Honorary Awards
Recognising individuals for distinction in their field
Honorary awards at the University of Chichester are prestigious recognitions bestowed upon individuals who have made significant contributions to their respective fields or society as a whole.
These awards celebrate outstanding achievements that serve as a symbol of appreciation for their exceptional work and are selected based on their accomplishments, leadership, and positive impact.
The University of Chichester takes pride in honouring these individuals and showcasing their stories to inspire and motivate the wider community.
2024 honorary awards
Honorary Doctor of Science
Donna Ockenden
Donna Ockenden is a nurse, midwife and maternity safety campaigner. She has more than 35 years experience within a wide variety of health settings, both in the UK and internationally.
From the very beginning of her career, Donna has been a champion of patient safety in women’s and children’s health and maternity services. This is at the heart of everything she does - Donna has committed herself to giving patients and their families a voice. She works alongside a number of charities focused on ensuring the best and safest outcomes for mothers and their babies.
Donna is perhaps best known for her role as the Chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Its Final Report was published on 30 March 2022. It was shocking in its revelation of the shortcomings in the Trust’s Maternity Services, which had led to the death or brain damage of large numbers of babies and in some cases their mothers.
Following on from this work, in May 2022, Donna was appointed by the Secretary of State as the Chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which is expected to be published in September 2025.
Donna is very much a Chichester person and, quite apart from her professional life, she has done significant work in the city.
Donna founded the Four Streets Charity with the aim of feeding the homeless on the streets of Chichester. At the beginning it was simply her and her daughters, taking out food every evening to the people sleeping on Chichester’s streets, because, she said, ‘I just could not walk past them’.
Donna is a compassionate crusader for those in need and her work, in every area, is a testimony to her willingness to be alongside those who do not have a voice in society.
Honorary Doctor of Psychology
Professor Robin Banerjee
Professor Robin Banerjee is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global and Civic Engagement, and Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex.
Professor Banerjee played a key role in developing a holistic approach to understanding the social and emotional development of children and young people, moving from a deficit model that emphasised identifying individuals with problems to a more strengths-based approach that focuses on how the socio-relational context can support mental health and wellbeing for all.
Amongst many achievements, Prof. Banerjee founded the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness, which has brought together an interdisciplinary team of academics and diverse community partners across areas including education, social work, healthcare, business, and international aid, as well as psychology.
His research centre illuminates, explores, and investigates kindness and its impact on people and communities. In 2021, he led the world’s largest in-depth research project on kindness, in partnership with the BBC, which involved analysing data on kindness and wellbeing provided by more than 60,000 people from across the world. The study is continuing to generate groundbreaking evidence on the power of kind acts.
Every aspect of Prof. Banerjee’s work reflects a personal drive to foster wellbeing and mental health among children and young people, and across the community more widely.
The impact of Prof. Banerjee’s research on social relationships and kindness resonates with the University of Chichester’s Access and Outreach mission of inclusivity and engagement.
Honorary Doctor of Arts
Kathy Bourne
Kathy Bourne is the Executive Director and joint CEO, with Justin Audibert, of Chichester Festival Theatre. She was appointed to the role in 2019.
Kathy has 30-years’ experience of working as a highly creative theatre producer. She has worked for many theatre organisations, big and small, including the Dublin Theatre Festival, Spy Monkey, Tamasha Theatre Company, Jonathan Church Productions, and Tiger Aspect.
As Associate and Festival Producer at the Chichester Festival between 2006 and 2015, she managed over 75 shows, overseeing many transfers into the West End.
As Head of HR, Kathy launched CFT’s apprenticeship scheme, offering young people formal training in areas including technical, producing and education.
Few theatre producers care more about the future of drama than Kathy: she has driven a fresh and innovative agenda of inclusion at the CFT, developing a vibrant and cross-generational repertoire of diverse activities that puts the community of West Sussex at its heart.
A wonderful collaborator and communicator, Kathy is also Chair of Headlong Theatre and was recently elected President of UK Theatre: a testament to her tireless advocacy of the cultural and social value of drama and theatre in the UK today.
Honorary Doctor of Arts
Mary Bowerman
Mary Bowerman is being recognised for her notable contribution to the arts and music.
Mary is the co-founder of the West Sussex-based Bowerman Charitable Trust, which she established in 1984 with her late husband, David. The aims of the trust were, and remain, to promote classical music and art by supporting young artists.
In 1999 Mary and David built a state-of-the-art venue in the grounds of their home at Champs Hill near Pulborough, and the 160 seat venue is used for world-class classical music concerts and public exhibitions of the charity's portfolio of fine art (currently one art exhibition and approximately 6-10 music concerts per term).
In 2010, the recording label Champs Hill Records was founded and hundreds of now international artists have been supported and given the best possible start to their careers through Mary’s mentorship and support.
Mary’s mentorship of young musicians is legendary and life-long. Mary Bowerman personified the qualities of the Bowerman Charitable Trust. She quietly combines vision and generosity to make a real difference to the arts in West Sussex, the UK and worldwide.
Honorary Doctor of Theatre
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Bonneville is perhaps most familiar to television audiences as Robert, Earl of Grantham over six seasons of Downton Abbey, and received a Golden Globe and 2 Emmy nominations for his performance.
Alongside leading roles in The Cazalets, Take a Girl Like You, Armadillo, Daniel Deronda and The Commander and numerous other screen roles, his stage work has been as prolific, including several seasons with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where inter alia he played Laertes to Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet.
Less than a mile from the University, Hugh played Dr Stockmann in Howard Davies’ acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of An Enemy of the People and C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands at CFT three years later.
New work for the screen includes Douglas is Cancelled, and he returns to the stage as Uncle Vanya in California and Washington next year.
Hugh is active as a patron of South Downs National Park Trust and in working with Scene and Heard, The Primary Shakespeare Company, National Youth Arts Trust, National Youth Theatre and Go Live Theatre Projects, working to engage children and young people with the arts and with theatre.
Honorary Doctor of Music
Bob Christianson
Bob Christianson is a composer, arranger and executive producer. His career already spans an array of creative outputs, across musicals, concerts, film and sports.
He started his professional career as a New York musical director and conductor, bringing his talent to many shows, including Godspell and The Magic Show.
His acumen in the music studio has seen him work alongside Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Dianna Ross.
As a composer he brought the magic of music to an array of films and sports events.
He was the most called upon composer for the HBO series Sex And The City. In sports stadiums, fans have cheered, inspired by his Emmy Award winning music for ABC Sports, as well as the NCAA Basketball Theme for CBS.
And there is so much more.
But, for the University of Chichester, we will be forever grateful for his work A Christmas Carol – The Concert.
He describes the project as a three-year labour of love, achieving an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics.
Honorary Doctor of Science
Dr Maggie Davies
It is our distinct honour to present Dr Maggie Davies, Chief Nurse, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, with an Honorary Doctor of Science.
This award recognises the exceptional contributions of one of our most dedicated nurses.
Maggie exemplifies what it means to be a nurse through her unwavering commitment, profound compassion, and tireless dedication to patient care.
She began her Nursing career in 1987, as a student nurse at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, where she was inspired by colleagues to achieve excellence and professionalism in her nursing care.
Maggie's journey in nursing is marked by this continued pursuit for excellence through professional knowledge and skills development across all specialisms, including district nursing, oncology nursing, research and leadership; she was delighted to achieve her Doctorate in Clinical Practice from the University of Surrey.
She has instigated innovation in the trust with her focus on developing new leaders and researchers through her Clinical nurse fellowships and mentoring of others, always instilling in them the values of kindness and professionalism.
We celebrate Maggie Davies, not just for her remarkable achievements but for the heart and soul she brings to nursing. She is a true hero in every sense of the word. Thank you, Maggie, for your extraordinary service and unwavering dedication.
Honorary Doctor of Sport
Baroness Sue Campbell DBE
Baroness Sue Campbell (DBE) initially taught physical education in Manchester, then lectured in higher education at Leicester and Loughborough Universities. Her ensuing career has been a formidable representation of what can be achieved in, and through, sport.
Baroness Campbell was guest speaker at our Women’s Sport Leadership Academy international programme in 2018, where she inspired participants from across the globe, drawing on her experience working for the Sports Council (now Sport England), Chief executive of the National Coaching Foundation and Chair of the Youth Sport Trust.
She epitomises what can be achieved as recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year.
Her Chairing of UK Sport led to Great Britain and Northern Ireland progressing in summer Olympic medals tables and her current role as Director of Women’s Football with the FA has seen a significant increase in engagement in the sport by female players, officials, coaches and spectators.
Formally recognised for her Services to Sport, Sue was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.
As a cross-bench peer since December 2008, her redoubtable representation of the inspirational power of sport has served to advocate the needs of young people in leadership and physical activity.
Honorary Doctor of Science
Dr Paula Carey
Dr Paula Carey is the Chief Scientific Officer and one of the founding directors of Carbon8 Systems. Until 2010, she was an academic, at the University of Greenwich where she taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level, moving from structural and metamorphic geology to engineering geology and geomaterials and contaminated land remediation.
Paula started her academic career as a geologist studying for a BSc in Geology at the University of St Andrews.
She then went on to a PhD at Keele University studying the Geology of the Corrieyairack Pass, a remote area of peat bog in the Scottish Highlands.
Paula then had a post-doctoral position at Liverpool before joining City of London Polytechnic as a lecturer in 1985.
Paula co-founded Carbon8 Systems in 2006, spinning out from the University of Greenwich, to commercialise accelerated carbonation technology.
In 2010, Paula left the University to run the company and set up a second company which now operates three plants in the UK, under licence.
In 2018, Carbon8, obtained funding from the Ontario Government to build a containerised system which captures CO2 directly from flue stack emissions.
More recently the company has gained investment from EDF and the Vicat cement group, and the containerised plant is deployed to the south of France.
Here it plugs into the flue stack of a cement plant; permanently capturing CO2 in the cement residues to manufacture low-carbon, lightweight aggregates for the construction industry.
Honorary Doctor of Science
Professor Colin Hills
Professor Hills studied geology at Queen Mary, London and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College. His PhD and post-doctoral research involved waste stabilisation/solidification. He joined Greenwich in 1999 and received a Chair in Environment and Materials Engineering in 2014.
Professor Hills’ invention of the world-first CO2 mineralisation technology - Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) - enables industrial waste to be used in construction. ACT was commercialised by carbon8, Greenwich’s spin-out in 2006 co-founded by Professor Hills and Dr Paula Carey.
Dr Carey was carbon8’s first MD, whereas Professor Hills continued his research on CO2 mineralisation. In 2017 carbon8 received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise-Innovation.
Professor Hills has published widely including guidance on stabilisation/solidification for the UK and USA, and the UN Pan-European Global Environment Outlook-6 and Sustainable Cities Report.
He is an invited Expert to the UN Basel Convention Think Tank for Asia and the Pacific (Waste and Environmental Management) and is currently developing a White Paper on CO2 mineralisation for the Indian Government.
2023 honorary awards
Honorary Master of Law
Professor Vaughan Lowe KC
Professor Lowe completed a law degree at the University of Cardiff and later accepted a lectureship at the University.
Specialising in international law, predominately focusing on jurisdictional issues, investment arbitration, and the law of the sea, he then proceeded to teach at the University of Manchester and the University of Cambridge.
Professor Lowe subsequently went on to become the Chichele Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford and is currently an Emeritus Chichele Professor and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls. He has written numerous books and articles in the area of international law.
Professor Lowe was called to the Bar in 1993 and was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 2008. He currently works representing States in a variety of international courts. He has also sat as an ad hoc judge on the European Court of Human Rights and served as Special Adviser on International Law to the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court.
Professor Lowe has contributed to the University of Chichester’s mission of providing outstanding education by sharing this expertise by delivering guest lectures to Law, Politics and History students, as well as being involved in developing students’ advocacy skills through mooting.
Honorary Doctor of Sport
Lindsey Fraser OLY
Lindsey Fraser was previously made an honorary Master of Science of the University of Chichester in 2005. Since then she has continued to dominate the sport of diving, and has now attended an impressive 7 Olympic Games, and in every role possible from competitor, manager, coach and judge – believed to be the only person to do so in diving.
Lindsey competed in the Olympics in 1980 and 1984, and at the Commonwealth Games in 1982. She was the GB team manager and coach at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, before coaching in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
In 2020 she was selected for the first time as a referee and travelled to Tokyo for the summer Olympics, judging 7 rounds, and seeing one of her own divers compete for Northern Ireland.
A respected coach, she has seen four of her recent divers chosen to represent 3 countries in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. At the junior level, her divers have recently helped Team GB to its most successful European Diving Championship results – and all this from a diving programme containing just 100 divers, from beginners to elite level.
Lindsey’s international sporting and coaching excellence and the outstanding commitment and dedication are an inspiration to us all.
Honorary Doctor of Business Administration
Michael O'Dell
Michael worked for Crown Agents for 18 years straight from school where he had varied roles in the Philatelic Bureau. He was Key Account manager for many clients during this time.
A keen sportsman, playing Cricket and Football, until an ACL injury set him on his esports journey, finding a new way to compete.
Michael is known as “ODEE” in the esports world and has been part of the scene for 20 years, playing in several teams at the highest level in games such as Quake 3 and Battlefield 1942, representing his country on many occasions.
In 2003 ODEE was one of the founders of Team Dignitas with the rest of his Battlefield 1942 team, who went on to be the best team in the world at that title. The team expanded to other games and grew into one of the largest multi-gaming teams in the world. During his time with Team Dignitas, ODEE managed 750+ players in multiple games and genres, with 114 World Champions.
In 2007 ODEE was head hunted by BskyB and DirectV to manage Birmingham Salvo, a franchise in their Championship Gaming Series. Birmingham Salvo became World Champions in 2008 winning $500k.
In 2016 Team Dignitas was acquired by Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, owned by billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer. They purchased Team Dignitas to add to their growing sports franchise stable that already included the basketball team Philadelphia 76ers and ice hockey team New York Devils.
ODEE left Team Dignitas in 2019 and almost immediately joined RektGlobal as Chief Gaming Officer and Managing Director for the Call of Duty franchise London Royal Ravens.
In 2022 RektGlobal was acquired by Infinite Reality for $470m. ODEE left in June 2023.
In July 2023 ODEE joined SCAN Computers as Director of Gaming & Esports
Honorary Doctor of Science
Dame Susan Pyper DVCO
Dame Susan retired as Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex at the end of July 2022 after a distinguished period of nearly 14 years holding the office as the Queen’s personal representative in the county. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the same year.
Dame Susan studied Zoology at the University of Durham and then Immunology at the University of London while working as a forensic scientist with the Metropolitan Police. She then spent 11 years serving with the Royal Air Force.
In 1992 she began a career in the National Health Service serving as Chairman of a number of NHS Trusts including the Western Sussex NHS Primary Care Trust and the Royal West Sussex NHS Trust. She also chaired national inquiries and interviews for the NHS. Dame Susan has also held senior positions with the Environment Agency and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Honorary Doctor of Education
Shelagh Legrave CBE DL
Mrs Shelagh Legrave is a senior leader with 30 years of executive and 23 years of board experience across a range of sectors.
She is currently FE Commissioner, appointed by the Secretary of State in 2021, and responsible for working with 227 further education colleges to improve their quality and governance. Until 2021 Mrs Legrave was Principal and CEO of Chichester College Group, leading through multiple mergers and improvements, and judged as Ofsted outstanding.
A qualified accountant, in her earlier career Mrs Legrave held several senior finance roles in the Financial Services at Nat West where she was the Deputy CFO for Global Financial Markets and she began her career in the Army where she completed 6 years as an officer.
Mrs Legrave is currently senior trustee at Stonepillow, a local homeless charity, where she served as Chair for ten years and still chairs their Finance and General Purposes Committee. She also serves as a trustee for the Betty Martin Charity, Bourne Community College and treasurer of her local running club.
She was appointed an OBE in 2015, a Deputy Lieutenant in the same year and a CBE in 2021 for services to Further Education.
Previous honorary awards
See our list of previous honorary award recipients
