UCL staff recognised in New Year Honours

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

Professor Wendy Carlin (UCL Economics) has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to economics.

Professor Carlin is co-founder and Director of CORE (Curriculum Open-access Resources in Economics), which is changing economics education for undergraduates worldwide, broadening curricula to address the world’s most pressing problems, including inequality and climate change.

CORE’s open-source teaching materials are available at no cost and are now used at over 500 universities.

Professor Carlin, a professor at UCL since 2002, was described as a “pedagogical tour de force” in the long citation. Her research is wide-ranging, including on macroeconomics, institutions and economic performance and transition economics.

Responding to the news, she said: “I'm delighted with the recognition of all the writers, researchers and teachers around the world who are building the CORE project and transforming economics education to meet today’s challenges. And very grateful to UCL students over the years for their engagement and critical feedback.”

Professor Polina Bayvel (UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering) has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to engineering and optical communications.

Professor Bayvel is Head of the Optical Networks Group at UCL, which she set up in 1994, and has been at the forefront of developing optical fibre networks that transport vast quantities of data around the world underpinning today’s internet and the digital communications infrastructure, enabling the growing AI applications.

In her long citation, Professor Bayvel is described as a “global visionary” and a “role model for all aspiring engineers, including young girls”. Her pioneering research, it said, had significantly expanded the capacity and speed of transmission across global networks, profoundly impacting the telecommunications industries. Her innovations have been widely adopted around the world.

The citation also noted that Professor Bayvel was the first woman to receive the Royal Society’s prestigious Rumford Medal since its inception in 1800.

Responding to the news, she said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award – reflecting the pioneering research of the many students and colleagues in the Optical Networks Group – and very grateful to several generations of UCL Provosts & Vice-Provosts for Research, Deans of Engineering and Heads of Electronic & Electrical Engineering Department, as well as all my teachers and mentors, for supporting me and my group.”

Professor Suzanne Farid (UCL Biochemical Engineering) has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for services to biochemical engineering.

Professor Farid is Head of UCL’s Department of Biochemical Engineering and Professor of Bioprocess Systems Engineering. She is Director of the UCL-AstraZeneca Centre of Excellence, strengthened through a £5 million Prosperity Partnership that she leads. She has co-directed multiple major national industry-academia centres, including the recent EPSRC-funded Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub, focused on overcoming barriers to the rapid and affordable development and manufacture of targeted biological medicines.

Professor Farid leads internationally in research on decisional tools to support the manufacture of biotherapeutics. Her work has pioneered methods for cost-effective and sustainable bioprocess design and manufacturability assessment, helping companies bring new therapies to market faster and at lower cost and supporting wider access to advanced medicines.

She has also played an active role in policy engagement and skills development across academia, industry and government bodies.

Professor Farid said: “I am incredibly honoured to receive this recognition. It reflects the shared commitment to excellence and impact of colleagues, researchers, students and partners I have had the privilege to work with at UCL and across academia, industry and policy bodies. Biochemical engineering is about translating science into real-world impact, and I hope this shines a light on the importance of manufacturing, innovation and the bright minds we train to deliver better outcomes for society.”

Emeritus Professor David Kemp (UCL Ear Institute) has been made a CBE for services to auditory sciences and public health.

Professor Kemp is widely known for his discovery of otoacoustic emissions - sounds emitted by the healthy inner ear. When the inner ear is damaged, the production of these sounds ceases. His work led to new, practical techniques for measuring hearing and the first NHS screening programme in 50 years for hearing in newborn babies.

He also founded the company Otodynamics, which makes equipment to diagnose hearing defects.

Professor Kemp said: “This work involved many people and research groups – it was much bigger than my efforts. The aim was to stop kids born with bad hearing from being handicapped by not hearing and learning their language in their early years. Parents’ suspicions were ignored by doctors until they should have started to talk at 2-3 years and didn’t – this was too late. The answer was a test of hearing quick enough to give to every baby at birth – made possible by otoacoustic emissions.

 “The ear is an amazing bit of bio-machinery and research goes on to uncover the mystery of how it works. I provided a missing piece of the jigsaw, but there are still lots of missing pieces to find. Long live the UCL Ear Institute!”

Ruth-Anne Lenga (Associate Professor, UCL Institute of Education) has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to Holocaust education.

Ms Lenga is one of the longest serving members of academic staff at the UCL Institute of Education with over 30 years' experience training teachers. She is a leading figure of UCL’s award-winning Centre for Holocaust Education - a specialist institute supporting teachers to deliver high-quality, research-based, Holocaust education. Ms Lenga played a key role in establishing the centre in 2008 and for years directed its educational vision and programme delivery. 

She is widely recognised for her groundbreaking work in Holocaust education which began 35 years ago when the field was in its infancy. In particular, she worked closely with Holocaust survivors, supporting them in the early days when many were just beginning to open up and share their painful testimonies to young people in educational settings. She made a distinctive contribution to informing this delicate process and in helping teachers and their students understand the silent trauma that many Holocaust survivors endured long after the war ended and that survival is a deeply complex state of being.  

Ms Lenga is also recognised as an expert in antisemitism prevention, advising and working directly with international organisations such as UNESCO and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to deliver training on this issue to ministries of education, school directors and teachers across Europe and beyond. She is also an active member of the UK delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and served as the Deputy Head of Delegation during the UK IHRA Presidency in 2024. 

She said: "I am honoured to receive the OBE for Services to Holocaust Education. I would like to extend my appreciation and admiration to UK Holocaust survivors who taught me so much over many years. I continue to be humbled by their courage. They are truly remarkable."

Professor Andrew Steptoe (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) has been made an OBE for services to behavioural science.

Professor Steptoe is currently a Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology at UCL. He has been a professor at UCL since 2000. He directs the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), in which a nationally representative population sample in England is assessed with questionnaires, cognitive tests, and biomarkers every two years. The study, now 23 years old, aims to cover all aspects of ageing and has resulted in more than 1,600 research papers.

Professor Steptoe, who has also served as Head of the Research Department of Behavioural Science & Health and Director of the Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% in the field by citations in two fields in the Web of Science) by Clarivate Analytics since 2018.

Professor Steptoe said: "I am delighted to receive this honour in recognition of the importance of behavioural science to disease prevention and health promotion. Tackling health issues throughout the life course can benefit from understanding the role of social, behavioural and emotional factors, and I am proud to have been able to contribute to these developments."

Links

• Professor Polina Bayvel’s academic profile
• Professor Wendy Carlin’s academic profile
• Professor Suzanne Farid’s academic profile
• Professor David Kemp’s academic profile
• Ruth-Anne Lenga’s academic profile
• Professor Andrew Steptoe’s academic profile

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• Clockwise from top left: Prof Wendy Carlin, Prof Polina Bayvel, Prof Suzanne Farid, Prof David Kemp, Ruth-Anne Lenga, and Prof Andrew Steptoe