Richard III and space experts honoured for positive impact on Leicester

A space expert and two key members of the Richard III team have been recognised for their outstanding achievements by Leicester City Council.

Dr Richard Buckley OBE, Professor Emeritus Kevin Schürer and Professor Emeritus Ken Pounds CBE were presented with the City of Leicester Award in recognition of their pioneering work carried out while at the University of Leicester.

Dr Buckley and Professor Schürer played key roles in the search for, and the identification of, the remains of the lost king in 2012.

Dr Buckley’s contribution to archaeology, over a 40-year career, helped to transform public understanding of the city’s history, while Professor Schürer carried out work to verify Richard III's present day living relatives, so they could be used for DNA matching.

Professor Pounds kick-started space research in Leicester more than 60 years ago with his work studying X-ray radiation from the sun and other sources, which revealed one of the first known black holes.

In the 1980s, together with Professor Alan Wells, he proposed the idea of a space centre as a research facility that would be open to the public – an idea that went on to be realised as Leicester’s National Space Centre.

All three were presented with their civic awards by Lord Mayor of Leicester, Cllr Sue Barton, in a ceremony held at Leicester Guildhall, on Thursday 17 August.

Cllr Barton said: “We are acknowledging these individuals whose lifelong work and dedication to their subjects has led to important new knowledge and discoveries, bringing international recognition to themselves and to our city as a place of ground-breaking research.”

Professor Henrietta O’Connor, University of Leicester Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who was in attendance, said: “I was delighted to be invited to the ceremony to see three valued individuals who have made such an enormous contribution to the University, and the city of Leicester, honoured in this way.”

The City of Leicester Award was introduced in 2022 to recognise individuals whose outstanding achievements have had a positive and wide-reaching impact on the city, and who have been a source of inspiration to its residents.