A number of Westminster academics, alumni and supporters have been recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list 2022 for their achievements and services to their respective industries.
Along with the Birthday Honours, the New Year Honours list is the most significant announcement of civilian and military gallantry awards. The recipients have improved the lives of others or are outstanding in what they do in some way.
Professor Clare Twomey, Research Fellow from the School of Arts, has been awarded an MBE for services to art. Professor Twomey is a London-based visual artist with a specific interest in clay, working in performance, serial production and site-specific installation. Over the span of her career, she has exhibited at major museums and attractions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate, Crafts Council, the Eden Project and the Royal Academy of Arts. She is currently exhibiting her vast sculpture ‘Monument’ at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in the exhibition ‘The Flames’.
Professor Twomey’s research at the University of Westminster in the area of applied arts includes a variety of avenues such as writing, curating and making. She has also developed work which expands the applied arts field’s knowledge of larger scale installation work.
Talking about her award, Professor Clare Twomey said: “It an honour to receive the award of MBE for services to art. This recognition is an indication of how important art can be to society and it recognises its impact. I am grateful to have been welcomed and encouraged to be pioneering in my practice as an artist and researcher at the University of Westminster. I have deep thanks to the curators, museums, galleries and publics who have supported my work. The Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM) has been a vital support to my work and that of the Ceramics Research Centre that I chair.”
A number of alumni have also been mentioned in the 2022 New Year Honours list including Katherine Lyndsay Mavor who achieved her Marketing Diploma at Westminster’s predecessor in 1987 and was awarded a CBE for her services to Heritage. Mavor is the Chief Executive of English Heritage Trust, and was previously CEO of Project Scotland until 2009 and CEO of National Trust for Scotland from 2009 until 2015.
Sir Trevor Phillips, who received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Westminster in 1999, received a knighthood in this year’s New Year Honours for services to equality and human rights. Philips is a British writer, broadcaster, and politician. He has presented for his own show ‘Trevor Phillips on Sunday’, a Sunday morning talk show on Sky News where he interviews a range of high-profile guests on some of the biggest news stories of the week.
Sir Trevor Phillips said: “It is a privilege to have made a contribution to the understanding of COVID and to have the value of data science in tackling inequality recognised in this way. I am grateful to my friends and colleagues at Webber Phillips, particularly my co-founder Richard Webber; and to Raj Tulsiani and the team at Green Park for their support in this work.
“The past two years should have taught us all that the diversity of our people is both a benefit and a responsibility. We should respect difference but also remember that we are at our best when we face our challenges as a single nation.”
Supporters of the University including Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, both of whom are supporters of the University’s iconic Regent Street Cinema, were both awarded a CBE for their “services to film, to drama, to philanthropy and to skills”. The duo produced No Time to Die, which is currently the third most successful film of all time in the UK.
Famous names on the list this year also included actors Daniel Craig, Joanna Lumley and Vanessa Redgrave, Olympic diver Tom Daley and Spice Girls singer Mel B.
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