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:
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)