Queen's Birthday Honours 2022
Leaders in fields from chemistry to cancer research are among the Cambridge academics recognised today.
Professor Clare Grey
Professor Grey has been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her services to science.
Professor Grey, from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and Pembroke College, pioneered the optimisation of batteries with the help of NMR spectroscopy.
"I am delighted that my contributions to the general field of energy materials have been honoured in this way.
"I hope that this recognition highlights how important fundamental science is to performing the underpinning work that will help the world transition to a more sustainable society – and that perhaps it may motivate others here in Cambridge, the UK and more globally."
Professor Stephen Young
Stephen Young, Emeritus Professor in the Information Engineering Division and Fellow of Emmanuel College, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to software engineering.
Professor Young’s research interests lie in the area of spoken language systems, including speech recognition, speech synthesis and dialogue management.
"Around the world millions of people are now routinely interacting with machines using speech and natural language.
"Cambridge University has been a leader in this technology and I am honoured to receive this award on behalf of the many colleagues and students who have worked with me over the years and collectively contributed to its solution."
Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald
Professor Fitzgerald from the CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cancer. Together with her team, she developed a new test, the Cytosponge, to help diagnose Barrett’s Oesophagus, a condition that can sometimes develop into oesophageal cancer.
"It is an exciting but long path from the seed of an idea through to implementation of the Cytosponge in the NHS, and receiving this award is an honour and a tremendous boost for me and the whole team who continue to strive to improve the early diagnosis of cancer."
Dr Raghib Ali
Dr Raghib Ali, a Senior Clinical Research Associate at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, has been awarded an OBE for services to the NHS and to the COVID-19 response.
Dr Ali took leave from his university work and volunteered to return, unpaid, to frontline NHS duties – both at his local hospital and the newly formed Nightingale hospitals. He was appointed as an Independent Expert Adviser on COVID-19 and ethnicity to the UK government in October 2020.
"I would never have imagined that one day I would be receiving such an award. As a child on free school meals attending one of the worst performing primary schools in the country, my chances of going to Cambridge and becoming a doctor were almost zero and so I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had. I hope this award will inspire children and young people across the country who find themselves in similarly difficult circumstances."
Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright
Dr Jardine-Wright has received an OBE for services to education. She is an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Physics, Fellow of Churchill College, and co-founder of Isaac Physics, an online platform that offers support and activities in physics problem solving to teachers and students.
"I am completely stunned to have been awarded an OBE. It means a great deal to me as it recognises the importance of physics education and the impact that the Isaac Physics project has made. I feel energised to keep innovating and to do more to raise the profile of physics.
"I am extremely fortunate to work with highly talented and dedicated people, in particular the late Prof. Mark Warner, an inspirational physicist who co-founded Isaac Physics with me, and Profs. Alastair Beresford and Andrew Rice, whose technological vision for the Isaac platform has encouraged nearly 100 million question attempts by teachers and students thus far."
Dr Adrian Weller
Dr Adrian Weller, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Engineering and researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to digital innovation.
"I am delighted to receive this honour, acknowledging the incredible work taking place across the AI ecosystem. I have been fortunate to work with many inspiring colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines at Cambridge, Turing, the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and beyond.
"I hope I can encourage more people to get involved as we try together to design, develop and deploy trustworthy technologies which benefit individuals and society."
Professor Simon Peyton Jones
Professor Simon Peyton Jones, a Distinguished Honorary Fellow at the Department of Computer Science and Technology, has received an OBE for services to education and to computer science. He is Chair of Computing At School and the National Centre for Computing Education.
"I feel privileged to have been allowed to spend an entire research career on statically-typed functional programming, built around the programming language Haskell and its compiler GHC. Functional programming started as an academic curiosity, but has become a powerful and creative influence on the entire enterprise of programming.
"I have also been fortunate to contribute to a revolution in our nation's vision for computing education: computing is now seen as a foundational subject like maths and natural science, that all students should learn, rather than a vocational pathway for future software developers."
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