OU News

News from The Open University

  1. Home
  2. Category: Honorary Graduate

Category: Honorary Graduate

Acclaimed playwright and screenwriter receives honorary doctorate from OU

Acclaimed playwright and screenwriter receives honorary doctorate from OU

The playwright and screenwriter, James Graham, has received an honorary doctorate from The Open University (OU). Graham is known for writing plays like Dear England, a story taking us to the heart of Gareth Southgate’s England men’s football team, and for screenplays like Sherwood, a gripping crime drama tapping into his own experiences of growing […]

Read more about Acclaimed playwright and screenwriter receives honorary doctorate from OU

Gamiel Yafai

Champion of diversity and inclusion is honoured by OU

An Honorary Doctorate from The Open University has been awarded to diversity and inclusion strategist, Gamiel Yafai MBE, whose work has contributed to economic, social and cultural change in both Milton Keynes and beyond. Gamiel, businessman and founder of Diversity Marketplace, created his company 20 years ago from the ground up and today oversees an […]

Read more about Champion of diversity and inclusion is honoured by OU

Honour for a swordplay expert who carved a career in films

Honour for a swordplay expert who carved a career in films

A multi-talented character in the UK’s creative and cultural industry has just been made an honorary graduate of The Open University, recognising his work in the arts. Andy Wilkinson, who lives in Harpenden, Herts, dreamt of a showbusiness career and used his skills at fencing and other weaponry to help him enter the profession, gain […]

Read more about Honour for a swordplay expert who carved a career in films

Honour for bereaved Bedfordshire mother whose work has improved life for those living with sickle cell

Honour for bereaved Bedfordshire mother whose work has improved life for those living with sickle cell

A bereaved mother from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, whose daughter died from sickle cell disease 25 years ago, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by The Open University for her work to raise awareness of the condition ever since. Cecilia Ayisi-Shoetan, formerly from Romford but now living in Leighton Buzzard, has campaigned to help improve the […]

Read more about Honour for bereaved Bedfordshire mother whose work has improved life for those living with sickle cell

Firefighter gains an honorary degree from The Open University

Firefighter gains an honorary degree from The Open University

Firefighter Ross Hockham has been awarded an Honorary Degree by The Open University in recognition of his infectious passion for the solar system, a love that has spawned a thriving education and outreach programme. The OU, based in Milton Keynes where Ross lives, is internationally renowned for its groundbreaking space-science research and has a team […]

Read more about Firefighter gains an honorary degree from The Open University

Disability campaigner honoured for his work in education

Disability campaigner honoured for his work in education

A campaigner for disabled people who has helped to transform their learning experience, not just at The Open University but beyond, has been recognised by the OU with an honorary doctorate. Derek Child was registered blind in his late twenties due to a childhood illness and realised that education would give him the skills to […]

Read more about Disability campaigner honoured for his work in education

Michael wearing graduation gown and blue glasses, looking at the camera with a background of plant leaves.

‘The OU gives you the tools to embrace who you are, and how you connect with the world’

When celebrated historian and Arts and Humanities graduate Michael, 72, received an invitation from The Open University (OU) to become an honorary graduate, he was so stunned he thought it was a prank! Now a proud Doctor of the University he regards as one of the “greatest British institutions”, Michael describes what the OU means […]

Read more about ‘The OU gives you the tools to embrace who you are, and how you connect with the world’

Charity retail changemaker awarded prestigious honour by The Open University

Charity retail changemaker awarded prestigious honour by The Open University

Dedicating a career spanning more than 30 years to charity retail, Maria Chenoweth has been awarded The Open University’s prestigious degree of Honorary Doctor, in recognition of her lifelong work championing the social and environmental benefits of second-hand fashion. From leaving school without any formal qualifications to becoming a transformative force in the charity retail […]

Read more about Charity retail changemaker awarded prestigious honour by The Open University

Distinguished author and Nobel Laureate is awarded honorary degree

Distinguished author and Nobel Laureate is awarded honorary degree

Distinguished Zanzibar-born author and Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who has been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by The Open University. He won global recognition in 2021 for becoming the first African writer in 30 years to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. It resulted in many earlier […]

Read more about Distinguished author and Nobel Laureate is awarded honorary degree

Honour for racial inequality activist and campaigner Lord Simon Woolley

Honour for racial inequality activist and campaigner Lord Simon Woolley

Activist and campaigner Lord Simon Woolley, who has devoted his life to tackling racial inequality in British politics and society, has just received an honorary doctorate from The Open University. One of the many achievements of Lord Woolley, who was adopted at the age of two and grew up on a council estate in Leicester, […]

Read more about Honour for racial inequality activist and campaigner Lord Simon Woolley

Page 1 of 3