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Three members of the Newcastle community have beenrecognised in the latest Queens Honours List.

An MBE has set to be awarded to Julia Catherine Bridgewater, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Group Chief Operating OfficeratManchester University NHS Foundation Trust, for services to the NHS, particularly during Covid-19; an MBE to Karl Humphries, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, of Get Hooked on Fishing, for services to Education; and an MBE for Clifford John Thornton Stott, of Keele, Professor of Social Psychology at KeeleUniversity, for services to Crowd Psychology and theCovid-19 response.

In her background information, as provided by Staffordshire County Council, it statesthat

JuliaBridgewater is ahighly-respected NHS leader with over 36 years’ service, who is responsible for the day to day operation of a£1.8 billion turnover Trust which employs23,000 staff across ten hospitals and community services. She managed the Trust’s response to theManchester Arena bomb and delivered the largest ever NHS Trust merger that created MFT and anew era of healthcare for the people of Manchester and Trafford. In each case, her meticulous planning, collaborative approach and personal commitment over many weeks and months guaranteed success. From day one of the merger, she ensured all services functioned at the optimal level and immediately started to deliver patient benefits such as faster access to treatment, shorter hospital stays and increased clinical capacity. Her contribution to the planning and oversight of MFT’s pandemic response was fundamental to ensuring hospital and community services across Manchester and Trafford delivered exceptional care. Her experience and foresight influencedthe MFT Board to start transforming services two weeks before the increase in demand predicted by the scientific data. This head-start enabled the Trust to rapidly re-skill staff for safe re-deployment to critical care units, train back office staff for frontline roles and transfer other colleagues to key support functions. Julia also played amajor role in the rapid commissioning of the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, ensuring patients from across theNWregion quickly benefited from its substantial resources and expertise. She ensured MFT had robust PPE supplies and ‘mutual aid transfers’ of PPE across Greater Manchester to help otherTrusts. In response to an urgent national request for six additional ECMO beds she found the resources to establish and staff them. This response saved many lives. She also made amajor contribution to the regional and national pandemic management strategy. Her current challenge is to lead MFT’s massive Covid-19 recovery programme, restoring planned care but also encouraging teams to adopt and adapt thenew ways of workinglearned during the pandemic to provide even better care for patients.

Meanwhile, in his background, again provided by the county council, Clifford Stott is aworld-leading expert on crowd psychology, 'riots', 'hooliganism' and policing. His research has had high-level impact nationally and internationally, informing policy, guidance and practice in the management of crowds for arange of organisations. With colleagues Cliff developed amodel of crowd conflict which is now widely viewed as theleading psychological theory of its kind. His research showed that, far from being random and chaotic, riots are structured and driven by beliefs, and that crowds can be managed more effectively when police concentrate on enabling lawful behaviour such as protestsrather than on merely trying to control criminal behaviour with fear and force. Cliff was involved in the development of the policing approach for the 2004 UEFA European Championships. His research subsequently provided evidence that this approach contributed to the low levels of violence during the tournament. His work has informed arange of government and police organisations in the UK, including the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the College of Policing, the Metropolitan Police Service, Staffordshire, Sussex and West Yorkshire Police. In 2011hehelped design, develop, train and implement the UK's first Police Liaison Teams, which are designed to avoid conflict through dialogue. Internationally, his work has influenced policy and guidance on the policing of crowds of the European Council, the European Union,the USA and police forces in Sweden, Denmark and Australia. In February he joined the Independent Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B). His contributions to the Government’s understanding of the social and behavioural impacts of the application and enforcement of national and local lockdowns, social distancing, guidance around masks, travel bans, protest movements, and more, led to the creation of the Policing and Security (P&S) subgroup of SPI-B, which he co-chairs.