AWARDS will be awarded to 17 outstanding individuals at Bangor University’s first in-person graduations for three years.

The Gwynedd university will give honorary degrees to 17 successful and renowned individuals this summer during a three-week graduation festival that is enabling alumni who were unable to graduate in person because of the pandemic to return to their alma mater.

Graduates from 2020 and 2021 will join graduating students from 2022 for a triple-year triple-week celebration from Thursday, 30 June to Thursday, 14 July.

Thousands of people will be graduating at the University’s hilltop Prichard Jones Hall which dates back to 1911 and stored more than 500 evacuated paintings, including works by Botticelli, Rubens and Rembrandt, during the Second World War.

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“Our students have risen to personal and learning challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and so it will be the greatest pleasure when we all come together to celebrate their successes,” said Vice-Chancellor, Professor Iwan Davies.

“We are also delighted to be welcoming 17 high-profile successful people to our degree ceremonies to reward them for their valued contributions to Wales and wider society.

“We hope they will inspire our new graduates to follow their dreams and aspire to making an impact in their chosen fields.”

Honorary degrees will be conferred upon:

  • The explorer and naturalist, Steve Backshall MBE, who lectures at Bangor University
  • Plant geneticist and Bangor alumna, Dr Tina Barsby OBE known for her scientific achievements and significant experience in the agricultural crop sector
  • Former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, The Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland QC
  • The technology entrepreneur, Simon Gibson CBE who is chairman of the Alacrity Graduate Entrepreneurship Foundation and Chief Executive of Wesley Clover Wales
  • UK climate change leader and Bangor graduate, Dr Rebecca Heaton
  • Arfon Jones, the Bangor alum who is renowned for his contribution to religious culture in Wales and producing a simple, understandable and academic text from the Welsh bible that is in keeping with contemporary culture
  • The eminent zoologist and former Bangor lecturer, Lord John Krebs FRS, former chief executive of NERC, the Natural Environment Research Council, who is renowned for his influential research in the field of ornithology
  • BAFTA-winning Welsh comedian Tudur Owen for his contribution to entertainment
  • The Welsh DJ Sasha, in acknowledgement of his influential career as a DJ and record producer
  • One of Wales’s most successful businessmen, Nigel Short, director of Penderyn Whisky
  • Rachel Taylor, the North Wales rugby union player and coach who has been capped 67 times by Wales
  • Simon Thompson, Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute which partners with Bangor University in delivery of our Chartered Banker MBA, the only banking qualification in the world combining an MBA and Chartered Banker status
  • For her contribution to women in science, the marine biologist, fisheries expert and Bangor graduate, Zaha Waheed, a Minister at the President’s Office in the Maldives who established a national platform for disaster risk reduction following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
  • The American-British writer, comedian and mental health campaigner, Ruby Wax OBE, who lectures at Bangor University
  • Co-founder of the price comparison website, confused.com, and a former Welsh Woman of the Year for Innovation, Dr Debbie Williams
  • Menai Williams, Bangor alum and one of Wales’s foremost music adjudicators, tutors and composers who has been a harpist and adjudicator at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol for over 40 years
  • The Sudanese-born Scottish wildlife cameraman and Bangor graduate, Hamza Yassin, known to children everywhere as Ranger Hamza

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