Graduations return for three–year celebration

In July 2022, more than 5,000 students covering three academic years celebrated their achievements with their families and friends. During a three–week graduation festival, the University also bestowed 15 honorary degrees upon distinguished individuals who have made outstanding contributions to society.

For services to popular entertainment and contribution to learning through all media:

Tudur Owen is a household name in Wales and a BAFTA–winning comedian. He combines a typically browbeaten Welsh outlook with an upbeat and uplifting style. Tudur has a talent for attracting new audiences, in particular those people who would not normally watch or listen to Welsh language programmes, therefore broadening access to the Welsh language.

Hamza Yassin is a Sudanese–born wildlife cameraman, known for his work on the BBC’s Countryfile. He has a degree in Zoology with Conservation from Bangor University and has since forged a career in wildlife filmmaking taking inspiration from North Wales and Scotland.

For outstanding scholarship and innovation: For services to business and entrepreneurship:

Lord John Krebs FRS is an eminent zoologist. He graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford before holding posts at the University of British Columbia and University College of North Wales, Bangor. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984. He was Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council from 1994–1999 and knighted in 1999.

Simon Gibson CBE is chair of the Alacrity Graduate Entrepreneurship Foundation and Chief Executive of Wesley Clover Wales. He chairs several technology companies and is non–executive Director of Celtic Manor Resort. He has a long history of advising public bodies and is chair of the 5G advisory Panel of Wales and a Trustee of the Newbridge Charitable Foundation.

Nigel Short is a director of Penderyn Whisky who has served in several roles including Executive Chairman since its official launch in 2004. Nigel spent 25 years working in the steel industry and employed 1,500 people in six different countries undertaking sophisticated on–site logistics.

Dr Debbie Williams is co–founder of the price comparison website, confused. com. She has wide commercial experience incorporating leadership, e–commerce and mentoring, having held executive and non–executive positions at companies including Admiral Group, Tesco Bank and Ospreys Rugby. Debbie holds board level positions at Careers Wales, Principality Building Society and Democracy Commission of Wales.

For services to education:

Simon Thompson is Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute which partners with Bangor University in delivery of our Chartered Banker MBA, the only banking qualification in the world combining an MBA and Chartered Banker status. Simon launched a £1m scholarship fund – the 2025 Foundation – to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds entering the banking profession.

Jones

Sasha Arfon

For contribution to Welsh culture, language, music and the arts:

Menai Williams

has contributed to religious culture in Wales, primarily in producing an understandable and academically responsible text from the Welsh Bible that suits contemporary culture. A graduate of Bangor University, Arfon began to translate

, is a Welsh DJ and record producer. He is known for his live events and electronic music as a solo artist as well as collaborations as Sasha & John Digweed. He was voted World No. 1 DJ in a poll conducted by DJ Magazine and is a four–time International Dance Music Awards winner and Grammy Award nominee.

Menai Williams is one of Wales’s foremost music adjudicators, tutors and composers and a Bangor University graduate. She has been a harpist and adjudicator at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol for over 40 years. Menai has composed a number of Cerdd Dant strains that are used at Welsh national events.

For public service, including health:

The Rt. Hon Robert Buckland QC was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from 2019 – 2021 and Secretary State for Wales in 2022. Born in Llanelli in 1968, he attended the Inns of Court School of Law where he was a prize winner for Advocacy.

Dr Rebecca Heaton graduated with a first–class Forestry degree from Bangor University in 1993 and went on to complete a PhD on the growing and economics of energy crops at Cardiff University in 2000, followed by post–doctoral research that contributed to the UK’s input to the landmark Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is a leader in our response to the climate crisis.

Zaha Waheed graduated with a BSc in Marine Biology and Oceanography from Bangor University in 1996. She is a Minister at the President’s Office in the Maldives. She has made invaluable contributions to the Maldives in fisheries, marine sciences and disaster management, including establishing a national platform for disaster risk reduction and enhancing community–based disaster risk management programmes.

Ruby Wax OBE an acclaimed American–British actress, comedian, writer, television personality and mental health campaigner has research and teaching links with Bangor University’s School of Human and Behavioural Sciences and, in particular, with the University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice.

For sporting achievement:

Rachel Taylor is the performance coach for Sale Sharks Rugby Club. She is the only player to have captained both 7’s and 15’s Welsh international sides and played for every region as well in three World Cups. Capped 67 times for Wales, Rachel is an inspirational female sports person and ambassador for women’s rugby.

100 years of making music at Bangor

During 2021–22, the University celebrated 100 years since ET Davies became the first full–time Director of Music. Celebrations included concerts, performances, masterclasses and talks – paying tribute to the great tradition of music–making at Bangor.

A special microsite was created as part of the main website to share the University’s musical history, memories from alumni and events. Talent from Bangor University’s Department of Music, Drama and Performance was showcased at concerts from the University Symphony Orchestra and the University Chorus with special guests, incorporating music composed between 1921–2022 into the repertoire.

The Prichard–Jones Hall was full to the brim in April 2022 for the celebration concert. Some alumni had travelled to Bangor especially to join the orchestra and chorus along with current students, staff and members of the community. A movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 was presented by the conductor and Director of University Music, Gwyn L Williams, and the University orchestra as ‘a musical symbol of energy and defiance to the embattled people of the Ukraine’.

A presentation was made to John Hywel, former lecturer and Head of the Music department for his outstanding contribution to University music. He then surprised the audience by conducting the Ave verum corpus by Mozart.

Music 100 celebrations continued at the National Eisteddfod with a programme of events to commemorate the anniversary. Honorary degree recipient Menai Williams joined Dr Guto Puw to discuss her life in music and Stephen Rees, lecturer in musicology hosted a panel discussion on the future of music education. Eisteddfod–goers were also treated to performances from harpist Gwenan Gibbard and singer and musician Osian Huw Williams, both Bangor alumni who have made a huge contribution to Welsh music.