Alumni Services

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for alumni and staff

A microplastics expert, a museum curator, an architect, a criminology professor and a science engager are among the graduates and staff named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2019.

Microplastics expert

Tamara Galloway

Professor Tamara Galloway has received an OBE for services to environmental science. The Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter is an expert in marine pollution and microplastics, and has predicted the latter’s impact on the marine food chain. Her work has been used as basis for UK law and government reports, and has been presented to the United Nations. She has also served as an advisor on Blue Planet II, and is both on the editorial board of Chemosphere and a member of the Science Advice for Policy by the European Academies group on microplastics in nature.

 It feels wonderful to have been appointed OBE. I’m passionate about protecting the environment and am constantly amazed at the global reception my research has had. I’m so proud and grateful to all the researchers in my team whose hard work has made this possible and feel privileged to have benefited from the great Scottish education that got me started.

Professor Tamara Galloway, OBE

Museum curator

Giuseppe Albano

Dr Giuseppe Albano has received an MBE for services to UK/Italy relations. He currently works as Curator and Director of the Keats-Shelley House museum in Rome where he works to encourage and facilitate Anglo-Italian cultural collaborations. He studied English literature at the University of Edinburgh, before undertaking postgraduate work, at York and then Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, where he wrote his doctoral thesis on Victorian pastoral poetry. He has previously worked in various arts institutions, including the British Museum, Wallace Collection and the Hawthornden International Writers’ Retreat, where he was librarian and archivist. 

Read Dr Giuseppe Albano's alumni profile

 I was excited and elated to receive an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2019 in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas list for Services to UK/Italy relations. The news came as such a lovely surprise, though I did as requested and kept it to myself until it was published. It's always an honour to be able to help preserve and promote the legacies of the British romantic poets in Italy, and to have the work I love doing recognised in this way has really touched me. The award also means a lot to me on a personal level, given my own Scots-Italian heritage, and it was Edinburgh University, where I studied English Literature as an undergraduate, that first instilled in me the love of the romantic poets that I carry to this day.

Dr Giuseppe Albano, MBE

Architect

Ptolemy Dean

Mr Ptolemy Dean has received an OBE for his services to heritage and design. The architect, author, television presenter and the 19th Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey specializes in historic preservation and designing new buildings while keeping with their historic or natural settings. He has worked for a number of Britain’s more traditionally influenced architects, serves on numerous advisory committees and now runs his own small practice, Ptolemy Dean Architects, in London.

It was a reminder of how very lucky I was to spend those years at that most liveable of cities.  Indeed returning to Edinburgh in the beautiful light of last autumn to celebrate my Father in Law’s 80th birthday (John Watkins - Edinburgh Univ. Dick Vet, c.1960-5) was a revelation.  We enjoyed a drink in the Teviot Student Union (waitresses no more), and an after-hours visit to the very much enlarged School of Architecture on Chambers St.  I have now received not one but two warm letters of congratulation from the Senior Lecturer and Principal at Edinburgh University – which has offered a very happy reconnection.

Mr Ptolemy Dean, OBE

Science engager

Jane Haley

Dr Jane Haley has received an MBE for services to scientific engagement and education. For 19 years she was a fundamental neuroscience researcher before she helped establish Edinburgh Neuroscience where she has worked as the Scientific Coordinator since its beginning. Here she has worked with researchers across the University to help create a neuroscience research environment that is both collaborative and exciting through public lectures, getBRAINY workshops for schools, science festivals and theatre and art co-productions.

I am both thrilled and honoured at this unexpected recognition for 'Services to Science Engagement and Education'. Edinburgh Neuroscience’s success over the past 13 years has not been down to the work of one individual but to the enthusiasm and support of all members of our rich and diverse neuroscience community. It is delight working with everyone!

Dr Jane Haley, MBE

Criminology professor

Michele Burman

Michele Burman is Professor of Criminology and Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. She is a double alumna of Edinburgh University, obtaining an MSc in Legal Studies (Criminology) in 1985 and a PhD in 1994. Professor Burman has specialist knowledge of and research expertise in gender, crime and justice, and her work makes significant contribution to policy and practice. She has received a CBE for services to criminology.

I am absolutely delighted, and very grateful to be honoured in this way. My passion for criminology was born at Edinburgh University. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to have continued to work with inspiring colleagues from Edinburgh and other Universities on a range of criminological research and policy engagement activities in the pursuit of social justice. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to do the work I do, and I especially wish to thank all of my criminological colleagues for their support and their commitment to the growth and vibrancy of criminology in Scotland.

Professor Michele Burman, CBE

Honoured alumni and staff

The Rt Hon Professor Charles Hendry, CBE 

Former Primer Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbajan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and former Commissioner for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2017, Kazakhstan. For serves to UK trade and investment. 

Professor Hector MacQueen, CBE 

Professor of private law, University of Edinburgh. For services to legal scholarship. 

Mr William Thomson, CBE 

Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. For services to the Scottish public sector. 

Mrs Lucy Juckes, CBE 

Chair, Barrington Stoke Publishing. For services to education and literacy. 

Dr Kathryn Wood, CBE 

Director of Science, Research and Evidence, Department of Health and Social Care. For services to health research. 

Professor Catherine Amos, OBE

Professor of Health Promotion, University of Edinburgh. For services to public health.

Dr Stephen Malcolm, OBE

Chief Environmental Science Adviser, Cefas. For services to the marine environment.

Professor Dorothy Miell, OBE

Vice-Principal and Head, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh. For services to higher education and psychology.

Dr Robert Thomson, OBE

Principal and Chief Executive, Forth Valley College. For services to education, economic development and the community across Forth Valley.

Mr David Wagstaff, OBE

Deputy Director, Euratom International Negotiations, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. For services to energy and climate change policy.

Professor Sarah Broadie, OBE

Professor of Moral Philosophy, Wardlaw Professor, St Andrews University. For services to classical philosophy.

Mr Richard Cornwallis, MBE

Former Secretary to the Council of Trustees, British International School, Jakarta, and former Honorary Legal Adviser to the British Embassy, Jakarta. For services to UK/Indonesia relations.

Mrs Catherine King, MBE

Principal Expert by Experience, Independent Review of the Mental Health Act. For services to mental health legislative reform.

Mrs Abbie Mckenna, MBE

Workforce Development Manager, Ulster University. For services to higher education and to deaf children.

Dr Marie Short, MBE

Trustee, Scottish Huntington’s Association and Coach, Grangemouth Synchronised Swimming Club. For services to charity.

Mrs Christine Sloan, MBE

Founder, Crathie Opportunity Holidays. For services to people with disabilities and to tourism.

Mr Alan Robertson, BEM

For voluntary service to Kingussie Camanachd Club.

Related links

Staff recognised in Queen’s birthday honours

Queen's New Year's Honours for alumni (January 2019)