UCL Academics Recognised in New Year Honors

THREE PROFESSORS, A RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, AND A SUPPORT STAFF MEMBER HAVE BEEN AWARDED BRITISH HONOURS IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO RESEARCH AND EDUCATION.

Professor Georgina Mace, Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystems at UCL’s Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, and Professor Henrietta Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity within the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, have been appointed Dames Commander of the British Empire for their contributions to Sciences and Social Sciences respectively.

Mace’s research focuses on techniques for measuring biodiversity, while Moore is a feminist anthropologist and social theorist, having written extensively on gender studies, and more recently, globalisation.

Professor Wendy Carlin of the Department of Economics became a Commander of the British Empire for her services to Economics and Public Finance. Professor Carlin is also a Member of the Expert Advisory Panel of the Office for Budget Responsibility. Her research focuses on institutions and economic performance, and she lectures on macroeconomics and European economic policy.

Honorary Senior Research Associate in Computer Science Dr. Susan Black received an OBE for services to Technology. Black is a champion for women in computing, and the founder of BCSWomen, the UK’s largest online network for women IT professionals, as well as an award-winning researcher.

Finally, Elizabeth Jamieson was awarded an MBE in recognition of her contributions to UCL Student Disability Services, particularly to students with dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Recipients of British Honours should have made significant achievements in their field, and will often have made life better for others through their work. The titles of Knight or Dame are awarded to those whose work is considered inspirational nationally or internationally for others in their field; CBE is awarded for a smaller, but still prominent, national role, or a “distinguished” contribution to any field; recipients of the OBE will have a major local role in an activity; and finally the MBE is awarded for outstanding service to the community.

Mace and Moore are two of five professors who have been appointed dames. The others honoured are Til Wykes of KCL, who researches rehabilitation and recovery for people with severe mental illness, Margaret Whitehead, who studies social inequality and ill health at the University of Liverpool, and Lesley Fallowfield, a cancer researcher at the University of Sussex.

In total, 74 people were honoured for services to research and higher education, including a knighthood for the Vice-Chancellor of City University, which will join the University of London in August 2016, and an OBE for the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which collects and analyses data on Higher Education in the UK.