Your Graduation. Summer 2021 1 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 Contents The University Sheffield 3 Welcome from the President and Vice-Chancellor 4 Reasons to be proud 5 Conferment of Degrees: Faculty of Arts and Humanities 9 Faculty of Engineering 15 Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health 25 Faculty of Science 28 Faculty of Social Sciences 36 Prizes and Awards 48 Sheffield Alumni 62 Officers of The University of Sheffield 63 2 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 The University of Sheffield Your graduation day is a special day for you and your family, a day for celebrating your achievements and looking forward to a bright future. As a graduate of the University of Sheffield you have every reason to be proud. You are joining a long tradition of excellence stretching back more than 100 years. The University of Sheffield was founded with the amalgamation of the School of Medicine, Sheffield Technical School and Firth College. In 1905, we received a Royal Charter and Firth Court was officially opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. At that time, there were 363 students reading for degrees in arts, pure science, medicine and applied science. By the time of our centenary, there were over 25,000 students from more than 100 countries, across 70 academic departments. The first ever graduate of the University was its first Chancellor, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, who was awarded an Honorary Degree in 1908 prior to the first ever graduation ceremony. This graduation ceremony took place in the historic setting of Firth Hall on 2 July 1908 at 5 pm - three years after the University had been opened by King Edward VII. At this inaugural ceremony, 81 graduates were present, 10 of whom were female. There were also 4 honorary graduates. The first female student to cross the stage was Winifred Parker with the first male student being William Watson. The first international student to graduate on this day was Zung Tse Kien Woo from China. Zung Tse Kien Woo This is the original fundraising Today, a degree from Sheffield is recognised poster from 1904/1905 which helped raise donations for the all over the world as a hallmark of academic excellence. We University of Sheffield. are proud of our graduates and we are confident that you will Over £50,000 (worth more than make a difference wherever you choose to build your future. £15 million today) was donated by steelworkers, coal miners, factory workers and the people of Sheffield With every generation of graduates, our university goes from in penny donations to help found the University. strength to strength. A century on, the University is now rated as one of the top world universities – according to the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities. 3 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 Welcome from the President and Vice-Chancellor Today is a very special occasion as we I also hope that you will be able to join us celebrate your graduation. At the University, in Sheffield next year for your rescheduled we are deeply proud of your achievements - graduation ceremonies, where we can particularly after such a challenging year for celebrate your achievements in the traditional everyone. way. However, this is not goodbye. Now that In the meantime, I wish you every success for you have graduated, you join a worldwide the future. community of more than 300,000 alumni Professor Koen Lamberts who continue to be an important part of President and Vice-Chancellor our University. We hope that you will keep in touch with us, and with each other, in the years to come. 4 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 Reasons to be Proud Graduation is a time to recognise and celebrate achievement and success, and every graduate has a story to tell of effort and attainment. You should feel proud you are graduating from a world-leading university that is helping address some of the most urgent challenges facing society today. That’s why some of the world’s most talented, ambitious staff and students come here, finding a place they can challenge accepted wisdom, push boundaries and break the mould. Russell Group 5 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 Covid-19 As a place to live and Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, staff and students from across the University have been working to mitigate its effects on society with a rapid study, Sheffield is response through crucial research, innovation and collaborations. Some of the impossible to beat. ways the University has helped include; • Our engineers have used their world-leading manufacturing expertise to help We believe that’s provide vital equipment to the NHS. because we are building • Our experts in genomics are helping the world get a better understanding something very special of Covid-19, including being one of the first teams in the UK to publish sequenced genomes of the Covid-19 virus. here in the city we • Our researchers are leading investigations into how the pandemic is affecting call home - academic people throughout society and are helping to optimise how patients with excellence and the very Covid-19 are assessed and treated by the emergency care system. best student experience. • Our scientists are helping to boost the security of supply chains, food and energy systems both in the UK and around the world. • Our researchers from the arts and humanities are helping the UK’s arts and culture sector reopen and recover from the pandemic. • Our social scientists are helping to address some of the UK’s biggest environmental, political and social issues, such as ageing, the climate crisis, education, housing and social care. • Our medicine students are providing voluntary support to frontline doctors, nurses and healthcare workers. • Our new nursing apprentices are making a major contribution to the fight against Covid-19 on the NHS frontline after graduating from the University. Aside from the pandemic, here our some of the ways the University is making a positive impact on the world; Pioneered • Our new gene therapy innovation centre is set to advance scientific discoveries into promising treatment options for millions of patients with life-threatening diseases. The Sheffield Gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre (GTIMC) will be one of three cutting-edge hubs in the UK dedicated to advancing the clinical development of new genetic treatments for a number of diseases that currently have no cures. • Research from our Medical School has helped to develop a new medical device that improves the prediction of preterm birth at a fraction of the cost of current methods. The device will help to reduce the global number of deaths and long-term complications caused by babies born prematurely. • Our scientists have developed a new approach to creating drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease which has identified two potential new therapies. The drug leads are able to target the three pillars that cause Alzheimer’s and improve on previous approaches to developing new treatments for the debilitating disease. • Our historians and scientists have collaborated to revive and grow extinct varieties of rice as part of a project to revive recipes and flavours that were once loved but have since been lost. The project is developing rice that can thrive in an increasingly extreme modern climate. • A new, more sustainable way to make zinc oxide - a key ingredient in many high end health and beauty products such as sunscreens - has been developed by our chemical engineers. The method is being commercialised to create sunscreens that are much better for the environment and don’t damage fragile corals and marine ecosystems. 6 The University of Sheffield Your Graduation: Summer 2021 • Our Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) are supporting a major new project to decarbonise the industrial cluster around the Humber and help UK manufacturers win work in emerging low-carbon sectors including hydrogen fuels and carbon capture. Recognised • The University has been ranked among the top 100 universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2022, reaffirming our position as a leading global university for teaching and research excellence. • The University is in the top 10 per cent of universities in England for working with businesses to find solutions to problems in industry and society, according to a new framework. The first-ever Knowledge Exchange Framework, published by Research England, shows the rich contributions that universities such as Sheffield make, both economically and socially, on local and national levels. Honoured • Dr Thushan de Silva from our Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease has been awarded an MBE for his Covid-19 research. Dr de Silva and his team have made a major contribution to the global effort to track virus mutations and characterise immunity to SARS-CoV-2. • Professor Julie Gray from the University’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology has been elected as a member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). The EMBO is an international organisation that promotes excellence in the life sciences around the world. Professor Gray’s research is helping to tackle global food security risks. • Professor Tim O’Farrell from our Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering has been selected to join the new Climate & Environmental Working Group. The group will feed into government policy on the environmental impact of 5G technology. Invested • The University has launched a £3 million Covid-19 Support Fund for any of our students who are facing additional costs or a significant reduction in income because of the Covid-19 pandemic. • We’ve pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions on campus by 2030 and across all of our activities by 2038.