Dr Katrina Palmer

Lord Peter Hain

As planning starts for future graduation ceremonies, current and former staff and students are invited to nominate inspiring people to receive an honorary degree or fellowship from Sussex.

Awarded in recognition of excellence in an academic field, or to those who have played an important role in society, honorary degrees and fellowships give us the opportunity to acknowledge those who make an impact in the wider world. Nominees do not have to have a direct connection to the University. The selection process is led by the Vice-Chancellor and the Honorary Degrees Committee, and nominations are welcome from all areas of the University community.

At summer graduation this year, honorary degrees went to Baroness Valerie Amos, the first Black woman to lead a university; Dr Gail Lewis, a leading Black feminist academic, activist and psychotherapist; award-winning interdisciplinary artist, Dr Katrina Palmer; Paul Barber OBE Deputy Chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion; engineer Richard Atkins, who advanced race car engines, and Lord Peter Hain, former apartheid activist and Cabinet Minister. Watch a compilation of speeches from this summer’s Honorary Graduates.

In previous years, the University has awarded honorary degrees to a wide range of exceptional people including leading employment law solicitor Rustom Tata, cosmologist Professor Carlos Frenk CBE, BBC journalist Clive Myrie, author Ali Smith, historian Dr Lucy Worsley, actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry and guitarist Jeff Beck, and, in 2019, to Sanjeev Baskar to celebrate his 10^th anniversary as the University’s Chancellor.

How to nominate

You can find information about the criteria and the online nomination form on our honorary degrees webpage.

We encourage you to think about our University values of kindness, integrity, inclusion, collaboration and courage when nominating. In line with our Inclusive Sussex approach, we ask that you also think about diversity and representation. For example, for every one woman nominated, the committee typically receives two nominations for men.

Nominations should be submitted via the online form on the Honorary Degrees Committee webpage - a downloadable version of the form is also available to help with compiling the required information. Completed forms need to be submitted by Monday 9 October 2023 for consideration at the next meeting of the Honorary Degrees Committee, ahead of winter graduation ceremonies in early 2024. Nominations are still welcome after this date, but will be considered for the next ceremonies.

All nominations should be kept confidential, including from the nominee, until selections have been made, Senate approval has been given and the nominee has been offered and accepted the award.

If you have any questions about nominations, or the Honorary Degrees Committee process, please contact: Zoe Varney-Burch (zoevb@sussex.ac.uk).