New Year Honours 2024: knighthood for key Covid pandemic adviser

A key scientific adviser during the Covid pandemic has received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List, with several other leading figures in higher education also commended.

John Edmunds, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), was upgraded from an OBE to a knighthood for services to epidemiology.

Professor Edmunds recently delivered testimony to the UK’s ongoing Covid inquiry, during which he discussed a WhatsApp message he received from Dame Angela McLean, now the government’s chief medical adviser, describing prime minister Rishi Sunak as “Dr Death, the chancellor”.

Elsewhere, John Iredale, pro vice-chancellor for health at the University of Bristol and the former interim executive chair of the Medical Research Council, was knighted for services to medical research. Professor Iredale, Bristol’s chair of experimental medicine, also became the chair of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in 2022.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock, the space scientist and chancellor of the University of Leicester, saw her MBE upgraded to a damehood in the honours list for services to science education and diversity.

Dr Aderin-Pocock, who has worked on the Aeolus satellite and the James Webb telescope, presents the BBC television show The Sky at Night and established the company Science Innovation to speak to the public about space. Earlier this year, Mattel created a Barbie doll in her honour.

Also made a dame was the University of Oxford bionanoscience professor Molly Stevens, who also holds part-time professorships at Imperial College London and Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. Professor Stevens won the Novo Nordisk prize in February, recognised for her pioneering bioengineering work.

Two sector leaders had their existing honours upgraded to the highest level: Dame Carol Black, former principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, was made a Dame Grand Cross for public service due to her work advising the government on drug use, while Sir Jim McDonald, principal of the University of Strathclyde, was made a Knight Grand Cross for services to engineering, education and energy.

Valerie Lund, emeritus professor in rhinology at UCL, was made a dame for services to her field, while Neil Mortensen, professor of colorectal surgery at Oxford and former president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, received a knighthood for his contributions to surgery.

Pali Hungin, emeritus professor of general practice at Newcastle University, founding dean of medicine at Durham University and former president of the British Medical Association, was knighted for services to medicine. Professor Hungin, previously appointed OBE, also leads the Changing Faces of Medicine project, which examines the role of the doctor in the future.

The University of Reading vice-chancellor Robert van de Noort, who also chairs the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee, was appointed CBE for services to science, flood risk management and sustainability.

Among those appointed MBE were Deborah Johnston, deputy vice-chancellor of London South Bank University, and Elizabeth Stuart, former deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Winchester. Professor Johnson was recognised for her work highlighting the needs of students who stammer, while Professor Stuart, a priest and theologian, was honoured for services to higher education.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com