Honorary Graduates
Middlesex University awards honorary doctorate degrees to recognise people who are making an outstanding contribution to their profession, to their community or directly to Middlesex.
At the Middlesex University Graduation Ceremony in July 2009, held at the University's flagship campus in Hendon, north London, these distinguished were awarded honorary doctorate degrees.
AR Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman, known as AR Rahman, is an Indian composer, record producer, musician and singer.
In 1992, he began his own music studio - Panchathan Record Inn, and composed the score and soundtrack for Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Roja. AR went on to become the first ever first-time composer to receive the Rajat Kamal award for Best Music Director at the Indian National Film Awards. Since this illustrious beginning, AR has worked in India's various film industries, as well as in international cinema and theatre, and has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide.
A four-time Indian National Film Award winner who has been conferred the Padma Shri from the Government of India, AR has also received six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 13 Filmfare Awards and 12 Filmfare South Awards for his music and scores. In 2009, he won a Critics' Choice Award, the Golden Globe for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, and two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song for his Slumdog Millionaire score.
In 2006, he received an honorary award from Stanford University for his contribution to global music, and he has received an Honorary Doctorate from Anna University in Chennai.
Dame Julia Cleverdon
Dame Julia Cleverdon is a renowned speaker on corporate responsibility, leadership and career development for women. She is now a Vice President of Business in the Community, a movement of 800 top UK companies committed to improving their positive impact on society and a Special Adviser on responsible business practice to the Prince's Charities.
Dame Julia was Chief Executive of Business in the Community from 1992-2008 and during her 16 years of leadership Business in the Community's activities expanded significantly, promoting diversity and best practice in the workplace and tackling community need. Dame Julia's work at Business in the Community led to her being listed by The Times as one of the 50 most influential women in Britain.
Dame Julia has recently led a review for the Prime Minister on Education and Business partnerships. She is a member of the Talent and Enterprise Advisory Group and is currently leading a three-month Taskforce on Building Stronger Communities in an economic downturn. She is also Chair of Teach First, which coaches exceptional graduates to become effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields.
Dame Julia began her working career in industrial relations at British Leyland. She was Director of the Industrial Society's Education and Inner City Division 1981-1988. She is also a patron of Volunteer Reading Help and an Ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund.
Declan Curry
Declan Curry has been a business journalist for more than 15 years, His is one of the country's best-known faces for money news and his voice has reached millions more through radio broadcasts. He presents BBC Two's business, consumer and personal finance show 'Working Lunch'.
Declan Curry's involvement with broadcasting dates back to university days, where he contributed to Imperial College's student radio station and magazines. Since then, he has worked across all areas of the media. For almost a decade, he broadcast each morning on US network ABC. He has broadcast on the BBC News channel since its launch in 1997 and was the business presenter for BBC One's 'Breakfast', the UK's most-watched morning news programme, for seven years. He was a producer, reporter and presenter for BBC Radio – including Radio 4 and 5 Live – and for LBC.
He was a regular columnist for Investors Chronicle magazine for four years, and has also been published in newspapers and magazines in the UK, Ireland and the United States.
Reporting recently for 'Panorama', he has also presented 'Weekend Business' on BBC Radio Five Live and 'Heaven & Earth' on BBC One.
Several awards for broadcasting have come Declan's way including ABI Financial Journalist of the Year and Proshare Financial Personality of the Year.
Dr Kartar Lalvani
Dr Kartar Lalvani is the CEO and Co-Chairman of Vitabiotics Ltd. He founded the company in 1971, and today Vitabiotics is Britain's fastest growing and leading nutraceutical company.
Born in India, after completing a pharmacy degree he moved to the UK in 1956, graduating again from Chelsea College of Pharmacy. He moved to Germany in 1959 where he obtained his D.Sc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Bonn University in 1962. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society since 2007.
Kartar pioneered nutrient-therapy in the 1970s with several leading national brands, such as Wellman, Wellwoman, Menopace, Immunace, Visionace and Pregnacare. He introduced the importance of clinical trials and evidence in alternative medicine. He has received recognition for his important work based on various successful clinical trials, and in 2004 he was awarded a DTI Innovation Award for his published pioneering work on the role of Immunace in the human immune system.
Kartar was awarded the Asian of the Year Award in 2004, and in 2008 he received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The company received two Queen's Awards in 2003 and 2008.
Kartar has a keen interest in history, and his 400-page book, The Making of India is due for publication this year.
Grant Cornwell MBE
Grant Cornwell was a fire fighter for eight years. A career change saw him join what was then the Leyton Orient Football in the Community Scheme. Over a 17-year period he helped pioneer and develop a wide range of initiatives including education, health and social inclusion projects.
In 2000 as Programme Manager, he was involved in the development and delivery of one of the first Home Office 'Positive Futures' programmes on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking and Dagenham. In its first year the programme helped contribute to a 63% drop in crime and anti-social behaviour within the estate. The programme continues to run to this day.
2002 saw Grant appointed as Chief Executive of the Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme. In 2004 he also took on the role of Head of Youth Development of the Leyton Orient Boys Centre of Excellence. His vision was to give all young people within the local community the opportunity to progress to the club's first team. By the time Grant left, over 70% of players signed by the centre had come via the community programme.
In 2005 Grant was awarded an MBE for services to young people.
In May 2007 he joined Tottenham Hotspur Foundation as the Chief Operating Officer. He has recently been promoted to the role of Chief Executive.
Hilary Carty
Hilary Carty is the Director of the Cultural Leadership Programme, a £22m government investment in excellence in leadership within the cultural and creative industries.
The programme seeks to raise the sectors' leadership capacity, facilitate more diverse leadership and build stronger links across the economy. Hilary manages the development and delivery of the programme, initiating projects that promote effective knowledge sharing across sectors.
Hilary was previously Director of Arts at the Arts Council England, overseeing the development of arts programmes and funded organisations, as well as leading the regional delivery plan for London and steering the Council's work on the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. This followed her secondment to London 2012 as Director of Culture and Education in London's successful Olympic bid team.
As the Arts Council's Director of Dance from 1994-2002 Hilary championed the development and promotion all forms of dance nationally and internationally.
Hilary holds an MBA from the University of Westminster, a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts and has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from De Montfort University.
A Trustee of The Arts Foundation, Hilary has recently completed the advanced certificate in coaching and mentoring at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Iain Banks
Iain Banks is one of the UK's leading contemporary fiction writers. His works have featured in the bestsellers list for over 20 years, in both science fiction and contemporary literature.
Iain grew up in Scotland. After studying at the University of Stirling, he moved to the south of England, and worked in administrative jobs whilst pursuing his writing. His early works were in science fiction, which he now writes as 'Iain M. Banks'. In 1984, his first novel 'The Wasp Factory' was published, to great critical acclaim. Later successes included 'The Crow Road' and the sci-fi series 'Culture'. Eventually Banks was able to give up full-time work and turn to full-time writing. He now has ten science fiction titles to his name, including seven in the 'Culture' series. He has written 12 mainstream novels. His next fiction work, 'Transition', will be published later this year.
"Writing sci-fi is more fun," he said, when asked about the difference between the two genres at the Middlesex University Literary Festival. He pointed out that mainstream fiction could be more challenging, as you had to write realistically, whereas in sci-fi, "anything could happen".
Iain Banks moved back to Scotland in 1988.
Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson is a composer, record and film producer whose music is known worldwide. He studied at the Royal College of Music, where he also taught for some time.
During his career, Laurie has worked with some of the greatest musicians, writers and directors of the 21st century, including Stanley Kubrick, Sir Peter Ustinov, Trevor Nunn. Lord Bernard Miles, Bernard Herrmann, Lionel Bart, Herbert Kretzmer, Dame Barbara Cartland and Peter Cook.
In 1954 he entered the film industry and since then has composed around 400 scores for film and television, including Stanley Kubrick's classic film 'Dr Strangelove', and 'The Avengers' TV film series.
In 1974 Laurie formed Mark One Productions with his creative partners of 'The Avengers'. They went on to produce the award-winning 'The New Avengers' and 'The Professionals' TV film series.
He is also co-owner of Gainsborough Pictures. His responsibilities as producer involve him in the casting, scriptwriting, film editing and the final dubbing of the films, in addition to composing the music scores.
Laurie has composed and recorded concert works, music for state occasions, big band, stage musicals (with lyrics by Lionel Bart and/or Herbert Kretzmer), and many TV themes.
In the 1980s he pioneered the Ambisonic digital recording technique.
Libby Cooper
Libby Cooper has advised voluntary and overseas development organisations for many years. She is Director of Amber Analysis, a research, evaluation and capacity building consultancy working with UK and overseas not-for-profit organisations Libby gained a first class honours degree in Social Science at Middlesex University. In 1984 she founded and directed the Community Research Advisory Centre at North London University where she also lectured in Social Research.
Libby Cooper was head-hunted to direct Charities Evaluation Services (CES), a new Home Office-funded organisation, which is now regarded as the UK's foremost specialist in evaluation and impact measurement in the voluntary sector. High profile projects Libby undertook at CES included a redesign of monitoring and evaluation systems for the Home Office's Active Community unit, and a benchmarking study for the National Audit Office. She also produced a quality assurance system now used by thousands of charities globally. She was commissioned by government departments and private funders such as the Mott, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations to produce capacity building courses for NGOs and donors in Eastern and Central Europe, Argentina, Africa, and Russia.
Amber Analysis was set up by Libby in 2002. The consultancy has undertaken many significant projects, including a major contract for the Department for International Development in Croatia, an evaluation of Enfield's Children's Fund Programme and a funding gap analysis for the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
Paul Rock
Paul Rock is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Visiting Professor of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Rock is regarded as one of the founders of modern criminology. His research interests focus on the development of criminal justice policies, particularly for victims of crime. He has also published studies of criminological theory and the history of crime. In 1996, he was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, California, in 2003 a Resident at the Rockefeller Foundation Center, Bellagio and in 2005 a Visiting Fellow of the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University. His publications include Reconstructing a Women's Prison (1996), After Homicide: Practical and Political Responses to Bereavement (1998), and Constructing Victims' Rights (2004).
In 2001-2002, Professor Rock was key expert for the European Community's Phare Horizontal programme, reporting on the treatment of victims and witnesses in the 10 accession states. Most recently, he acted as a consultant to the Ministry of Justice in an evaluation of the experimental introduction of impact statements in trials for murder. He is currently working with Professors Tim Newburn and David Downes on the official history of criminal justice.
Professor Rock is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Arts.
Paul Walsh
Paul Walsh is the Chief Executive Officer of Diageo plc, the world's leading drinks business. He was appointed to this position in September 2000, having previously been Chief Operating Officer at Diageo.
Paul joined GrandMet's brewing division in 1982, becoming Finance Director in 1986. He held financial and commercial positions with Inter-Continental Hotels and the GrandMet Food sector from 1987 to 1989 and was appointed Division Chief Executive of Pillsbury in 1990, becoming Chief Executive Officer of The Pillsbury Company in 1992. He was appointed to the GrandMet board in 1995 and the Diageo board in 1997.
Paul is Chairman of the Scotch Whisky Association, a non-executive director for the FedEx Corporation and a non-executive member of the board at Unilever plc. He is also Chairman of the Henley Business School Strategy Board and a member of the board of trustees of The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders' Forum.
In July 2008, Paul was appointed to the Business Council for Britain, a group of business leaders that advises Government on how it can best promote the long-term health of the UK economy.
At the 2008 National Business Awards, he was awarded The Daily Telegraph Award for a decade of business excellence in recognition of his success in building Diageo into a world-renowned company.
Professor Sarah Andrews
Professor Sarah Andrews is Director of Nursing with NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent. She has held senior positions in the Department of Health Institute and the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.
During her career, Sarah has focused on community and palliative care nursing. She was at the forefront of the development of nurse consultants and advanced practice nursing roles in these fields. She also introduced new approaches to lifelong learning and clinical placement learning that have now been mainstreamed.
Sarah believes nursing is at the heart of high quality care and is essential for the successful treatment of disease. Effective nursing helps patients to remain healthy, empowers patients to care for themselves and enables patients to stay safe while receiving treatment. To achieve this, nurses must be well-educated, able to combine the science, art and craft of caring for people when they are ill or fear illness.
Patient perceptions of what was important when being nursed in their own homes was the subject of her research in the 1980s. She held a visiting Professorship at the former Middlesex Hospital, London and has also been a charity trustee of Marie Curie Care.
Professor Noel Mulcahy
Professor Noel Mulcahy is Director and Co-founder of the Irish Centre for Work Based Learning Partnerships, a non-profit educational institution that was founded in 2004 in partnership with Middlesex University.
Noel has conducted management and technical training courses for over 40 years at national and international level. He was one of the pioneers of the Irish Management Institute, and set up the world's first Action Learning Masters degree in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin. He has also contributed corporate strategy modules on the MBA programmes of University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin.
He is Emeritus Professor of Industrial Strategy at the University of Limerick in Ireland, where he has previously been Acting Dean of Education, Dean of Engineering and Science, Dean of Research and Executive Vice President of the University.
Beginning his 57-year career as a broadcasting engineer in London, he then returned to Ireland to design the Irish television network. In 1957 he took higher research based degree qualifications in electronics. Some ten years of his career were based on the factory floor.
Noel was a Senator in the Irish Parliament from 1977 to 1981, and has also chaired and served on many state committees and on the boards of a number of companies.
Rt. Honourable Sir Anerood Jugnauth, G.C.S.K., K.C.M.G., Q.C
Sir Anerood Jugnauth is President of the Republic of Mauritius. Since 1963 he has served Mauritius as an MP, State Minister for Development, Minister of Labour, Prime Minister and President of Mauritius, as well as Leader of the Opposition. He played an active role in negotiations for the independence of Mauritius and is credited with the legacy of the liberal economic policies of the 1980s that allowed Mauritius to develop into an economic powerhouse in Africa.
Sir Anerood studied Law in the UK and was called to the Bar in London in 1954. He worked in Law and served as a magistrate, being promoted to the Crown Law Office in 1969 and made Senior Crown Counsel in 1971.
He took part in the London Constitutional Conference on Mauritius in 1965 and played an active role in the 1960s negotiations for the independence of Mauritius.
He was leader of opposition party, the Mouvement Militant Mauricien, during the 1970s and founded the Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien in 1983.
Sir Anerood has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Mauritius, the Université Aix-en-Provence and Chennai University. He was appointed Queen's Counsel and knighted in 1980, appointed to Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council in 1983 and honoured as Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1988.
Theo Paphitis
Theo Paphitis is one of the UK's most high profile businessmen and his senior management expertise spans finance, property and consumer goods. He stars in the highly popular BBC Two series Dragons' Den.
This famous entrepreneur was born in Cyprus. His family emigrated to Britain in the 1960s and Theo began his working career as a junior clerk with Lloyds of London before moving into retail at the age of 18. He then moved into property and corporate finance, setting up his own company aged just 23.
He was Chairman of Millwall FC for eight years, taking the club out of administration, into the Championship and to the FA Cup Final. He has also revived the fortunes of notable retail brands such as Ryman, La Senza Lingerie, Contessa Lingerie, Partners the Stationers and Stationery Box. In 2008, he combined the stationery businesses to launch a new chain, Ryman Stationery where he is now Chairman.
Through his appearances on Dragons' Den, Theo has advised many entrepreneurs young and old, and invested in several innovative businesses and brands.
Theo is the Retail Apprentices' Champion for Skillsmart, the government-funded training organisation and is an ambassador for the new National Skills Academy for Retail.
