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New Year's Honours 2019

Members of the University have been recognised in the New Year's Honours list for 2019.

Alexander Halliday FRS, Visiting Professor of Geochemistry at the Department of Earth Sciences and recently Head of Oxford’s Mathematical Physical and Life Sciences Division, is knighted for services to science and innovation.

Professor Richard Hobbs, Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and Director of the National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research, is appointed CBE for services to medical research.

Professor Jane Armitage, Professor of Clinical Trials and Epidemiology at the MRC Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford, is appointed OBE for services to medical research.

Professor Helen Margetts, Professor of Society and the Internet and lately Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, is appointed OBE for services to social and political science.

She is also a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College and a Turing Fellow and Director of the Public Policy Programme at the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. From 2011 to 2018, she was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute.
She said: ‘I am really excited to receive this honour that recognises the value of multi-disciplinary research for social science and vice versa. I have loved working with so many talented researchers from across the disciplines at the Oxford Internet Institute, the University of Oxford, LSE, UCL and beyond over the years - and now at the Alan Turing Institute. I believe passionately that a rich multi-disciplinary mix and new methodological approaches are needed to understand - and shape - society and politics in a digital world.’

Dr Kate Tiller DL, Reader Emerita in English Local History and Emeritus Fellow of the Faculty of History, is appointed OBE for services to local history.

Lucinda Rumsey, Senior Tutor at Mansfield College, is appointed MBE for services to widening participation in higher education. She said:'It is a great honour to be awarded the MBE for services to widening participation in Higher Education. I feel very lucky to be part of Mansfield College, an institution long committed to encouraging access: a large proportion of Mansfield students volunteer as access ambassadors, we have incredibly energetic and resourceful access and admissions staff, and our tutors and Principal act on their belief in the power of education in fostering social mobility. In the wider University I am hugely grateful for the generous and collaborative work of many colleagues towards our common aim of widening access to Oxford.'

Gill Aitken, Registrar of the University of Oxford, is appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath for services to Taxpayers and Social Mobility in her role as Director General, General Counsel and Solicitor, HM Revenue and Customs. She said: 'I am delighted to have been appointed as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the New Year’s Honours list. I was privileged to work in Whitehall for 25 years and am particularly pleased that the citation refers to my work on social mobility in the Civil Service and in education; widening participation is one of the University’s highest priorities and I am proud now to be working at Oxford which excels in giving transformative experiences to students regardless of their background.'

Dr Stephen Darlington, Emeritus Fellow at Christ Church, Oxford, is appointed MBE for services to music. Professor Darlington said: ‘It’s been a lovely surprise to get an honour for doing a job I have found so rewarding for all these years.’