Honorary Degrees Awarded at Encaenia 2023

Recipients of honorary degrees at Oxford University’s Encaenia ceremony today on 21 June 2023 represent the fields of science, politics, literature, journalism, and academia, including a Nobel Prize laureate, former president, a ground-breaking virologist, award-winning historian, and best-selling author.

Eight widely-esteemed individuals including the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, former President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, and Professor Sir Simon Schama, have received honorary degrees from Oxford University at Encaenia.

Encaenia is held annually and is the ceremony at which honorary degrees are conferred by the University to distinguished men and women, and its benefactors are commemorated.

At the Encaenia ceremony on Wednesday 21 June 2023, degrees were awarded to:

Professor Frances Arnold is an American chemical engineer and Nobel Prize laureate.

Former President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet most recently served as the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights and was President of Chile 2006-10 and 2014-18.

Lyse Doucet, CM, OBE, is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent.
Professor Stephen Furber, CBE, FRS, FREng, is the ICL Professor of Computer Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester.

Professor Paul Gilroy is a cultural and social theorist, and the Professor of Humanities at University College London. He is founding director of the UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation.

Val McDermid, FRSE, FRSL, is an award-winning journalist and number-one bestseller whose novels have sold over 18 million copies.

Professor Malik Peiris, SBS, FRS, FRCP, FRCPath, FFPH, is Professor of Virology at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong, with a particular interest in emerging virus disease. He played a key role in identifying the novel coronavirus that caused SARS in 2003.

Professor Sir Simon Schama, CBE, FBA, FRHistS, FRSL, is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University, New York, a contributing editor of the Financial Times, author of 19 books, and the writer-presenter of 60 documentaries on art, history and literature for BBC television.