Seeing stars as graduation celebrates scientists
All week, the campus has been alive with celebrations with graduands, their parents and friends, and the festivities continued in full swing today as we paid tribute to the achievements of two promiment scientists who have made a unique impact upon their disciplines.
Dr Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock MBE is a British space scientist and science educator. She studied at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc in physics in 1990, and completed her PhD in mechanical engineering in 1994. She has spent her career to date making novel, bespoke instrumentation in both the industrial and academic environments. These have ranged from hand held land mine detectors to optical sub-systems for the James Webb Space Telescope.
To further share her passion for science, Aderin-Pocock set up and runs her own company ‘Science Innovation Ltd’. Through this she conducts public engagement activities sharing the wonders of space. To date Maggie has given these presentations to over 250,000 people around the world. As well as public speaking she also works as a TV presenter and since February 2014 she has co-hosted the world’s longest running television series “The Sky at Night”.
Today, she praised Leicester as 'the place for space science' as she received her honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Professor Sir John Stewart Savill gained a first class honours degree from the University of Oxford and went on to complete his medical degree at Sheffield University Medical School, leaving with honours and three distinctions.
In October 2010, Savill was appointed CEO and Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK. Within this role he was responsible to UK Parliament for expenditure of around £800M per year as MRC’s Accounting Officer. Alongside the MRC role, Savill was also Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medicine & Veterinary Science at the University of Edinburgh. As of April 2018, he was appointed Regius Professor of Medical Science at the University of Edinburgh. Savill continues to pursue research interests in control of inflammation, leading a small MRC-funded group in the MRC Centre for Inflammation Research.
He was honoured today with a Doctor of Science degree.
Today saw graduands from the College of Science and Engineering and the College of Life Sciences receiving their degrees, including those from Leicester Medical School. Joining them in September will be Student Award winner Aysha Ahmed (BSc Medical Physiology) who will then be embarking upon her journey to becoming a doctor.
If you're graduating this week, you'll be able to share the special moment when you cross the stage. Look out for an email from our Alumni Engagement Team which will contain a video clip of the moment you graduate. And remember to post your photos to #LeicesterGrad18!