I’ve had to work with fantastic colleagues and students at UCL, along with inspirational school teachers and very engaging young people. I’ve also had the joy of collaborating with many amazing book publishers and illustrators.

“Last, but not least, I’m very grateful for the wonderful support of my family.”

Professor Owase Jeelani (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) was appointed MBE for services to neurosurgery and global child health.

Professor Jeelani is a leading specialist in paediatric neurosurgery, craniofacial reconstructive surgery and craniopagus separation surgery. At Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), he was Head of the Department of Neurosurgery from 2012-2018, playing a pivotal role in expanding the department into one of the largest paediatric neurosurgery services in the world.

He is recognised internationally as an expert in the separation of craniopagus twins (twins joined at the skull), undertaking procedures both as an NHS surgeon at GOSH and globally as part of his work with the charity he established, Gemini Untwined.

Professor Jeelani said: “It is an honour to receive this MBE, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the teams at Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College London and Gemini Untwined. This recognition is not just a reflection of my work, but of the dedication and passion of every colleague and team member who has been part of this journey and I share this achievement with them.

“We remain committed to working towards a better future for children both in the UK, and globally. All children are equally precious and it is our collective responsibility to look after them.”

Mr John Welch (UCL Surgery & Interventional Science) was appointed an MBE for services to nursing and to patient safety.

Mr Welch is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in advanced critical care practice at UCL and consultant nurse in critical care and critical care outreach at UCLH. He has been a co-investigator on research that has improved care for deteriorating patients nationally, and has served as the UK clinical lead of an EU Horizon 2020 project developing wearable patient monitoring systems, and as National Clinical Advisor for acute deterioration at NHS England.

During the Covid-19 pandemic Mr Welch was the clinical nurse lead for a unit expanding critical care into general ward areas.He said: “Serving in our NHS for the past 40 years has been an honour in itself, but I am also honoured to have my contribution recognised in this way.

“It is a privilege to care for some of the sickest people in the hospital alongside so many brilliant and dedicated staff working to find better ways to help critically ill patients and their families.

“This award is definitely not just for me but for all the outstanding individuals I have worked with. Anything I have achieved has only happened with the support of a great many kind and clever colleagues and patients.”

Links

• Professor Mariana Mazzucato’s academic profile
• Professor Tilli Tansey’s academic profile
• Professor Tim Cole’s academic profile
• Professor Owen Bowden-Jones’s academic profile
• Professor Raman Prinja’s academic profile
• Professor Owase Jeelani’s academic profile
• Mr John Welch’s academic profile

Image

• Top, left to right: Professors Owen Bowden-Jones, Tim Cole, Mariana Mazzucato.
• Bottom, left to right: Professors Raman Prinja, Owase Jeelani, Tilli Tansey and Mr John Welch