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HKU to award Honorary Degrees to Six Distinguished Individuals in 2012

31 Jan 2012

 

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) will be conferring honorary degrees upon six outstanding individuals in 2012.

Honorary Degrees are awarded to individuals in recognition of their distinguished service and commitment to the University, the community, and to academia.  They are also conferred to those who have made valuable intellectual, social and cultural contributions to society and the world.

The honorary degree recipients are:

Doctor of Laws honoris causa
AUNG SAN Suu Kyi
The Hon Mr Justice Syed Kemal Shah BOKHARY

Doctor of Science honoris causa
Professor Sir Leszek Krzysztof BORYSIEWICZ
Dr John Craig VENTER
Professor XU Zhihong

Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa
Dr Henry Kar-shun CHENG

The conferment ceremony will be presided by the Chancellor, Dr the Honourable Donald TSANG Yam Kuen at the 186^th Congregation, on March 15, 2012, at 5:30pm, in Loke Yew Hall. Aung San Suu Kyi and The Hon Mr Justice Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary have indicated that they will not be able to join the conferment ceremony in March. Appropriate arrangement will be made in due course. 

Brief Biography

AUNG SAN Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old. After attending Oxford University, she returned to Burma and joined the pro-democracy movement. She has since spent more than 15 years in detention, most of it under house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi has become a worldwide symbol of the struggle of Burma's people to be free, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

In recognition of her commitment to non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights, the University has resolved to confer upon her the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.

The Hon Mr Justice Syed Kemal Shah BOKHARY
The Hon Mr Justice Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary is a Permanent Judge in Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. He was born in Hong Kong and received his legal education in London. After establishing a successful legal practice in Hong Kong, he was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 1989. Upon the handover of the territory in 1997, he was appointed a Permanent Judge in the Court of Final Appeal, and has been widely respected for the deep sense of commitment and responsibility he has brought to his role. Justice Bokhary was elected a bencher of London's Middle Temple in 2001.

In recognition of his contributions to the legal sector and Hong Kong, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.

Professor Sir Leszek Krzysztof BORYSIEWICZ
Professor Sir Leszek Krzysztof Borysiewicz is the 345th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He has served as Chief Executive of the UK's Medical Research Council, and as Principal of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, and later as its Deputy Rector. At the University of Wales in Cardiff, he led a research team that carried out pioneering work on vaccines and conducted clinical trials for a therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus (a cause of cervical cancer) - the first in Europe. He was knighted in 2001.

In recognition of his contributions to medical research and higher education, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa.

Dr John Craig VENTER
Dr John Craig Venter is an American biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in being one of the first to sequence the human genome and for his role in creating the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010. Dr Venter founded Celera Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research and the J Craig Venter Institute, working at the latter to create synthetic biological organisms and to document genetic diversity in the world's oceans. Synthetic Genomics, a firm he co-founded, conducts research aimed at developing next-generation biofuels.

In recognition of his contributions to medical research and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa.

Professor XU Zhihong
Professor XU Zhihong was the 30th President of Peking University (1999-2008) and is a professor at the College of Life Sciences at Peking University and at the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology. His research interests include plant development, plant cell culture and genetic manipulation, and plant biotechnology. Professor Xu is a member of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, an academician of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which he has also served as Vice-Chairman.

In recognition of his contributions to higher education and society, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa.

Dr Henry CHENG Kar-shun 
Dr Henry CHENG Kar-shun is the Managing Director of New World Development. He also holds directorships in several companies. 

He holds an MBA, a DBA from Johnson and Wales University, and an LLD from the University of Western Ontario (Western). Dr Cheng has been a long-time advocate of higher education in Hong Kong and the Mainland, and has established the New World/Harvard Kennedy School of Government Fellows Programme, co-established the Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute with Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business, and is the Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge to China) Charitable Foundation. He is also the Director of the Cheng Yu Tung Foundation, which has supported research, academic and campus development at HKU.

In recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong and higher education, the University has resolved to confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa.

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.