Hats off to our graduates

Students from 90 countries and aged from 19 to 79 will be crossing the stage to collect their awards starting Tuesday (25 July).

Vice-Chancellor Professor Debra Humphris said: “Graduation ceremonies are always the high-point of the academic year, bringing together as they do the whole university community with our graduates and their families and friends.

“As a university we are committed to realising potential and shaping futures for the better and are immensely proud of the continuing achievements of our students and alumni as they make their own unique mark upon the world.”

Families and friends from around the world will be attending the ceremonies and thousands more will be watching in their homes via the university’s livestream.

On Tuesday, Fox Fisher, film maker, trans campaigner and artist, will be awarded a Doctor of Arts in recognition of major contributions to raising the profile, both nationally and internationally, of issues affecting trans-people and the promotion of arts and media.

Fox, who graduated with an MA in Sequential Design and Illustration from the University of Brighton in 2015, regularly appears on TV and facilitates interactions with mainstream media on the representation of trans people. Fox was named one of the top 10 outstanding contributors to LGBT+ life at this year’s British LGBT Awards.

Also on Tuesday, Jake Chapman will receive a Doctor of Arts, for his major contribution to the arts and reimaging of history and popular culture.

Chapman is one half of the Chapman Brothers, artists who graduated from Royal College of Art in 1990 and were nominated for the Turner prize in 2003. Their subject matter is deliberately shocking including, in 2008, a series of works that appropriated original watercolours by Adolf Hitler. They are members of the Arts Emergency Service, a charity working with 16-to-19-year-olds in further education from diverse backgrounds.

Jake’s work has been in solo exhibitions at Tate Modern, Serpentine Sackler Gallery and Tate Britain in the UK as well as prestigious galleries all over the world including in New York, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Stockholm and Paris.

Bert Williams MBE on Wednesday will receive a Doctor of Letters for his contribution to the promotion of race equality in the local region. Bert is the driving force behind Brighton and Hove Black History, launched in Brighton in 2002.

Siobhan Melia

Bert’s first trip to the city was in 1960 when he visited his two sisters who had come over from Jamaica to work at Brighton General Hospital. He returned to the city in 1967 after serving in the RAF and has been a resident ever since. He worked for the NHS for the next 26 years until retiring in 1992 and went on to chair a local group – Mosaic – for black and mixed-race families. He also organised the Chattri Memorial service on the Sussex Downs, which commemorates Indian soldiers who fought during the First World War.

Keynote speaker on Wednesday is Siobhan Melia, Chief Executive Officer at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. Siobhan has worked in the NHS for over 18 years in a range of roles. She has a clinical background, having obtained her postgraduate degree from the University of Brighton, and has fulfilled a number of different clinical leadership roles.

On Thursday, Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian for 20 years, will be presented with a Doctor of Letters for his major contribution to journalism. Alan oversaw the breaking of many international headline-making stories including those on Julian Assange and Wikileaks, the News International phone-hacking scandal, the use by governments of illegal torture and rendition and the Edward Snowdon disclosures on mass surveillance by intelligence agencies.

These stories amongst many others saw the journalism at The Guardian winning many accolades including an Emmy Award and Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Alan has also co-written a screenplay for BBC Television and he writes regularly for the New York Review of Books and New Statesman.

Keynote speaker on Thursday will be graduate Emily Brooke, CEO and founder of Blaze, the urban mobility brand providing technology for cyclists and bike sharing schemes globally. Emily left Oxford University to study Product Design at the University of Brighton where she developed the Laserlight safety light which is being sold in 60 countries.

Sarah Roots, Vice President of Warner Bros’ Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, is the keynote speaker on Friday. Sarah, who graduated from the University with a degree in Hotel and Catering Management, has seen the project from conception through to its grand opening in 2012. 

Also on Friday, Miranda Brawn is to be awarded a Doctor of Letters for her major contribution to the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion in all sectors, in particular in the legal profession. Miranda is a multi-award-winning senior business, legal and diversity executive, barrister, board advisor, patron, philanthropist, social entrepreneur, founder of the Miranda Brawn diversity leadership foundation, media contributor, public speaker and one of the UK's top diversity leaders.

Miranda is a campaigner for an equal and diverse workforce and promotes all forms of diversity, including race, gender, disability and LGBT. She has been named by the Financial Times as one of the most influential global BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) business executives helping to make the world a more equal and diverse place.