Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester and Professor Mary Daly, President of The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) are among 15 people from the world of business, science, sport, academia and the arts being honoured by Queen’s University in 2017.

Other key figures from the world of academia include: Professor Sir John Pethica FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser at the National Physical Laboratory and Professor of Material Science at Trinity College Dublin; Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Vice-Principal at the University of Edinburgh and the first female President of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2012–14; and Professor Sylvia Walby OBE, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University and the first holder of the UNESCO Chair of Gender Research.

Distinguished names from the fields of business and commerce, including John Agnew CBE, Group Chairman of Henderson Wholesale; John Rainey MBE, Chairman and co-founder of the Denroy Group; Stephen Luczo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Seagate Technologies; and Joe Sloan, Chairman of the SHS Group, will each receive an honorary doctorate for their services to business and commerce.

Belfast-born boxer, Carl Frampton MBE, is to be honoured for distinction in sport. Frampton is the first professional boxer from Northern Ireland to have held world titles in two weight classes, including featherweight and super-bantamweight.  Four-time Paralympic gold-medallist swimmer, Bethany Firth MBE, will also receive an honorary doctorate for distinction in sport. Bethany, from Co. Down has competed for both Great Britain and Ireland since 2012, taking part in the London Paralympic Games, Rio Paralympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.

Sir Malcolm McKibbin, Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) and Permanent Secretary of the Executive Office, will receive an honorary doctorate for distinction in public service.

Irish-American philanthropist, Loretta Brennan Glucksman, who was granted an Honorary Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the highest honour for a non-British citizen, for her work toward peace in Northern Ireland, and the Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter, Emma Donoghue, are also among the recipients. Fatou Bensouda of The Gambia will be honoured for distinction in public service and law. Mrs Bensouda is the first female to hold the role of the Prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands. Prior to joining the ICC, she served in different capacities at the UN Int. Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and in her native country, as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of The Republic of the Gambia.

Queen's awards honorary degrees to individuals who have achieved high distinction or given significant service in one or more fields of public or professional life, and who serve as ambassadors for the University and Northern Ireland around the world.

The full list of honorary degrees to be awarded is as follows:

• Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS, DMed for distinction in medicine
• Professor Mary Daly, DLit for distinction in humanities
• Professor Sir John Pethica FRS, DSc for services to science
• Professor Lesley Yellowlees, DSc for services to science
• Professor Sylvia Walby OBE, DSSc for distinction in sociology
• John Agnew CBE, DSc Econ for services to business and commerce
• John Rainey MBE, DSc Econ for services to business and commerce
• Stephen J. Luczo, DSc Econ for services to business and commerce
• Joe Sloan, DSc Econ for services to business and commerce
• Carl Frampton MBE, DUni for distinction in sport
• Bethany Firth MBE, DUni for distinction in sport
• Sir Malcolm McKibbin, LLD for distinction in public service
• Loretta Brennan Glucksman, DSc Econ for services to business and commerce
• Emma Donoghue, DLit for distinction in the arts and literature
• Fatou Bensouda, LLD for distinction in public service and law

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