Former refugee who has supported interfaith dialogue in Sheffield for over 30 years honoured by University
The University of Sheffield set to award honorary degree to City of Sanctuary founder The Rev Inderjit Bhogal OBE
Influential figures from art, music and artificial intelligence are among those to be honoured
Alumni and former staff will also receive awards as part of winter graduation week
City of Sanctuary founder and Methodist minister The Rev Inderjit Bhogal OBE will be one of four people receiving an Honorary Doctorate during the University of Sheffield’s graduation next week (14-17 january 2020).
Rev Inderjit was born into a Sikh family in Nairobi, Kenya, before moving to the West Midlands as a refugee in 1964.
After moving to Sheffield, he founded the Christian-Muslim Group, which grew to become the Sheffield Interfaith Group. He also helped to start the Homeless and Rootless at Christmas (HARC) project, which has given vulnerable men and women shelter between Christmas and New Year since 1989.
The Methodist Minister also founded the City of Sanctuary Movement, which has been welcoming and reaching out to refugees in Sheffield since 2007.
Inderjit received the World Methodist Peace Award in October 2019 and was appointed an OBE for services to interfaith relations in 2005 in recognition of his work.
He will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Letters on Tuesday 14 January 2020.
Also receiving an honorary title will be George Ergatoudis, one of the most influential and widely respected figures in the British music industry, who will be receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Music at 3.45pm on Friday 17 January 2020. Currently the UK’s Head of Music at Apple, George has held key music roles for BBC Radio 1 and Spotify, and is credited with championing major new talent including Dizzee Rascal, Mumford and Sons, Ellie Goulding, The 1975 and Adele. In 2015, he was named in the Sunday Times-Debretts list of the 500 most influential people in the UK.
Douglas Chi-Chui Young will also be receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Letters, at the ceremony taking place on Wednesday 15 January 2020. As co-founder of Hong Kong-based lifestyle and retail brand Goods of Desire Ltd, he is a leading voice on design, the arts, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Douglas has received many awards for his development of distinctive Hong Kong designs, including receiving a Ten Outstanding Designers Award by the Hong Kong Communication Art Centre in 2006 and being named Man of the Year by Hong Kong Business Magazine in 2009.
The final recipient will be Jackie Hunter CBE, who will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Science on Thursday 16 January 2020. Jackie is a Board Director of BenevolentAI and the Chief Executive of its Clinical and Strategic Partnerships, leading the company’s use of artificial intelligence in the discovery of new drugs.
Jackie holds a personal chair from St George’s Hospital Medical School, is a Visiting Professor of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and is a former Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.