Oxford announces honorary degrees for 2016

The degrees will be awarded at Encaenia, the University's annual honorary degree ceremony, on 22nd June 2016.

The honorands are as follows:

Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa

Monsignor Professor Tomáš Halík is a priest, philosopher and theologian. He is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Charles University, Prague, and winner of the Templeton Prize. He is an international advocate for dialogue between people of different religious beliefs, and has received many awards for his role in inter-religious dialogue.

Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa

The Right Hon the Lord Mance, PC, is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, High Steward of Oxford University, Honorary Fellow of University College and Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College. An alumnus of University College, Lord Mance became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2005. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1999 to 2005 and a Judge of the High Court, Queen's Bench Division from 1993 to 1999, where he also sat in the Commercial Court.

Doctor of Letters, honoris causa

Professor Paul Krugman is an economist, author and columnist, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, for his work on international trade theory. He is also well-known for his column in the New York Times, 'The Conscience of a Liberal'.

Professor Kazuyo Sejima is an architect, principal of the award-winning architectural firm SANAA, Project Professor at Keio University, Visiting Professor at Japan Women's University, co-winner of the Pritzker Prize, and Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Mr Pedro Almodóvar is a director and screenwriter, winner of the Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement, and Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He achieved international recognition for the film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 1988, and has since won multiple awards for Talk to Her, All About My Mother, and Volver, among others.

Doctor of Science, honoris causa

Dr Cornelia Bargmann is a neurobiologist, Torsten N Wiesel Professor at Rockefeller University, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Medal and Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research in neurobiology deals with the behaviour of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and among other breakthroughs she has demonstrated that C. elegans has a sense of smell.

Professor Mildred Dresselhaus, is a physicist and Institute Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she is also Professor Emerita of Physics and Electrical Engineering. She has been awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for her pioneering research in carbon science. In 2014 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Sir Jonathan Ive is Chief Design Officer of Apple Inc. He leads Apple's design team and is responsible for the look and feel of Apple products, interfaces and packaging. He is also Royal Designer for Industry and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Doctor of Music, honoris causa

Mr Arvo Pärt is a composer known for his characteristic tintinnabuli style. His best-known works include Spiegel im Spiegel and Tabula Rasa. He has been awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, and is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Ms Jessye Norman will also be awarded an honorary degree. Ms Norman was due to receive the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, last year, but was unable to attend the ceremony. She is an operatic soprano and recitalist who has performed around the world, including for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, to mark the opening of the 1996 Olympic Games, and in 2002 at the opening of the memorial on the site of the former World Trade Center.