Honorary Awards at the July 2019 Award Ceremonies

Seven recipients will receive the award of Honorary Doctorate of the University at the summer graduation ceremonies

THE Chinese Ambassador to the UK is to receive a distinction from the University of Huddersfield.  His Excellency Liu Xiaoming has visited the University in the past and inspected its research facilities.  Now he returns to be awarded an honorary doctorate.

He is one of seven people who have achieved distinction in diplomacy, business, the law, music and education who will receive awards during graduation ceremonies taking place in July.  Among the recipients are two men who are graduates of the institution. 

His Excellency Liu Xiaoming

His Excellency Liu Xiaoming has been the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the UK since 2009.  His Excellency joined the Chinese foreign service in 1974 and held senior diplomatic positions in Africa, North American, Asia and the Middle East before taking up his current position in the UK.  Ambassador Liu has been a recipient of a number of awards including The Fletcher Dean’s Medal, First Class Friendship Medal of DPRK, Fletcher Class of 1947 Memorial Award and the 48 Group Club Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Sino-British Relations.  He was awarded the Freedom of the City by the City of London Corporation in 2018.

Gavin Sutherland

Gavin Sutherland is Music Director of English National Ballet and it was while a Huddersfield undergraduate that he became staff conductor and pianist at Northern Ballet.  Over the last 25 years, he has collaborated with many nationally and internationally-acclaimed dance companies and orchestras and has recorded over 100 CDs and numerous film scores.  Mr Sutherland also regularly arranges for leading international orchestras, with performances of both these and reconstructions of notable lost scores.

Dapinder Singh QC

Dapinder Singh QC studied law at Huddersfield and became a barrister whose reputation for the mastery of complex briefs has meant he is much in demand for cases of fraud and serious crime.  Associated with leading chambers in London and in Leeds, he took silk in 2017, meaning that he is now offered cases of still greater complexity.  He has also experienced the judicial dimension, by sitting as a Recorder in the Crown Court.

Ann Francke

The July awardees also include Ann Francke, who is CEO of Chartered Management Institute, where she uses her experience in leading organisations to promote best practices in the UK and globally.  She is an expert on current challenges facing women in the workplace.  Prior to the CMI, she was Global General Manager at the British Standards Institution, held executive board positions at Boots and Yell and was European Vice President at Mars. 

Simon Blagden CBE

Yorkshire-born Simon Blagden CBE, also receives an honorary doctorate.  He is a regular advisor to the UK Government and has spent over 30 years championing British business around the world.  Following an international career with GEC, he moved to the Quante Group as International CEO.  He then moved to South Africa as CEO of Spescom and successfully guided the company to international recognition.  In 2005, Mr Blagden was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Fujitsu, the UK’s largest IT company and is now one of the longest serving chairman of a major UK company.  He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Duke of York’s Community Initiative, which recognises, rewards and supports the work of voluntary groups throughout Yorkshire.

John Dixon

After a degree in English at Oxford, educationalist John Dixon spent 12 years teaching in comprehensives in inner-city London.  In 1963, he moved to Bretton Hall College of Education for the creative arts.  By 1968, he was nominated for the chair of the English Committee of Schools Council and served part-time until becoming full-time Director of its English 16-19 Project, developing new courses and assessment in schools and FE.  In Australia and New Zealand, he conducted many British Council seminars and he has taught at summer schools in Manitoba and New Brunswick.  Mr Dixon has written A Schooling in English, a history of the UK development of English.

Jason Mallinson

Huddersfield’s Jason Mallinson is an exploration and rescue cave diver, who most recently helped plan and carry out the rescue of the trapped boys’ football team from flooded caves in Thailand.  His previous exploits have led him to set distance and depth records in caves all over the world, from the deep jungle caves of Mexico – the Huautla and Cheve systems – to the vast dive distances of the Pozo Azul cave system in northern Spain.  Jason led the world record-breaking team into Pozo Azul in 2010, where a dive distance of 8.8km from the entrance was achieved, requiring immersion times of 12 hours and one week camping underground.