Honorary Degrees 2022

Tudur Owen is a household name in Wales and a BAFTA-winning comedian. He combines a typically browbeaten Welsh outlook with an upbeat and uplifting style. As well as hosting a chat show on S4C, he is the voiceover for a BBC Wales show in English which reviews old programmes made in Wales. He has presented shows at the Eisteddfod and is a member of the Eisteddfod Gorsedd. Tudur has a talent for attracting new audiences, in particular those people who would not normally watch or listen to Welsh language programmes, therefore broadening access to the Welsh language.

Hamza Yassin is a Sudanese-born wildlife cameraman, known for his work on the BBC’s Countryfile. He has a degree in Zoology with Conservation from Bangor University and a Masters in Biological Photography from the University of Nottingham. Hamza has forged a career in wildlife film-making taking inspiration from North Wales and Scotland. He made his television debut on CBeebies’ Let’s Go for a Walk, as Ranger Hamza. In 2020 he presented Scotland: My Life in the Wild and in 2021 he joined the long-running series, Animal Park.

The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from 2019 - 2021. He was previously Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General. He was elected the Conservative MP for South Swindon in 2010.Born in Llanelli in 1968, he graduated from Durham University and attended the Inns of Court School of Law where he was a prize winner for Advocacy. He was Called to the Bar in 1991. In 2009, Robert was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court, sitting on the Midland Circuit.

Dr Rebecca Heaton graduated with a first-class Forestry degree from Bangor University in 1993 and went on to complete a PhD on the growing and economics of energy crops at Cardiff University in 2000, followed by post-doctoral research. From 2017-2021, Rebecca sat on the UK Committee on Climate Change. She is a leader in our response to the climate crisis. In 2021 she was selected as one of a hundred ‘women to watch in business’ in the annual survey by Cranfield University, and earlier this year she was appointed to the senior position of Director of Environmental Sustainability at Lloyds Banking Group, overseeing their plan to achieve Net Zero. 

Zaha Waheed graduated with a BSc in Marine Biology and Oceanography from Bangor University in 1996. She is a Minister at the President’s Office in the Maldives. She has made invaluable contributions to the Maldives in fisheries, marine sciences and disaster management, including establishing a national platform for disaster risk reduction and enhancing community-based disaster risk management programmes. Following the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, Zaha worked as the Recovery Coordinator at the National Disaster Management Centre and was Deputy Head of the unit managing displaced people.

Ruby Wax OBE an acclaimed American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality and mental health campaigner has research and teaching links with Bangor University’s School of Human and Behavioural Sciences and, in particular, with the University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice. She has attended Mindfulness retreats, using her experiences to understand more about how mindfulness can provide therapeutic support for people living through depression and anxiety. Ruby has written several other texts about mindfulness and mental health, and has amassed an army of celebrity supporters, including Stephen Fry, Davina McCall, Goldie Hawn and Russell Brand, as well as world-leading academics, such as Professors Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mark Williams, and Daniel Siegel. She is an ambassador for the British Neuroscience Association, for the mental health charities, MIND and SANE. She also is the president of Relate, and Chancellor of the University of Southampton.

Rachel Taylor is the performance coach for Sale Sharks Rugby Club. She is the only player to have captained both 7’s and 15’s Welsh international sides and played for every region as well in three World Cups. She won her first international cap in the Six Nations against Canada in 2007 and became captain in 2012.Capped 67 times for Wales, Rachel is an inspirational female sports person and excellent ambassador for Wales and for women’s rugby. Educated in Llandudno, she is a trained para-veterinary worker.

Arfon Jones has contributed to religious culture in Wales, primarily in producing an understandable and academically responsible text from the Welsh Bible that suits contemporary culture. A graduate of Bangor University, Arfon began to translate Scripture into Welsh for young learners in the 1990s. His work has been published electronically with 27 New Testament books and 39 Old Testament books.  The Bible Society published beibl.net alongside the New Welsh Bible and the Revised New Welsh Bible and considers it the recognised version for the digital age.

Sasha, born Alexander Paul Coe, is a Welsh DJ and record producer. He is known for his live events and electronic music as a solo artist as well as collaborations as Sasha & John Digweed. He was voted World No. 1 DJ in a poll conducted by DJ Magazine and is a four-time International Dance Music Awards winner, four-time DJ Awards winner and Grammy Award nominee. Sasha’s use of live audio engineering equipment helped popularise technological innovations among DJs who formerly relied on records and turntables.

Menai Williams is one of Wales’ foremost music adjudicators, tutors and composers and a Bangor University graduate.  She has been a harpist and adjudicator at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol for over 40 years.  Menai has composed a number of Cerdd Dant strains that are used at Welsh national events. She has been conductor for several Male Voice Choirs and won first prize several times. Although there is a healthy mentoring of female conductors at the Eisteddfod, she was the first woman to capture the Ifor Simms Memorial Medal and to win the main Male Voice Choir festival.

Lord John Krebs FRS is an eminent zoologist. He graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford before holding posts at the University of British Columbia and the University College of North Wales in Bangor. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984. He was Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council from 1994–1999 and knighted in 1999. He was the first chair of the Food Standards Agency and in 2007 became a cross-bench life peer in the House of Lords. Lord Krebs was Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, for a decade until 2015. He was a member of the independent Committee on Climate Change and chairman of its Adaptation Sub-Committee from 2009 to 2017.

Simon Gibson CBE is chair of the Alacrity Graduate Entrepreneurship Foundation and Chief Executive of Wesley Clover Wales. Simon chairs several technology companies and is non-executive Director of Celtic Manor Resort. He is Regent of Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and a professor at Swansea University School of Management. He has a long history of advising public bodies and is chair of the 5G advisory Panel of Wales and a Trustee of the Newbridge Charitable Foundation. Appointed CBE for services to the economy of Wales in 2018, he is Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gwent.

Nigel Short is a director of Penderyn Whisky who has served in several roles including Executive Chairman since its official launch in 2004.Born and bred in the Cynon Valley, only a few miles from the distillery, Nigel spent 25 years working in the steel industry and employed 1,500 people in six different countries, undertaking sophisticated on-site logistics. Nigel also runs a 400-acre organic lamb and beef farm in Carmarthenshire. He has coached junior rugby for several years and is a qualified rugby referee.

Dr Debbie Williams is co-founder of the price comparison website, confused.com. She has wide commercial experience incorporating leadership, e-commerce and mentoring, having held executive and non-executive positions at companies including Admiral Group, Tesco Bank and Ospreys Rugby. Debbie holds board level positions at Careers Wales, Principality Building Society and Democracy Commission of Wales.  She is a trustee for The Alacrity Foundation and Victim Support Wales alongside work as business ambassador for Tŷ Hafan. She was Welsh Woman of the Year for Innovation and recognised as one of the UK’s top 200 businesswomen in 2007.

Simon Thompson is Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute which partners with Bangor University in delivery of our Chartered Banker MBA, the only banking qualification in the world combining an MBA and Chartered Banker status. Simon launched a £1m scholarship fund (2025 Foundation) to support young people from disadvantage backgrounds entering the banking profession.  In 2019, Simon was asked to lead the development of UK’s Green Finance Education Charter comprising 12 UK finance bodies and Green Finance Institute, and he has become a recognised authority on sustainable finance.