UCL Fellowships conferred

UCL has honoured a group of people who have made contributions to the world across the spectrum of human endeavour.

In June 2006 it welcome 22 new Fellows and Honorary Fellows who have attained distinction in the arts, literature, science and public life.

New Fellows

Matt Baggott (UCL History 1987)

As the head of a major county police force and holder of the Queen's Police Medal, Matt Baggott is one of the most distinguished graduates of UCL History working outside academic life. Brought up in south London, he attended Trinity School in Croydon and joined the Metropolitan Police on completing his secondary education in 1977. He spent the first 20 years of his police career with the Met, working mainly in the inner city areas of Tooting, Brixton and Peckham. He attended UCL as a mature student from 1984-1987 and is remembered by teaching staff as "a man of great decency, humility and integrity". He returned to the Met where for 18 months he was Staff Officer to the Commissioner Sir Paul Condon and he headed the team assisting the public inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence. In June 1998 he became Assistant Chief Constable for the West Midlands Police and he was appointed Chief Constable of the Leicestershire force in December 2002. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in June 2004. Matt is Vice-President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Vice-President of the National Association of Police Chaplains and a trustee of Crime Concern.

Steve Briggs (UCL Astronomy 1974; PhD 1977)

Steve Briggs went on from an outstanding academic career at UCL to become one of the guiding lights of British and European research into satellite-based Earth observation. After completing a first class degree and a doctorate thesis on the spectrophotometry of Seyfert galaxies he spent five years as a postdoctoral research assistant at UCL before accepting a post as a lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Queen Mary & Westfield College. In 1983 he joined the Natural Environment Research Council's remote sensing and imaging group. He was appointed Head of the NERC's Earth Observation programme in 1994 and two years later became Director for Earth Observation at the British National Space Centre. Since 1999 he has been Head of the Earth Observation Science and Applications Department at the European Space Agency's ESRIN research centre at Frascati, Italy. Throughout his career he has maintained close contacts with UCL, including serving as an external examiner on the MSc remote sensing degree programme.

Alexander Duma (UCL Laws 1968; Vice-President of the Campaign for UCL)

Alexander Duma has pursued a highly successful career in corporate finance in the City of London and has also made valuable contributions in a range of other fields including politics, international relations and the charity sector. He was called to the Bar in 1969 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1972. He worked for Philips Industries from 1973-1975 before joining Barclays Merchant Bank for 12 years up to 1987. He has been a director of a number of companies including Barclays de Zoete Wedd, Chase Investment Bank and Smith New Court Corporate Finance. He stood as GLC candidate in 1977 and Conservative Parliamentary candidate in 1979 in Southwark and Bermondsey. He is currently Chairman of the Anglo-Albanian Association, The British-Albanian Council and the Centre for Albanian Studies. He was closely involved with the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Albania, and was made Honorary Consul for the Republic of Albania in 1992. He has been involved in supporting a number of charitable bodies, is President of the UCL Friends' Trust and in 2004 accepted the role of Vice-President of the Campaign for UCL.

Henry Grunwald (UCL Laws 1971)

Henry Grunwald has enjoyed a distinguished career as a criminal barrister while making important contributions to Jewish welfare organisations and helping to promote tolerance and understanding between different religions. He attended the City of London Boys School before studying at UCL from 1967-1971. He went on to qualify as a barrister and be called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1972. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1999 and in 2002 he was elected as a Bencher of Gray's Inn. Away from the courts, his dedicated service on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews led to his election as its president in 2003. The Board is seen as a role model for ethnic minorities organisations in the UK in both promoting the welfare of its members and representing their interests in dealings with government, the media and other external bodies. He has also been a strong supporter of the UCL Faculty of Laws, having been a member of the Bentham Club for UCL Laws graduates since his own graduation and he is a regular attendee at events organised by the faculty.

Patsy Healey (UCL Geography 1965)

Patsy Healey (née Ingold) has gained international renown as a leading academic in the field of planning, cities and spatial theory. Although officially retired from her position as Professor of Planning and Head of the Department of Town and Country Planning at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, she still plays a significant role in planning research in the UK and abroad. After graduating from UCL Geography, she joined the London Borough of Lewisham as a planning officer from 1965-1970. She completed a PhD at the LSE in 1972 when she was appointed to lectureship posts at Kingston and Oxford polytechnics. She became Head of Planning and then Dean of the latter institution (now Oxford Brookes University) before becoming Head of Department at Newcastle in 1988. She has served as an expert adviser on a range of bodies and was President of the Association of European Schools of Planning from 1994-1996. She has also retained close links with UCL through UCL Geography and the UCL Bartlett School and spent three days helping her old department prepare for the next research assessment exercise. She was awarded an OBE in 1999.

Jack Mapanje (PhD UCL Linguistics 1983)

Currently teaching creative writing at the School of English at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jack Mapanje is widely regarded as Africa's finest living poet. Born in Malawi, he was a teacher in local secondary schools before joining Chancellor College, the University of Malawi, as a lecturer and then Head of the Department of English. He came to the UK to study for a MPhil degree at the Institute of Education and a PhD in linguistics at UCL which he completed in 1983. He published his first volume of poetry 'Of chameleons and gods' in 1981 but it was withdrawn from all bookshops and libraries in Malawi on the orders of the government of Hastings Banda in 1985. His writings continued to upset the Banda regime, which imprisoned him without trial from 1987-1991. His next two volumes of poetry, 'The chattering wagtails of Mikuyu prison' and 'Skipping without ropes' contain material largely composed during his detention. He was the winner of the Rotterdam International Poetry prize in 1988 and the African Literature Association Fonion-Nichols award in 2002.

Blake Morrison (PhD UCL English Language & Literature 1977)

Blake Morrison is an accomplished and versatile novelist, poet and journalist who is probably best known for his two memoirs of his parents and for his book 'As if', an account of the trial of the two boys convicted of murdering the toddler James Bulger. Born and educated in Skipton, Yorkshire, he attended the University of Nottingham and McMaster University in Canada before enrolling for a PhD at UCL, which he completed in 1977. The following year, he was appointed Poetry and Fiction Editor of the 'Times Literary Supplement', and he later became Literary Editor of the 'Observer' and then (in 1989) the 'Independent on Sunday', before leaving to become a freelance writer in 1995. His poems are distinguished by their intelligence and elegance, and by their interest in unusual subjects for poetry, as typified by the title-poem of his volume 'The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper'. In 2000, he published his first novel, 'The Justification of Johann Gutenberg', on the 15th-century pioneer of printing. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and former Chairman of the Poetry Book Society, he is now Professor of Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths' College, London.

Christopher Nolan (UCL English Language & Literature 1993)

Independent film-maker Christopher Nolan was born in London to a British father and an American mother. He began making films with his older brother Matt at the age of seven years using their father's Super 8mm camera and assorted toy action figures, but it wasn't until he joined UCL Union's Film Society that he gained access to 16mm equipment and began making films with real people. After leaving UCL he produced his first full length feature, the atmospheric black-and-white thriller 'Following', with the help of FilmSoc members. His second film, 'Memento', for which he also wrote the screenplay, was highly acclaimed and with his third major film 'Insomnia' he was able to attract a top quality cast including Al Pacino and Hilary Swank. His most recent film, 'Batman Begins', was released in June 2005. He is now regarded as one of the most promising young film-makers in the industry.

Jonathan Ross (UCL SSEES)

Jonathan Ross was born in North London and has lived in the capital all his life. He studied history at the School of Slavonic & East European Studies, now part of UCL, before beginning his broadcasting career as a researcher for an independent production company. His big break was in 1987 as the host of the Channel 4 chat show 'The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross'. Among his other early projects were two series of 'The Incredibly Strange Film Show' and a number of live chat and variety programmes for Channel 4. His radio career also began in 1987 when he was asked to stand in for Janice Long. He hosted a successful Sunday morning show for London's Virgin Radio until 1999 when he took over Saturday mornings on Radio 2. He was asked to take over from Barry Norman as the presenter of 'Film 99' on BBC1, and in March 2000 began his popular 'Friday Night' talk show, which is now in its tenth series. His quick wit has provided him with opportunities as a regular panellist on quiz shows such as 'They Think It's All Over' and 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' and since 1991 he has been the compere for the British Comedy Awards show on ITV.

Robin Weiss (UCL Zoology 1961; PhD Oncology 1969)

Robin Weiss, FRCPath, HonFRCP, FMedSci, FRS, is Professor of Viral Oncology at UCL. He gained a BSc in Zoology at UCL in 1961, and later a PhD at UCL in cancer research. He has spent his career studying retroviruses, including the discovery of viral genomes transmitted as an inherent trait in host DNA. From 1980-1989 he was Director of the Institute of Cancer Research, Royal Marsden Hospital. He returned to UCL in 1999. Professor Weiss has pioneered our understanding of HIV and AIDS, including the identification of CD4 as its cell surface receptor, HIV screening tests, and contributing to public health policy on AIDS. He also conducted research on emerging infections such as SARS, pig viruses and influenza, and he has analysed AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma. He has been President of the British Association for Cancer Research and he is President-Elect of the Society for General Microbiology.

New Honorary Fellows

Alfred Bader

Alfred Bader is an American chemist, entrepreneur, author, art collector and public benefactor who has made important contributions to the work of UCL Chemistry over many years. Born in Vienna, he fled Austria before the outbreak of World War II, passing through the UK before settling in Canada. He completed his first degree in Chemistry at Queen's University, Ontario, in 1945 before going on to take a second degree in History and an MSc in Chemistry. He then moved to the US where he completed an MA and PhD in chemistry at Harvard University. He began his industrial career with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co before founding the Aldrich Chemical Co in 1951. This company merged with biochemical supplier Sigma in 1975 to form Sigma-Aldrich, one of the largest fine chemical suppliers in the world. He has a long-standing interest in art and established Alfred Bader Fine Arts which sells and loans works to major international galleries. In 1992 with his wife, Isabel, he set up the Bader Bursary scheme which provides support for undergraduate chemists at UCL.

Anne Cooke

Anne Cooke is Professor of Immunobiology in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, where she leads a very active research team. Their work centres on investigating the factors that cause autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and finding ways to create the tolerance needed for tissue regeneration and repair. She completed her first degree in Biochemistry at University of Glasgow in 1967 before studying for her DPhil at the University of Sussex. She came to UCL for the first time in 1973 as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Immunology Department at the Middlesex Hospital. She was a Senior Research Fellow, Senior Lecturer and then Reader in Immunology before moving to the University of Cambridge in 1991. Professor Cooke has an extremely impressive publication record with more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals. She has also made an active contribution to the work of funding bodies in the UK and abroad and recently retired as Chair of the Arthritis Research Council's project grant committee.

David Davies

Sir David Davies has been described as one of the most influential engineers of his generation, having served with distinction in industry, government and academia - including a spell as Head of UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering. Born in Cardiff, he obtained his first and doctorate degrees at the University of Birmingham, where he remained as a lecturer from 1961-1967. He was also an honorary Senior Principal Scientific Officer at the Royal Radar Establishment, Malvern, before moving to become Assistant Director of Research with British Rail. From 1971-1988, he held a Chair of Electrical Engineering at UCL where he established thriving research teams in the fields of microwaves, radar and optical fibre sensors. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor at Loughborough University in 1988 and then Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence from 1993-1998. He headed the official investigation on improving safety of the rail network after the 1991 Ladbroke Grove train crash and was subsequently made Chairman of Railway Safety. He was President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 1996-2001. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984, a CBE in 1986 and knighted in 1994.

Paul Finch

Although his academic background is as a historian rather than an architect, Paul Finch is generally considered to have been one of the most influential figures in the world of British architecture over the past 20 years. He has been an editor successively of the three principal UK architecture journals, and has been a distinguished adviser to government on architectural issues, notably as a senior member of CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. He read history at Selwyn College, Cambridge, graduating in 1971. He then went into journalism and was Deputy Editor of 'Estates Times' from 1976-1983, edited 'Building Design' from 1983-1994 and switched to the editor's desk of 'The Architects Journal' from 1994-1999. Since 1999, he has been Editorial Director of the construction magazine section of the EMAP publishing group. Through his work for CABE and in other forums he has been a dedicated advocate of the value of high-quality architecture. It was in appreciation of these efforts that he was appointed a visiting professor at the UCL Bartlett School in 1999.

Andy Haines

Andy Haines became Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in January 2001. After house jobs in London he worked internationally in Nepal, Jamaica and the USA, and at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit. In 1987 he was appointed Professor of Primary Health Care at UCL, where he contributed to the development of academic primary care as a discipline and was subsequently Director of UCL Primary Care & Population Sciences. He was seconded as Director of Research & Development at the NHS Executive, North Thames, for three years and was also a member of the council of the Medical Research Council. His research interests are in health services research and epidemiology, in particular the impacts of climate change on health. He sits on many national and international committees including the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research. He was knighted in the 2005 New Year's Honours list for services to medicine.

Ernest Harrison

Sir Ernest Harrison is an accountant and industrialist who has been an active supporter of medical research at UCL through his chairmanship since 1991 of the Royal Free Cancer Research Trust. Born and educated in north London, he trained as a chartered accountant with Harker Holloway & Co before joining the electronics company Racal in 1951 as employee number 12. He was a director in 1958, and became Chairman and Chief Executive in 1966. He retired in 2000. Under his leadership Racal created Vodafone which was subsequently demerged along with Chubb Security. He was a director of the Camelot Group from 1993-2000. He was awarded the title Businessman of the Year in 1981, the same year that he was knighted for his services to industry. Earlier, he had been active in the National Savings movement, and received an OBE in 1972 for his services to national savings. Meanwhile he has worked tirelessly to secure charitable donations for the Royal Free Cancer Research Trust, which has provided more than £1.1 million for a new laboratory building, £350,000 for new equipment and £3 million for a new clinical trials ward at the Royal Free.

Kerry Hawkins

Trained as a chartered accountant, Kerry Hawkins has spent nearly his whole career with Lloyds Bank plc, now the Lloyds TSB Group plc. But outside his normal working duties he has provided invaluable service to UCL as a lay member of UCL Council since 1996 and as UCL's Honorary Treasurer since 1997. He attended Trinity College Cambridge and after graduating in 1967 he qualified as an accountant. He joined Lloyds in 1975 and rose swiftly through the ranks to become head of the Group Financial Control Department by 1985. He was Group Financial Controller from 1986-1995 and in 2000 he was appointed to his current post as Director of Group Financial Control and Shared Services. His work as Honorary Treasurer for UCL is entirely unpaid but his commitment to the work is total. He chairs the UCL Finance and Investments Committees and oversees the prudent use of resources and budgeting procedures. The Treasurer also sits on the Council and will occasionally be required to attend meetings of other college bodies such as the Capital Projects subcommittee and the Audit and Remuneration Committees.

Ernest Hecht

Ernest Hecht is Managing Director and owner of Souvenir Press Ltd, the last remaining independently owned major publishing house in Britain. He is also one of the most important and readily recognisable figures in the UK publishing industry and was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the British Book Awards in 2001. For the past 15 years, he has also had close working relationships with senior staff at the UCL Bloomsbury theatre, where he has chosen to hold many of the high-profile artistic events that he organises. These included the first 'Independent Voices Festival' in 1989, which drew together a host of notable figures from the UK arts scene. Another major event was the recent celebration of the centenary of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Mr Hecht has close links with the political and cultural authorities in several South American states and has been active in encouraging relations between their cultural attachés and both the theatre and UCL in general. As well as helping generate income for the theatre, he has also served on the UCL Theatre Committee for several years.

Peter Kirstein

Professor Peter Kirstein is widely regarded as the 'European father of the Internet' and, through his leadership in UCL Computer Science, he has placed UCL at the forefront of internet research for more than 30 years. Born in Germany, he grew up in England and obtained a degree in mathematics and electrical engineering from Cambridge University in 1954. He then gained a PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University in 1957 and received a DSc from the former University of London Institute of Computer Science in 1970. He spent much of the 1960s working abroad, joining the University of London Institute of Computer Science in 1967. He was appointed a professor in that institute in 1973, and joined the UCL Statistics and UCL Computer Science that same year. He is a Fellow of a number of professional bodies including the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society. Public recognition includes a CBE (2003), a Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering (2006) and becoming a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society (2004).

Nicholas Phillips

Nicholas Phillips, the Right Honourable Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, is an exceptional lawyer who has risen to the pinnacle of his profession as Master of the Rolls from 2000-2005 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales since October 2005. Educated in Dorset, he completed his National Service with the Royal Navy before studying law at King's College, Cambridge, from 1958-1961. On graduation he was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple and went on to practise as a barrister specialising in maritime law. From 1973-1978 he was counsel to the Ministry of Defence and Treasury in Admiralty matters and was then appointed as Queen's Counsel. After spells as a Recorder and Bencher he was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, in 1987. He has a long-standing interest in maintaining standards in legal education and served from 1992-1997 as Chairman of the Council of Legal Education. In 1998 he was selected to chair the public inquiry into the causes and handling of the BSE epidemic in cattle and variant CJD in the human population.

Nick Ross

Nick Ross is a journalist and broadcaster who is now best known for his BBC show 'Crimewatch', but who for 30 years has presented many of the best-known factual programmes on British radio and television. Born in Surrey he has a degree in Psychology from Queen's University Belfast, where he became involved with student and local politics, which eventually propelled him into journalism. He moved to the 'World at One' and other news-related programmes, and then to 'Man Alive' on BBC2, going on to launch breakfast television and live political programmes. His role on 'Crimewatch' caused him to be appointed to government crime reduction committees where, disillusioned about the lack of scientific or academic emphasis on crime reduction he proposed a new approach which he called Crime Science. Spurred on by the death of his co-presenter Jill Dando, he proposed an institute in her name and launched an appeal. The Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science is now firmly established at UCL: the first criminological department in the world to be more closely linked with engineering and the natural sciences rather than sociology. He also supports a number of voluntary organisations concerned by bioethics, healthcare and community safety.

Marshall Stoneham

Marshall Stoneham is an eminent theoretical physicist who has made an enormous contribution to understanding the properties of solid state materials. He has also had an invaluable input into the research effort at UCL since 1995 as Massey Professor of Physics in UCL Physics & Astronomy and as Director of the Centre for Materials Research, where he has encouraged important cross-disciplinary studies between physicists, engineers, biologists and others. Educated in Barrow-in-Furness, he obtained both his first degree and his doctorate at the University of Bristol in 1961 and 1964. He then joined the UK Atomic Energy research centre at Harwell where he went on to become leader of the Solid State and Quantum Physics Group, Head of Materials Physics and ultimately Director of Research and Chief Scientist of AEA Technology. Professor Stoneham also has a distinguished record of service to the broader physics community as Vice-President for Publications at the Institute of Physics and Chairman of the board of IOP Publishing. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1989.