First week honoraries delighted to receive degrees

‘Play to your strengths’ and ‘it’s in your hands to make the most of your opportunities’ were among the key messages from the recipients of honorary degrees in the first week of July’s graduation ceremonies at the University of Huddersfield.

The honoraries included an Oscar winner, someone who has mixed records for some of the most famous acts in the world and one of the most influential women working in engineering.

And in John and Ian Warhurst, two local brothers who returned to the University for honorary awards to add to the degrees they achieved in the 1990s.

Angela is the Commissioner for Gender and Women’s Affairs in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in the Government in the Republic of Uganda.

Her ground-breaking work on combatting violence against women and children plus gender equality and women’s empowerment in Uganda has led to Angela advising the University of Huddersfield’s None In Three initiative (Ni3).

Angela has been on the advisory board for Ni3 since 2018, helping this global research initiative to tackle gender-based violence (GBV) around the world through innovative prosocial gaming. She spearheaded a strategy on eliminating violence against children in Uganda’s schools, and is chair of the COVID-19 sub-committee on GBV and violence against children in Uganda.

“There is no prosperity without peaceful co-existence but you have to make it happen so that all women and children can enjoy a violence-free home, communities, schools and the nation at large. I am honoured by this award, it is an inspiration to take my work from Africa to a higher level.

“Working together we can do better, and the COVID context has taught us lessons that whatever happens in the private has a lot of influence on what is happening in the public.

“Change starts with me and you saying no to sexual-based gender violence.”

Andrew’s award-winning career in music has seen him work with some of the biggest acts in the world as a mixer and engineer. After starting out as a musician, Andrew found that his niche was behind the scenes, and after touring with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson he worked for several renowned producers including Don Was and Rick Rubin.

He has engineered or mixed for acts as varied as Metallica, Neil Diamond, Iggy Pop, U2, Green Day and Johnny Cash and has won Grammys for his work on albums by Adele, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Ziggy Marley. He relocated to the UK from Los Angeles in 2015, and is a member of the University’s Music and Audio Production (MAP) research group in the School of Computing and Engineering.

“At Huddersfield I love the combination of very in-depth study of parts of the process but always letting people get through a project and understanding every aspect of it. Students really have an idea of what to expect when they come out of here. It’s a really great foundation.

“A phrase I use a lot is ‘the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers. You can be working on music and having a bad day but none of that matters because the listener will hit ‘Play’ and their experience is all they will get from the music. They don’t know that you ran out of food, that you had low blood sugar or whatever when you were mixing it – that doesn’t matter.

“That can be broadened out to anything in your life and career, whatever comes out of you is how you are perceived in the world. You should never compromise your art, you should do what you think is right and hopefully that translates. Always try to make great art and be a good person – and that’s it.”

 

Ian is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Design from the University of Huddersfield. In 2002 he purchased Melett Ltd, a small aftermarket turbocharger parts business with three employees and around £250K turnover, and in 15 years it became one of the world’s largest aftermarket suppliers of turbocharger repair parts.

By the time he sold the business, it had a turnover of £30m and employed 250 people across Europe, the USA and China. He subsequently took over the Bloodhound Land Speed Record Project, which recorded a top speed of 628mph in South Africa in 2019. Ian is currently researching investment opportunities to support new start-up technologies in the automotive hydrogen and autonomous vehicle sectors.

Originally from Brighouse in West Yorkshire, John graduated from Huddersfield with a degree in Orchestral Composition and then continued for a Master’s degree in Electro-Acoustic Composition.

He is one of the film industry's most accomplished sound editors, having worked on blockbusters including Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Les Misérables and Bohemian Rhapsody, for which he won an Oscar in 2019. In early 2020 he returned to the University to give an entertaining talk about how he helped recreate Queen’s famous performance at Live Aid for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Hayaatun Sillem is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She has extensive leadership experience in UK and international engineering, innovation, and diversity and inclusion activities. She has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50 Women in Tech’ and one of the most influential women in engineering.

Dr Sillem chairs the UK government’s Innovation Expert Group and the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, and co-chairs with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on Black representation in UK motorsport. She has also served as Committee Specialist and later Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.