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Honorary Graduates

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Nominations

From literature to politics, to modern science and sport, Queen's has a long-standing history of recognising trailblazers and leaders from their respective fields, including:

Gary Neville
Sport
  • Carl Frampton, former professional boxer (2017)
  • Rory Best, former rugby union player (2018)
  • Jonathan Rea, motorcycle racer (2019)
  • Iain Henderson, rugby union player (2024)
  • Gary Neville, English commentator and football player (2025)
Seamus Heaney in black and white
LITERATURE
  • Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, winner of 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature (1982)
  • Brian Friel, Irish dramatist and Tony Award winner (1992)
  • Edna O’Brien, Irish writer (1999)
  • Hilary Mantel, English writer and first female to win the Booker Prize twice (2013)
  • Anna Burns, author and Booker Prize winner (2022)
Lisa McGee
The Arts and Media
  • Lisa McGee, playwright and screenwriter (2021)
  • Jamie Dornan, actor (2023)
  • Linda Ervine, language rights activist (2023)
  • Nisha Tandon OBE, founder of Belfast Mela (2023)
  • David Torrans, publisher and bookseller, owner of No Alibis (2023)
  • Noel Doran, editor of the Irish News 1999-2024 (2024)
  • Gail Walker, first woman editor of the Belfast Telegraph (2025)
Mary McAleese
Politics and law
  • Mary McAleese, the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s (1998)
  • Bronagh Hinds CBE, women's rights advocate (2021)
  • Dame Siobhan Keegan, Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland (2023)
  • The Honorable Barbara J. Stephenson, American diplomat and university official (2025)
Sarah Venning NI water 800x533
BUSINESS
  • Eugene Murtagh, Irish billionaire businessman, founder and chairman of Kingspan Group (2019)
  • Jane Brady, Head of the NI Civil Service (2019)
  • Norman Aplsey OBE, former Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Inc (2019)
  • Julie Sinnamon, former CEO of Enterprise Ireland (2021)
  • Sara Venning, CEO of NI Water (2023)
  • Sarah Friar, Chief financial officer of OpenAI (2024)
Desmond Archer
Modern medicine and science
  • Sir Allen McClay, businessman and philanthropist (1995)
  • Professor Frank Pantridge, inventor of the portable defibrillator (2001)
  • Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, award-winning physicist (2002)
  • Patrick G. Johnston, leading expert in cancer research (posthumous, 2017)
  • Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland (2022)
  • Professor Desmond Archer OBE, expert in ophthalmology (2025)