King’s Birthday Honours: damehoods for vice-chancellor trio

A trio of vice-chancellors have been awarded damehoods in the King’s Birthday Honours.

The honours have been bestowed on Cranfield University’s Karen Holford, the University of Gloucestershire’s Clare Marchant, and the University of Plymouth’s Judith Petts.

Professor Holford has led Cranfield since 2021, having previously been deputy vice-chancellor of Cardiff University, while Ms Marchant only joined Gloucestershire last September, having spent six years prior to that as chief executive of admissions service Ucas. Professor Petts has headed Plymouth since 2016, having previously held a series of senior roles at the universities of Birmingham and Southampton.

Also in the honours list, there are damehoods for Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, the Sir Roy Griffiths professor of public sector management at King’s College London who recently spent three years advising No 10 on skills policy, and Moira Whyte, the Sir John Crofton professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Three eminent researchers receive knighthoods: historian Niall Ferguson, who is Millbank family senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Tony Kouzarides, professor of cancer biology at the University of Cambridge; and Jim Skea, emeritus professor of sustainable energy at Imperial College London and chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

There was also a knighthood for Rob Behrens, former chief executive of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, the sector ombudsman for England and Wales.

A number of other researchers, academics and administrators are recognised in the honours list.

Among those made CBE are Ian White, who will step down as vice-chancellor of the University of Bath next month after a six-year term, and Elizabeth Treasure, who was vice-chancellor of Aberystwyth University from 2017 to 2023.

There are also CBEs for current Ucas chief executive Jo Saxton; Paul Thompson, vice-chancellor of the Royal College of Art, and Ian Walmsley, Imperial’s provost.

Rachel Sandison, deputy vice-chancellor for external engagement and vice-principal for external relations at the University of Glasgow, is among those awarded an OBE.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com