Humanitarian and academic Professor Alison Phipps OBE, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow, has been awarded an honorary D.Litt from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Professor Phipps, who is Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies at the University, will also deliver the Commencement Speech at the fall convocation ceremony on Saturday, 21 October.

The University of Waterloo will bestow this accolade on Professor Phipps for exemplary societal impact and to celebrate her “vitally important work on with respect to refugees, spirituality, and intercultural education”.

Professor Phipps’s research and teaching focus on refugee studies, social justice, and intercultural education. She is renowned for her impressive contribution as an active supporter of refugee rights, and in 2012, received an OBE for Services to Education and Intercultural and Interreligious Relations in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

As co-founder of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network, Professor Phipps is also an Ambassador for Scottish Refugee Council. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Academy of Social Sciences, and a recipient of the Royal Philosophical Society’s Minerva Medal.

Professor Phipps said: “I am immensely touched by this honour and by the care colleagues have shown internationally, at the University of Waterloo, for the work for the restoration of rights to those who seek refuge. These are hard times for those with a well-founded fear of persecution and those who flee conflict and their allies. I know many who have sought refuge will take immense comfort from the knowledge that a University understands the role of intercultural education, and spirituality, in their care.”

An honorary doctorate is one of the highest recognitions of the University of Waterloo and is bestowed to honour individuals whose character and extraordinary intellect, creativity and service to society set a standard of excellence that merits this honour.

Dr Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, said: “These recipients and their achievements in their respective fields exemplify the kind of inspiration we hope to provide to our graduates and University community. As we celebrate their exemplary service, we are also honoured to welcome them to our illustrious honorary doctorates family.”

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First published: 21 October 2023

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