Six honoured by University of Leeds

Mark Byford graduated from the University’s law school in 1979 and literally walked across the road to the BBC where he became a “summer relief assistant” at Look North. He went on to become an award-winning journalist, joined the BBC Board of Management in 1996 and then Director of the BBC World Service, establishing the corporation’s Global News Division. In 2004 he became Deputy Director General and now heads all the BBC’s journalism at local, national and international levels. He will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Work by Nobel prizewinning French physicist Albert Fert led to a breakthrough in hard disk technology. Fert graduated in 1962 from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, earning his PhD in 1970 at the Université Paris-Sud. He had a brief spell as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Leeds in the 1970s, during which time he also played rugby for Otley. In 1988 Fert discovered the giant magnetoresistance effect in multilayers of iron and chromium – properties which have been harnessed into electronic storage devices. Currently professor at Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, Prof Fert was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Peter Grünberg. He will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Science.

In 1990, Shreela Flather became the first Asian woman to receive a peerage. A former Mayor for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, she also held senior posts in organisations concerned with refugees, community and race relations and prison work. She played a leading role in raising funds for the Memorial Gates on Hyde Park Corner to commemorate the contribution of African-Caribbean and Asian soldiers to the two World Wars. She provided inspiration and guidance to an initiative by the University’s Faculty of Arts to encourage more teenagers from ethnic minorities to consider entering higher education. Baroness Flather will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Sir Christopher Rose graduated from the University in 1957 and after a distinguished career at the Bar, was appointed to the High Court in 1985 and the Court of Appeal in 1992. At the time of his retirement in 2006, Lord Justice Rose was responsible for running the Court of Appeal Criminal Division, the highest of the criminal courts. He remains a member of the Privy Council and heads the Office of Surveillance Commissioners. Sir Christopher will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Martin Scicluna received a degree in Business Commerce from the University in 1973 and immediately joined Deloitte where he has remained throughout his career. He has served as Chairman of the Auditing Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Chairman of the London Society of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is Vice-Patron of Business Dynamics, a charity which aims to introduce teenagers to the opportunities and challenges of business. Mr Scicluna recently retired as Chairman of Deloitte UK, a position he has held since 1995, and will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Award-winning writer and leading commentator Polly Toynbee has been a columnist for The Guardian since 1998. She has previously worked for the BBC as social affairs editor and at The Independent as a columnist and associate editor. Ms Toynbee is President of the Social Policy Association and President of the British Humanist Association. In 2002, she took up the challenge of living on a tough London council estate, taking whatever work was on offer at the job centre – an experience which led to her powerful book Hard Work: Life in Low-Pay Britain. Polly Toynbee will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Source: By University Of Leeds