• Ska singer Pauline Black will be awarded an honorary doctorate in Literature at the University of Warwick on Thursday 21^st July
• She is joined by Charles Adeogun-Phillips, former United Nations genocide and war crimes prosecutor and international lawyer
• Honorary doctorates form part of the Warwick Celebrates graduation ceremonies, which will see 40,000 graduates, graduands and their guests come to the campus for degree ceremonies

Pauline Black, founding member of legendary 2-Tone band The Selecter will receive an honorary degree from the University of Warwick on Thursday 21^st July.

The highly acclaimed singer, known as the ‘Queen of Ska’, released five top 40 singles in the UK with the Coventry-based group, including iconic hits “Too Much Pressure” and “On My Radio”.

The Selecter, alongside The Specials and Madness, were part of a new wave of ska bands, which burst onto the British music scene during the late 1970s and early 1980s, fusing reggae with punk and highlighting issues such as racism, sexism and poverty.

The singer released her autobiography ‘Black by Design’ in 2011 and has collaborated with artists including Blur frontman Damon Albarn during her career. She continues to perform live with The Selecter and record new music.

Outside of music, Pauline has been a long-standing champion for racial equality, and played a pivotal role in the Coventry 2021 City of Culture bid, which included performing in the Opening Ceremony. She has lived in the city for more than 50 years.

The University of Warwick list of honorary doctorates includes Charles Adeogun-Phillips, the former head of special investigations at the United Nations, who worked as a lead prosecutor at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Between 1998 and 2010, Charles successfully led teams of international lawyers in the complex and pioneering prosecution of perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which around 800,000 civilians were killed.

He prosecuted at 12 high-profile international criminal trials before an international court, championing the cause of the victims of genocide and war crimes. Charles was awarded his Bachelor of Laws in 1992 from the University of Warwick, and now runs a private practice specialising in international human rights.

His lasting impact on international law and human rights through his work on behalf of the victims of the Rwanda genocide has been the subject of several books.

Other outstanding figures receiving honorary doctorates this year include:

 

• Mathematician Ian Stewart who gained his PhD from Warwick in 1970, and engineering and leading motorsport figure Mike O’Driscoll, who gained an MBA at Warwick in 1989.

 

• Keith Bedell-Pearce CBE has been connected with the University of Warwick for more than 50 years, having gained an MSc as part of the second-year intake of the fledgling Warwick Business School in 1969. He will receive the Chancellor’s Medal.

 

• Baroness Warwick, General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers from 1983-1992, Chief Executive of Universities UK from 1995-2009, and current chair of trustees for International Students House will receive her honorary doctorate on 21^st July.

 

• John Witcombe, the Dean of Coventry Cathedral will be handed an honorary doctorate to add to his Master’s in Philosophy in Practical Theology. John’s work at Coventry Cathedral has included navigating significant challenges in moving the Cathedral towards financial sustainability. He also played a key role in Coventry’s City of Culture 2021 bid and delivering the programme of events.

 

• Andrew Morris’s extensive work in medical science, public health and chronic diseases sees him become an Honorary Doctor of Science, along with automotive and aerospace expert Allan Cook CBE, as well as Cindy Rose OBE, President of Microsoft Western Europe.

 

• Further honorary doctorates will be awarded to filmmaker Mike Downey, economist and former Ofcom Chief Executive Sharon White, immersive technology expert Catherine Allen, and mobile telecommunications leader Mike Short CBE.

 

The awarding of honorary doctorates forms part of the Warwick Celebrates graduation ceremonies, which sees 40,000 graduates, graduands and their guests come to the University of Warwick campus for degree ceremonies.

Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick, said: “All those being awarded Honorary Doctorates from the University of Warwick this year have made immense contributions to public life in a range of fields, from prosecutors of international war criminals, to science and engineering innovators, leaders of multinational businesses, cultural and music pioneers, and experts in education and public policy.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to honour these figures, who have had a vast and valuable impact both internationally and at home.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Thomas Clayton
Media Relations
University of Warwick
thomas.clayton@warwick.ac.uk

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

Honorary degrees ceremonies details:

Date and time of ceremony	Honorary Graduate and award
Mon 18 July 2022 AM	Allan Cook (Hon DSc)
Mon 18 July 2022 PM	Ian Stewart (Chancellor’s Medal)
Tues 19 July 2022 AM	Andrew Morris (Hon DSc)
Wed 20 July 2022 AM	Mike O'Driscoll (Hon DSc)
Wed 20 July 2022 PM	Charles Adeogun-Phillips (Hon LLD)
Thurs 21 July 2022 AM	Pauline Black (Hon DLitt)
Thurs 21 July 2022 PM	Diana Warwick (Hon DSc)
Fri 22 July 2022 AM	Keith Bedell-Pearce (Chancellor’s Medal)
Fri 22 July 2022 PM	Sharon White (Hon DSc)
Mon 25 July 2022 AM	Mike Downey (Hon DLitt)
Mon 25 July 2022 PM	John Witcombe (Hon DLitt)
Tues 26 July 2022 AM	Cindy Rose (Hon DSc)
Tues 26 July 2022 PM	Catherine Allen (Hon DLitt)
Wed 27 July 2022 AM	Mike Short (Hon DSc)

Biographies:

Allan Cook

Allan E Cook CBE DSc Allan Cook was a non-Executive Director and Chairman of WS Atkins from September 2009 until July 2017 when Atkins was acquired by SNC-Lavalin. He was Chairman of Helios Towers plc until March 2018. He is a chartered engineer with more than 40 years’ international experience in the automotive, aerospace and defence industries. He was Chief Executive of Cobham PLC until the end of December 2009. Prior to that, he held senior roles at GEC- Marconi, BAE Systems and Hughes Aircraft. He was Deputy Chairman of Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Limited until 31st December 2015 and is a Member of the operating Executive Board of J.F. Lehman & Company based in New York.

Allan was Chairman of High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd between 2018 and 2021 and was Industry co-Chair of the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP). Since March 2018, Allan has also been Chairman of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC) and, until August 2016, was the lead non-Executive Member of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). He was Chairman of the UK Trade & Investment’s Advanced Engineering Sector Advisory Board until October 2013 and Chairman of FINMECCANICA UK Ltd and Chairman of Selex ES until the end of December 2014. Until 31st March 2017, he was also Chairman of SEMTA – the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies.

He is past President of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and past President of the Society of British Aerospace and Defence Companies (SBAC). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering where he has served as a Trustee and Vice President. He also chairs the Academy’s employer-focused Diversity Leadership Group.

Allan became a Fellow of the China 48 Group Club in December 2015 and he is also a member of the Chairman’s Forum with the World Economic Forum. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2008 and received an honorary Doctorate in Science from Cranfield University in 2016.

Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart FRS first came to Warwick University as a PhD student in 1967,

joining the academic staff two years later. He is now Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick and a leading ‘populariser’ of mathematics. He is author or co-author of over 200 research papers on pattern formation, chaos, network dynamics, and biomathematics. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 2001, and recently served on Council, its governing body, for three years. He has five honorary doctorates and is an honorary wizard of the Unseen University on Terry Pratchett’s fictional Discworld.

He has published more than 120 books including Why Beauty is Truth, Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, Calculating the Cosmos, Significant Figures, and the four-volume series The Science of Discworld with Terry Pratchett and Jack Cohen. He has also written the science fiction novels Wheelers and Heaven with Jack Cohen, and The Living Labyrinth and Rock Star with Tim Poston.

He wrote the Mathematical Recreations column for Scientific American from 1990 to 2001. His 90 television appearances include the 1997 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for the BBC. In one lecture he brought a live tiger into the lecture room, and in another he vanished in a puff of smoke after demonstrating time travel using a wormhole. He has made over 450 radio broadcasts, most of them about mathematics for the general public, and has delivered hundreds of public lectures on mathematics, including the Queen’s Lecture in Berlin. He was Gresham Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London from 1994 to 1998, delivering six public lectures each year.

His awards include the Royal Society’s Faraday Medal, the Gold Medal of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications, the Zeeman Medal (IMA and London Mathematical Society), the Lewis Thomas Prize (Rockefeller University), the Euler Book Prize (Mathematical Association of America), and the Bloody Stupid Johnson Award (Discworld Convention).

Andrew Morris

Professor Andrew Morris became the inaugural Director of Health Data Research UK in August 2017, the UK’s national Institute for health data science. Its mission is to unite the UK’s health data to improve people’s lives and is supported by 12 funders. He also convenes the International COVID 19 Data Alliance (ICODA) supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Minderoo Foundation. He is seconded from his position as Professor of Medicine, and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh, having taken up position in August 2014. Prior to this Andrew was Dean of Medicine at the University of Dundee.

Andrew was Chief Scientist at the Scottish Government Health Directorate (2012-2017) and has served and chaired numerous national and international grant committees and Governmental bodies.

His research interests span informatics and chronic diseases. He has published over 350 original papers.

Andrew was previously Governor of the Health Foundation (2009-2017), a leading UK charity that supports quality improvement in health care, and chaired the Informatics Board at UCL Partners, London (2014-2017). In 2007 he co-founded Aridhia Informatics, which uses high performance computing and analytics in health care.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Mike O'Driscoll

Car and motorsport enthusiast, Mike O’Driscoll is graduate of the University of Warwick, where he gained an MBA. He began his career in the automotive industry as a business student with Jaguar Rover Triumph.

Mike held various positions in the company's Product Development, Finance and Marketing functions, prior to moving to the USA in 1987. He then went on to hold a series of executive positions at Jaguar Land Rover and its then parent, Ford Motor Company, leading to his appointment as President of Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover North America in 2000.

Mike was appointed global Managing Director of Jaguar Cars in 2007, to lead the business through the sale process from Ford Motor Company to Tata Motors. Over the next four years he revitalized the Jaguar brand and oversaw the introduction of an all-new product line-up, which transformed the business. He led the early development of the acclaimed F- Type sports car, and the stunning C-X75 hybrid supercar concept, which he introduced at the Paris Salon in the autumn of 2010.

In early 2011, Mike stepped down from his full-time duties as a Director of Jaguar Land Rover and joined Williams Grand Prix Holdings, a publicly listed company, as a Non-Executive Director later that year. He was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer in 2013, and over the following eight years he oversaw the stabilization of the F1 motorsport operation and the creation of Williams Advanced Engineering, a technology and engineering services business.

Over the following years, Williams Advanced Engineering earned a reputation for world class technical innovation and engineering, delivering energy efficient performance through electrification and battery technology, aerodynamics and thermodynamics, growing from a startup to a highly valued business in under 5 years. The business tackles the mobility, sustainability and efficiency challenges that today’s mobility businesses must meet.

Mike successfully secured the future of both the F1 and Advanced Engineering businesses through sales to strong privately-owned groups, committed to long-term investment, job security and growth of each business.

Alongside his full-time roles, Mike was a director for many years of Jaguar Heritage, an independent trust that manages the Jaguar Brand's museum and classic car collection. He is a passionate automobile enthusiast and has served as a judge at historic sports car concours, consulted on car collections, and driven in classic car events. He has now retired from his full-time roles but continues to provide strategic advisory services across a range of automotive, technology and future mobility sectors.

 

Charles Adeogun-Phillips

Charles Adeogun-Phillips is an accomplished international lawyer, former international prosecutor, and head of special investigations at the UN. He founded the cross-border firm of Charles Anthony LLP, in following a pioneering career as a lead prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Charles joined the United Nations in January 1998 from private practice as a criminal defence lawyer in the UK, having been appointed to that role by Justice Louise Arbour (Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada and later UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). What he had initially though would be a short-term sabbatical from the rigours of regular practice as a criminal defence solicitor in the City of London, eventually lasted well over a decade.

Between 1998 and 2010, Charles led teams of international prosecutors in 12 precedent-setting genocide trials, making him arguably one of the most experienced and successful genocide prosecutors in history. His elevation to the rank of senior trial attorney before an international court at the age of 34, by the then Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY/ICTR, Ms Carla Del Ponte (former Attorney-General of Switzerland), was equally unrivalled. He also, between 2008 and 2009, served as head of special investigations in the OTP, under the leadership of Justice Hassan Jallow (the current Chief Justice of The Gambia).

With the 1945 trials of major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg serving as his only precedent, Charles’ work as a lead prosecutor, fighting for justice, on behalf of over 800,000 victims of the worst crimes ever known to mankind, placed him in the forefront of several pioneering developments in the field of international humanitarian and criminal law, cumulating in his citation in the maiden edition of Creswell’s “Who’s Who in Public International Law” in 2007 and in the International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who in 2011.

In prosecuting 12 genocide cases before the ICTR, Charles tackled several novel substantive and procedural issues never addressed before in international law. The jurisprudence engendered in these trials not only contributed to the development of international law, but also helped strengthen and preserve the emerging system of transitional justice. These included the challenges of conducting international criminal investigations and prosecutions; the adequacy of pleadings and specificity of indictments in the context of large-scale international crimes; the development of the definition of rape as constituting acts of genocide; investigating and prosecuting international crimes involving sexual violence; guilty plea negotiations in the context of large-scale international crimes; command responsibility as concerns military and civilian superiors and the transfer of cases to foreign jurisdictions.

Since returning to private practice in 2010, Charles specialises in the areas of international human rights, international criminal law, international civil service law, complex ‘white-collar’ and business crimes, international investigations, and asset recovery. As part of his practice in the area of international human rights, between 2013 and 2014, he successfully represented Christopher Mtikila, the outspoken Tanzanian politician, in his watershed and precedent-setting case against the Tanzanian Government, before the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, resulting in amendments to Tanzania’s electoral laws to allow for independent candidacy for election to public office, as a violation the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.  The Mtikila vs. Tanzania case was the first case to be heard by the said Court on its merits since its inception in 2004. It was also the first case to be decided by the Court in favour of the Applicant and the first case before the Court on the issue of reparations.

Charles’ advisory practice in the area of international criminal and humanitarian law has included providing specialist advice to the Nigerian Government in connection with the preliminary examinations launched by the ICC into alleged crimes against humanity and/or war crimes committed in the context of armed conflict between “Boko Haram” and the Nigerian security forces; and to the Military Defence Headquarters in Nigeria, following Amnesty International’s allegations of extra judicial killings of “Boko Haram” members by the Nigerian Armed Forces. He also advises various Governments and international NGOs on ICC related transitional justice issues, including but not limited to; in connection with the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances of political prisoners in Iran and the allegation of genocide on members of the Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia.

Charles’ practice in the area of ‘white-collar’ and business crimes has focused mainly on representing sovereign States, major oil and gas corporations, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in complex corruption and fraud cases, often with cross-border elements. In 2016, Charles was appointed by the Federal Republic of Nigeria to lead the unprecedented corruption investigations and trials of several senior judicial officers in Nigeria, including that of Sylvester Ngwuta, JSC a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Since 2017, Charles has been retained by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, to investigate, trace and recover over 5 trillion Naira (14 billion US Dollars), currently owed to the Nigerian Government, following its acquisition in 2011, of non-performing loans from some of the country’s ailing commercial banks.

Charles is currently engaged as counsel in a $9.6 billion procurement fraud claim, the largest of its kind, brought before a UK court by a sovereign State against a foreign investor, following a repudiated infrastructure contract allegedly procured by fraud and corruption with the complicity of several public office holders. He also practices in the area of international civil service law, wherein he represents UN staff members in challenging administrative decisions of the UN Secretary-General before the United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals.

Born in London, England, on March 6, 1966, Charles was educated at Repton and read law at Warwick and London universities from where he graduated in 1989 and 1994 respectively. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1992 and as a Solicitor of the Superior Courts in England and Wales in 1996. In 2021, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales as a transferring Solicitor, by the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.

With other leading international criminal law practitioners and/or academics around the world, Charles contributed to the book; International Criminal Investigations: Law and Practice, published by Eleven International at The Hague in 2017. He is currently admitted as List Counsel at the International Criminal Court, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and at the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. He is the focal point for Nigeria at the International Criminal Court Bar Association where he also sits on its Membership Committee. He is a member of the Association of Defence Counsel practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT) and a Council member of the Section of Legal Practice of the Nigerian Bar Association. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of “New Faces New Voices” (Nigeria), a pan-African organisation of women in finance founded by Her Excellency, Mrs Graça Machel, the widow of the former South African President, the late Madiba Nelson Mandela.

 

Pauline Black

Performer, singer, artist, band leader and songwriter, Pauline Black has dedicated four decades to the music scene. Supporting and campaigning for racial equality throughout her work, she describes herself as first and foremost, a singer.

 A lifelong love of music inspired by punk and reggae artists from the 1970s led Pauline to join The Selecter and a career that has seen her travel across the world to share her passion and artistry with hundreds of thousands of fans. The Selecter went on to become a platinum-selling band and one of the most influential within the 2 Tone music scene, alongside others including The Beat, The Specials and Madness. Pauline Black is one of very few women in the 2-Tone scene – she is often referred to as the Queen of Ska.

After releasing their first album, Too Much Pressure, in 1980, the band went on to release 5 top 40 singles in the UK, and to this day continue to write new music and inspire new audiences. 2019 marked the 40^th anniversary of 2 Tone and The Selecter and in 2021 the 40^th Anniversary of the release of Too Much Pressure was celebrated with a Deluxe Edition which reached #1 in the Official UK Vinyl Album Charts and #1 in the Official UK Independent Album Charts.

Pauline played a pivotal role in the Coventry 2021 City of Culture bid and has been heavily involved in the celebrations this year including performing in the Opening Ceremony and contributing to the 2-Tone exhibition at the Herbert Museum. She has been asked to present the 2021 Turner Prize, one of the best-known prizes for visual arts in the world, at an award ceremony at Coventry Cathedral in December.

Pauline has previously worked as an actress and presenter, performing on stage and on screen and has presented a number of radio shows on BBC 6 Music and TV music documentaries on BBC 4. She has also collaborated with other artists including Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz and Africa Express and released her autobiography ‘Black by Design’ in 2011.

The Selecter is led by Pauline Black and co-fronted by original member Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson. They have been touring all over the world in recent years and returned to the stage in later Summer 2021 to play festivals before touring this Autumn/Winter with From the Jam. In between live dates the band are working on a new studio album for release in 2022.

 

Diana Warwick

Baroness Warwick is currently the Chair of the National Housing Federation and Chair of Board for The Property Ombudsman. She was Chair of the Human Tissue Authority until April 2014. Before that, she was Chief Executive of Universities UK for 14 years where she led a body representing the executive heads of 130 universities, both nationally and internationally. Diana was a leading trade unionist for 20 years. She was subsequently Chief Executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in the 1990s

Diana was a member of the Nolan/Neill Committee on standards in public life; a Board Member of the British Council; a trustee of the Commonwealth Institute and Chair of Voluntary Service Overseas. She has been a Board Member of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations; a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal; a non-executive Director of Lattice (now National Grid plc), a trustee Director of the Universities’ Superannuation Scheme (USS) Ltd and is currently a Board Member of the Pension Protection Fund and Governor of Nottingham Trent University.

Diana was awarded a life peerage in 1999 in recognition for her public service.

 

Keith Bedell-Pearce

Keith Bedell-Pearce is the non-executive chairman of 4D Data Centres Ltd and chairman of Prudential Staff Pensions Limited. Before he retired in 2001, Keith was a main board director of Prudential plc. His 30 year career at Prudential spanned being a computer systems designer, the company's in-house solicitor, a director of its investment management business, marketing director and running operating businesses both in the UK and abroad. Immediately after retiring from the Prudential, he was appointed chairman of the Student Loans Company and chairman of the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society. He retired from both businesses in 2008 after extended second terms of office. In 2004, he was asked by the Government to become chairman of Directgov (now Gov.uk), having been closely involved in the design and early stage development of what was to become the Government’s destination website for individuals for all public sector information and transactions. From 2002 to 2014, he was a non-executive director of F&C Asset Management plc and from 2008 was Senior Independent Director. From 2006 to 2018, Keith was a member of the Investment Committee of the Royal Society.

Keith has been connected with the University of Warwick for more than 50 years, having gained an MSc as part of the second-year intake of the fledgling Warwick Business School in 1969. He was an independent member of the University Council, starting his first term in August 2009 and becoming the University Treasurer in October 2011, retiring from the post in July 2020. He is still very much involved with the University, remaining on a number of committees such as the University of Warwick Foundation and the Warwick Business School Advisory Board, as well as continuing as an Honorary Professor of Warwick Business School.

Keith was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2009 for public service.

 

Sharon White

Business leader Sharon White became the John Lewis Partnership's sixth Chairman in February 2020. Sharon moved from Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, where she served as Chief Executive. Before joining Ofcom, Sharon was Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, responsible for overseeing the public finances. She also held Board level positions at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development, worked as an adviser at the Prime Minister's Policy Unit and in Washington DC as a senior economist at the World Bank. Sharon is a non-executive Board member of Barratt Developments Plc and a Trustee of Sadler’s Wells Trust Ltd. She is a trained economist and studied at Cambridge University and University College London.

   

Mike Downey

To date, Mike has production credits for well over 100 feature films. He has worked with four times Academy award nominee Stephen Daldry and many other directors across Europe. He has developed projects with novelists including James Ellroy, the late Gunter Grass and Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List), Academy Award®-winning writer of Ida, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, as well as Academy Award®-winning Director, Volker Schloendorff and writers Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) and Colm Toibin (Brooklyn).

Mike is involved in humanitarian work; he was a long-time trustee of the White Ribbon Alliance, which aims to reduce mortality in childbirth in the developing world, and he is currently developing an educational organisation Filmclub with the EFA to bring quality cinema into schools across Europe. He is the founder of the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), which aims to activate the film community’s collective response to filmmakers who face political persecution for their work. It has recently established an Emergency Fund for filmmakers in Ukraine.

Mike was elected to the Council of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and to the BAFTA Film Committee. He sits on the boards of several film festivals and has served on many international juries, while his own work has been recognised with accolades and tributes worldwide. He was awarded The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2021, for his services to World Cinema. In early 2022, Mike was invited to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as being inducted into US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Mike’s debut novel, Istria Gold, will be published in the UK in October by MPress Media.

 

John Witcombe

John is Dean of Coventry, carrying responsibility for the overall leadership of the Cathedral’s ministry both locally and internationally. Coventry Cathedral is well known for its pioneering work in reconciliation, following its destruction in November 1940. The new Cathedral, consecrated in 1962, is an outstanding example of twentieth century art and architecture, combining the medieval ruins and new building in a narrative journey from destruction to the hope of new life. Under John’s leadership, the Cathedral has navigated significant recent challenges in moving towards financial sustainability, and has been proud to take a central position in the bid and delivery for the City’s programme as City of Culture 2021.

John has a background in Practical Theology and an MPhil in the atonement theology of Tillich and Rahner, and is passionate about weaving the threads of reconciliation and the arts into a contemporary witness which is offered to all, regardless of faith or background.

 

Cindy Rose OBE

Cindy is President of Microsoft Western Europe. In this role, she is responsible for bringing to life Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the
planet to achieve more for all of Microsoft’s customers and partners in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Prior to this appointment, for four years, Cindy was CEO of Microsoft UK where she oversaw all of Microsoft’s commercial product and service offerings, continuing the company’s transformation into the leading productivity and platform company for the cloud-first era.

Prior to Microsoft, Cindy was Managing Director of the UK Consumer division at Vodafone, leading their launch of Vodafone home broadband. She also led the expansion of Vodafone’s retail store estate from 350 stores to over 500 stores and returned the consumer business to growth after 12 consecutive quarters of revenue decline.

Before Vodafone, she was Executive Director of Digital Entertainment at Virgin Media where she managed the development and commercial deployment of Tivo and Virgin Media TV Anywhere. Previously, Cindy spent 15 years at The Walt Disney Company where she held a variety of roles including UK General Counsel and, ultimately, SVP & Managing Director of Disney Interactive Media Group, EMEA.

From 2013 to 2019, she served as an independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Informa plc, a FTSE 100 business information, academic publishing and events company. In 2019, she was appointed as an independent Non-Executive Director of advertising and media giant WPP. In 2020, Cindy joined the advisory board of Imperial College Business School in London.

In March 2019, Cindy was recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List where she was awarded an OBE for long standing services to UK technology. In June 2019, Rose was selected by then Prime Minister Theresa May to co-lead a study into digital competitiveness of the UK.

Cindy is a graduate of Columbia University and New York Law School. Soon after graduation, she relocated to the UK, qualified as a UK Solicitor and practiced at Allen & Overy in London. She lives in London with her husband, they have 4 children together.

 

Catherine Allen

Catherine Allen is most well known as a UK leading expert in immersive technology - expanding the audience and creator base of the medium whilst advising on responsible use of this emerging technology. Her work has played a significant role in informing policy - with a current focus on helping shape the metaverse’s inclusion in the UK’s Online Safety Bill.

Her approach is innovative yet heavily audience-centric and down to earth. After working on the BAFTA-winning iPad app Disney Animated, Catherine led the creation of two of the BBC's first virtual reality experiences in 2015 - 2016. Finding VR an incredible artistic medium, but with a frustratingly narrow audience, she founded Limina Immersive in late 2016; a VR events and research company dedicated to bringing immersive tech to broader audiences. Limina ran cultural VR events across the world to a total of over 15,000 audience members. Catherine has continuously shared findings about audience needs back with universities and the sector in the form of reports, consultancy, seminars and workshops. She has authored several seminal public reports that have influenced policy, for instance the Immersive Content Formats for Future Audiences report, for Innovate UK and Digital Catapult. Her public engagement work includes expert op-eds, comment and analysis on immersive tech to outlets including Radio 4's Today programme, The Sunday Times, Bloomberg, British Vogue, Wired Magazine and The Guardian.

 

Mike Short

Dr Mike Short CBE, after 30 years in telecommunications with Telefonica, joined the Department for International Trade as the Department’s first Chief Scientific Adviser in December 2017.Mike leads the science and engineering profession in the department and ensures its policy is informed by the best science, engineering and technical advice. He advises on the technical aspects of future trade deals as DIT looks to create new arrangements following Brexit, and works with the UK’s research, development and academic communities to boost scientific and engineering exports.

Mike has over 40 years’ experience in electronics and telecommunications and served as Vice President of Telefonica, the parent company of the 02 mobile phone network, for 17 years to December 2016. In this post, he managed the launch of 2G (GSM) and 3G mobile technologies in the UK and led research and development for Telefonica Europe. His career also includes the promotion of international technical standards in mobile technology, and he is also a former Chairman of the Global GSM Association, the UK Mobile Data Association, and President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He was honoured with a CBE in 2012 for his services to the mobile industry.

 

 

 

For further information please contact:

Thomas Clayton
Media Relations
University of Warwick
thomas.clayton@warwick.ac.uk