Three academics at Bristol University have been honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Joe McGeehan, Professor of Communications Engineering and Director of the Centre of Communications Research at the University of Bristol, has been awarded a CBE.
Professor McGeehan said: “I am very honoured to receive this award in recognition of the strategic importance of the link between industry and Higher Education in the field of mobile communications.
“I am very privileged to be both Director of the internationally recognised Centre for Communications Research at the University and Managing Director of the Toshiba Research Europe Ltd, Telecommunications Research Laboratory. At a time of rapid change and development in the mobile communications field I have been extremely fortunate to have made a contribution in a number of key research areas.
“In this respect, I have been supported by many talented individuals without whose help such advances would have not have been possible.”
Dr Vincent Smith, Reader in Physics at the University of Bristol, has been awarded an MBE.
Dr Smith said: “I am delighted by this award. One of the prime objectives of the Institute of Physics is to raise the profile of physics and encourage young people to consider physics as a career. I have been active for many years in the SW Branch of the Institute, and am currently Branch Chair. In the branch we promote physics in local schools and colleges, assist teachers and students by offering talks on various aspects of the applications of physics and arrange meetings and exhibitions where professional physicists can share advances in their work.
“Together with colleagues in the University’s Physics Department, and with the support of the University's Public Programmes Office, we also try to spread the word to members of the public that physics is intensely interesting and exciting. It is possible to explain relativity and to share the wonder of the world of Quarks and Leptons, and I am pleased to have helped in this endeavour.
“Many good friends in the Institute of Physics, the University and elsewhere do these things too. I hope this award will be seen as a recognition of the value of promoting physics and I wish to thank my colleagues who have helped over the years.”
Linda Ward, Professor of Disability and Social Policy and Director of the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol, has been awarded an OBE.
Professor Ward, commenting on her award, said: “I am really appreciative of this recognition of the importance of improving the life chances and circumstances of disabled children and adults and their families.
“I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to contribute to positive changes in this area in my 15 years as an adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. I’m also privileged to be Director of an enormously talented and experienced team at the University’s Norah Fry Research Centre, and to have had the opportunity to work alongside the disability community and other allies in the quest to recognise, and maximise, the positive contribution of disabled people to our society and the need to reduce the barriers to their full participation in it.”