Honorary degree recipients for 2026 announced

At the Encaenia ceremony on 24 June 2026, degrees will be awarded to Dame Jacinda Ardern GNZM, Professor Daron Acemoğlu, Carlos Acosta CBE, Adjoa Andoh MBE, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, Professor Katalin Karikó, Billie Jean King, Professor Shuji Nakamura FREng and Dame Emma Walmsley DBE.

Ticket registration is now open for staff, members of Congregation, students, Oxford University alumni, retired members of Congregation and academic visitors. We are sorry that tickets to the ceremony are not available to members of the public.

Dame Jacinda Ardern GNZM 

The Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern GNZM served as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand (2017-2023). In 2023 she was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the State. As Prime Minister she faced unprecedented challenges, including a live streamed terror attack on two Christchurch mosques, a volcanic eruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Dame Jacinda remains a Patron for the Christchurch Call Foundation, which works to eliminate terrorist and extremist content online. She is a trustee of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize and the Founder of ‘Field’, a fellowship programme for empathetic leaders. In 2025, she joined Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government as a Distinguished Fellow and member of the World Leaders Circle. In 2025 she released her memoir A Different Kind of Power.

Professor Daron Acemoğlu 

Professor Daron Acemoğlu is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Faculty Co-Director of the Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. A leading economist, he is renowned for his work on how political and economic institutions shape prosperity and in 2024, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson. Born in Istanbul, he studied at the University of York and the LSE before joining MIT in 1993. He has authored influential books including Why Nations Fail and Power and Progress and is a fellow of multiple national and international bodies.  

Carlos Acosta CBE 

Carlos Acosta CBE is an internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director, a former Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet. Born in Havana in 1973, he trained at Cuba’s National Ballet School before performing internationally with companies including Houston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Paris Opera Ballet. He joined The Royal Ballet in 1998, becoming a Principal Guest Artist in 2003. In 2020 he became Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. He is also Founder and Director of the Cuban contemporary dance companies Acosta Danza and Acosta Danza Yunior. He was awarded a CBE in 2014 and has received numerous prestigious honours, including the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Services to the Arts in 2019 and Outstanding Creative Contribution in 2023, as well as a Special Award recognising Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre Award at the UK Theatre Awards (2025). He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Birmingham in 2025.  

Adjoa Andoh MBE

Adjoa Andoh MBE is a British actress and director whose career spans stage, screen and radio. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2025 for services to drama and is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her stage work includes leading roles at the National Theatre and the RSC, and she has co-directed groundbreaking productions including an all-women-of-colour production of Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe. On television, she plays Lady Danbury in Bridgerton and has appeared in Doctor Who, Casualty, Silent Witness and Law & Order UK. She has also worked extensively in BBC radio and audiobook narration.

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr 

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, as well as an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and literary scholar. He has written widely on Black history and created acclaimed documentaries, including the long-running PBS series Finding Your Roots and a host of films on Black history, including Black in Latin America, Africa’s Great Civilizations, and Great Migrations. Raised in West Virginia, he studied at Yale and the University of Cambridge and was a member of the inaugural class of MacArthur Fellows. Professor Gates has received numerous honours, including the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal (2024). In 1998, he became the first African American scholar to receive the National Humanities Medal.  

Professor Katalin Karikó

Professor Katalin Karikó is a biochemist whose research focuses on RNA-mediated mechanisms and the therapeutic use of in vitro-transcribed mRNA. She was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries enabling nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines. A former Senior Vice-President of BioNTech SE, she holds academic posts at the University of Szeged and the University of Pennsylvania. Her work on RNA immunogenicity underpins mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines and has transformed prospects for vaccines and protein-replacement therapies. She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a co-inventor on multiple patents relating to mRNA technology.  

Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King is widely recognised as a trailblazer in women’s sports. A former world No. 1 tennis player, she won 39 Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles, including 20 Wimbledon championships. In 1973, she defeated Bobby Riggs in the 'Battle of the Sexes' and founded the Women’s Tennis Association, establishing a unified professional tour for women. She later founded the Women’s Sports Foundation to support opportunities for girls and women in sport. Her honours include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and the French Legion of Honour.  

Professor Shuji Nakamura FREng

Professor Shuji Nakamura FREng is an engineer known for developing the high-brightness blue light-emitting diode (LED), for which he was jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics. His work on gallium nitride semiconductors enabled efficient blue LEDs and contributed to the development of white LED lighting, optical storage and display technologies. He is Professor of Materials and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Co-Director of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center. He previously worked at Nichia Chemical Industries, where he developed the first commercially viable blue LED, and has co-founded several technology companies.  

Dame Emma Walmsley DBE

Dame Emma Walmsley DBE served as GSK CEO for nine years, until December 2025, and is the first woman to lead a major global pharmaceutical company. Born in Cumbria, she has an MA in Classics and Modern languages from Christ Church, Oxford. After 17 years at L’Oréal in London, Paris, New York and Shanghai she joined GSK in 2010, initially leading the consumer business she later demerged as FTSE 25 Haleon. Prioritising R and D, she led a significant transformation in GSK’s strategy, performance and prospects with major advances in vaccines, HIV, respiratory and oncology medicines. A Microsoft board member, she has been business adviser to three UK Prime Ministers, topped Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International list and won multiple leadership awards.