Leading lights celebrated in King’s Birthday Honours

Each year, the Honours celebrate those who have contributed significantly to public life and their communities and delivered positive change to benefit others.

People from a wide range of fields have been recognised, including the arts, charity, community work, science and public service.

Professor Andrew Morris received a knighthood for his services to medical sciences, public health, and patient care, while Professor Sheila Bird was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to statistics.

Paul Nisbet, Joint Coordinator of  CALL Scotland (Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning) based in the Moray House School of Education and Sport, was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

A former secretary of the University’s General Council and Deputy Keeper of the National Library of Scotland, Dr Ann Matheson was made a CBE for services to literature and culture.

Elsewhere, Professor Bruce Whitelaw was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to bioscience and Professor Andrew Elder was made an OBE for services to medicine and to medical education.

Distinguished career

Andrew Morris is Professor of Medicine and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University. In 2018 he was appointed as Director of Health Data Research UK, the national institute for health data science and in 2024 was elected as President of the Academy of Medical Sciences.  

His esteemed award recognises his UK-wide leadership of research and training to accelerate the ethical use of health data to improve the lives of patients and their families, including in dementia, cardiovascular disease and health inequalities. 

The honour citation also notes his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in providing advice and enabling vital research on the novel coronavirus during a time of national crisis, serving as Chair of the Scottish Government Chief Medical Officer’s COVID-19 Advisory Group and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). 

He has an outstanding track record of clinical academic achievement and is internationally recognised as a leader in the fields of informatics, diabetes and genetics. 

Outstanding contribution

Professor Sheila Bird OBE, is an Honorary Professor at the University’s College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and former programme leader at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge.

Professor Bird has made outstanding contributions to the field of statistics, particularly in public health and social sciences, including leading the MRC Biostatistical Initiative in support of AIDS/HIV studies in Scotland.

She has transformed the use of statistical method in public policies ranging from transplantation through epidemics to prisoners’ health. Her work on the misuse of statistics has led to the development of statistical guidelines for medical journals and reshaped the quality of articles in medical journals.  

Service to education

Paul Nisbet, who retired last year after working at the University for 42 years, latterly as Director at CALL Scotland, was recognised for his service to Education and his work developing assistive technology at the University.

The prestigious King’s honour recognises his work at the innovative centre CALL – one of the very first research units investigating assistive technology for people with disabilities or additional support needs – where he has helped to make a difference to the educational lives of many children and young people throughout Scotland.

Champion of literature

Dr Ann Matheson, who for eight years held the position of Secretary of the University’s General Council – part of the University’s formal governance structure – is a champion of Gaelic and Scots and an expert in the field of librarianship, authoring and editing books and articles.

Her CBE award is in recognition of her distinguished career and support of Scotland’s literature and languages over the last 60 years, through her senior positions at the National Library of Scotland and other voluntary and charity roles.

Recognition for biosciences

Professor Bruce Whitelaw worked at the Roslin Institute, a strategically funded BBSRC Institute embedded in the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, for almost four decades, and has held a personal chair in Animal Biotechnology since 2010.

He was interim and then full Director of the Roslin Institute from 2020 until his retirement in 2025. 

Professor Whitelaw is considered a pioneer in gene editing – making alterations to an organism’s genetic code. His career has focused on the development and application of gene activity in genetically engineered farmed animals. 

His research has developed novel ways to tackle infectious disease in animals, evaluate new ways to study potential treatments of human disease, and enhance protein production in animals.

Advancing medical education

Consultant physician Professor Andrew Elder was educated at Edinburgh Medical School and in 2015 was appointed as an Honorary Professor. 

He is a specialist in acute medicine for older people and a highly regarded expert in the teaching and assessment of clinical skills, with his expertise spanning over twenty countries in the past ten years. 

He has championed the profession through a number of visiting professorships and senior roles including as Medical Director of MRCP(UK) – the world’s largest postgraduate medical examination – and latterly President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.