SOAS celebrates changemakers in this year’s honorary awardees 2026
SOAS University of London will award honorary degrees to eight distinguished individuals at this year’s graduation ceremonies.
The awardees include acclaimed musician Dr Nitin Sawhney CBE, pioneering diplomat and public servant Baroness Catherine Ashton, influential contemporary artist William Kentridge, award-winning social entrepreneur Atif Choudhury, researcher and leading authority on the Gulf’s social, political and cultural affairs Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, renowned economist Professor Justin Yifu Lin, impactful entrepreneur and philanthropist Fadi Ghandour and a leading figure in international climate finance, Alex Michie.
Dr Nitin Sawhney CBE
A passionate advocate for arts, talent development and cultural equity, Dr Nitin Sawhney CBE will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Humanities in recognition of his substantial contribution to music.
Dr Sawhney is an acclaimed British composer, producer and musician whose work spans classical, jazz, electronica and Indian music traditions. An Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, he has composed more than 70 film and television scores and collaborated with artists from Sir Paul McCartney, Sting, Annie Lennox and Jeff Beck, to Joss Stone, Jorja Smith and Anoushka Shankar to name a few. He has also taken to the stage at leading venues and festivals worldwide, including the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Hollywood Bowl and Glastonbury. Named in the 2025 Asians Power 100 list, he is currently creating musical works for the Schwarzman Centre with Samantha Harvey, Antony Gormley and Mary McCartney, premiering in November 2026.
Baroness Catherine Ashton
Recognising her years of work across government policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the College of Law for her substantial contribution to international diplomacy.
Baroness Ashton served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy between 2009 and 2014. She was previously EU Commissioner for Trade and served as a Minister in the Departments of Education and Justice, and Leader of the House of Lords and President of HM Queen's Privy Council. Baroness Catherine also lent her experiences to the publishing world through her book “And then What?”, receiving a Nobel Prize nomination and the Order of the Garter in 2023. In 2025, she chaired the House of Lords inquiry into UK engagement with space and sits on the European Affairs Committee. She is also a distinguished fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, Chair of the advisory board of the Institute for Global Negotiation in Zurich and served as Chancellor of the University of Warwick.
William Kentridge
One of the most influential artists of our time, whose work spans drawing, film, sculpture, theatre, and opera, William Kentridge will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Humanities for his substantial contribution to art and animated film.
At the core of William’s practice lies drawing, which he has described as a way of thinking in time; marked by erasure, movement, and revision. Growing up in Johannesburg during apartheid, in what he has called a “fractured society” his work emerges from a condition of historical rupture and ethical unease. He takes inspiration from answering political questions through irony, uncertainty, contradiction and a distinctive self-questioning humour. His work has been seen in museums and galleries around the world since the 1990s. William has directed operas for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Glyndebourne in Sussex, La Scala in Milan, English National Opera in London, the Sydney Opera House and the Salzburg Festival. His original works for stage combine performance, projections, shadow play, voice and music, and include the Refuse the Hour, The Head & the Load, Waiting for the Sibyl and The Great Yes, The Great No.
Atif Choudhury
An award-winning social entrepreneur, Atif Choudhury will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the College of Social Sciences for his substantial contribution to social enterprise and development.
Atif’s work has helped shape national and international thinking on disability, neurodiversity and social justice. A second-generation Bengali, he grew up on Thamesmead, London's largest council estate, during the 1970s. Atif is dyslexic and has ADHD, and his lived experience has shaped more than three decades of work designing fairer, more inclusive systems. Atif co-founded Zaytoun CIC 2004, the social enterprise behind the world's first Fairtrade Palestinian olive oil. He also serves as CEO of Calling All Minds, which has improved access to education, employment and public services for more than 100,000 people, while supporting over 200 organisations worldwide. Atif has also advised and delivered keynote talks for the United Nations, World Health Organization, NHS England, Disability Rights UK and War on Want, and was named in the Disability Power 100 list in 2025.
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi
Recognised for his impactful work in arts and culture, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi will be awarded with an Honorary Fellowship from the College of Humanities for his substantial contribution to social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf States.
Sultan is an Emirati columnist, researcher and leading authority on the Gulf’s social, political and cultural affairs. As the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation in 2010, he helped advance scholarships and public engagement for modern and contemporary Arab art. A prolific author and editor, he co-edited works such as “Building Sharjah” and “The Life and Work of Inji Efflatoun”. Sultan has taught Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art modules at institutions including Yale, Georgetown, Columbia, Bard College Berlin and the American University of Sharjah. Following a Fellowship at Berlin’s Wissenschaftskolleg in 2023 and a research appointment at SOAS, he is currently pursuing a Master of Studies in History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge.
Professor Justin Yifu Lin
A champion of economic transformation in the Global South, Professor Justin Yifu Lin will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Social Sciences in recognition of his substantial contribution to development studies.
Professor Lin is a leading development economist who has significantly impacted research and shaped policymaking and practice in China. His work has advanced China’s economic development and played a transformative role in the economic progress of developing countries, particularly in the Global South, including Asia and Africa. As the former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group, Professor Lin has provided invaluable insights and leadership in shaping global economic policy and fostering sustainable development worldwide. Based at Peking University, he founded its renowned China Centre for Economic Research and in 2008, became the first economist from a developing country to serve as Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank. Having advised governments and international institutions worldwide, he is also a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, a corresponding fellow of the British Academy, and author of more than 300 academic papers and several landmark works including “The China Miracle”, “Demystifying the Chinese Economy and “New Structural Economics”.
Fadi Ghandour
An eternal entrepreneur driven by impact, Fadi Ghandour will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Social Sciences for their substantial contribution to activism, civic engagement, education and financial inclusion.
Fadi built one of the world’s leading logistics companies, Aramex, which became the first Arab business to list on Nasdaq. Throughout his tenure, Fadi ensured that social impact remained a foundational pillar of Aramex’s culture. After 30 years, Fadi stepped down as CEO and redirected his energy toward a new chapter of entrepreneurship. He founded several investment platforms focused on angel and early-stage technology ventures led by a new generation of innovators. His portfolio expanded into philanthropic impact investing, supporting social entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs across the wider Arab region. His passion for social change led him to establish Ruwwad Al Tanmiyah in 2005, a community development and youth-education platform operating in Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon, which he continues to chair today. Ruwwad builds community centers in marginalised neighborhoods, empowering local youth to co-create solutions to the challenges their communities face.
Alex Michie
A public servant, former central banker, and a leading figure in international climate finance, Alex Michie will be awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the College of Social Sciences in recognition of his substantial contribution to net zero, climate goals and sustainability.
Alex is the founding CEO of the Global Capacity Building Coalition (GCBC) and leads an unprecedented partnership of institutions that fund and deliver technical assistance on sustainable finance - including the UN, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, philanthropies, and private financial institutions. Under his leadership, the GCBC works to scale and improve capacity building on sustainable finance across emerging markets and developing economies. Alex was also the founding Head of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), launched with the founding Chair Mark Carney as a flagship deliverable of the UK's COP26 Presidency while at HM Treasury. GFANZ mobilised the global financial system to commit to financing the transition to net zero. Before founding these organisations, Alex spent a decade at the Bank of England and worked as a macroeconomic advisor in the Ministry of Finance in South Sudan.
Above image of the 2026 honoraries: (from top left to bottom right) Atif Choudhury, William Kentridge, Professor Justin Yifu Lin, Fadi Ghandour, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, Baroness Catherine Ashton, Dr Nitin Sawhney CBE and Alex Michie.
