Honorary Graduate Profiles

An honorary degree is the highest accolade that the University can bestow on an individual - recognising the outstanding achievement and distinction in areas which are in accord with the mission of the University and which reflect our ambitions and values.

Heriot-Watt University awards four different Honorary Degrees, each an Honorary Doctorate:

• Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University (DUniv)
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt)
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (DSc)
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering (DEng)

Read about some of our amazing Honorary Graduates below and learn how have they have excelled in their fields.

• Annemiek Hoogenboom
• Charles Hay
• Dame Frances Cairncross
• Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia
• Dato' Yeoh Seok Kian: Managing Director, YTL Corporation Berhad
• Dr Alice Thompson
• Dr Chehrzad Shakiban
• Dr Colin Allen
• Dr Douglas Stuart
• Dr Gillian E Pickup
• Dr Maureen McKenna
• Dr Neil Tocher
• Dr Robert Pieraccini: Director of Engineering for the Google Assistant in Zurich
• Dr Robin Watson
• Dr Shonaig Macpherson: Chair of the Robertson Trust
• Dr Steven Cooper: Chief Executive Officer of C. Hoare & Co. the UK's oldest and most prestigious Private Bank
• Dr Tony Strachan: Former Deputy Chair of Heriot-Watt University
• Dr Victor De Lima
• Dr William Lumsden: Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation and Whisky Stocks, Glenmorangie Company
• Emeritus Professor Oliver Penrose
• Gregor Townsend
• Her Highness Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan
• His Excellency Dr Abdullah Bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi
• James Michael Shaw
• John Robertson Wright
• Mr Emad Azmy: President of Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC)
• Mr Hakainde Hichilema: President of the Republic of Zambia
• Mr Patrick J. Grant: Creative Director, Norton & Sons and E.Tautz
• Mr Paul Rennie: Director for Diplomacy and Networks at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Mr Peter Gerard Schunemann: Researcher in developing mid-infrared nonlinear optical crystals
• Mr Saif Humaid Al Falasi: Chairman of Gulf Energy Maritime
• Mrs Alison Watson: Founder and Chief Executive of social business Class Of Your Own
• Mrs Elizabeth Rio Watt: Former Governor and Heriot-Watt University Court Member
• Professor Alex Balfour: Pioneering Mathematics and Computer Science Academic
• Professor Anne Neville, RAEng: Chair in Emerging Technologies and Professor of Tribology and Surface Engineering,University of Leeds
• Professor David Teece: Chairman and Principal Executive Officer at Berkeley Research Group
• Professor Dr Tilman Esslinger
• Professor Dr Ursula Keller: Tenured Professor of Physics at ETH Zurich
• Professor Dr-Ing Rainer Helmig
• Professor George Stewart: Reservoir Engineering Expert and Founder R G Stewart Consulting Ltd
• Professor Jerry Lloyd Bona
• Professor Lyesse Laloui
• Professor Maria J. Esteban: President of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
• Professor Onno J. Boxma: Professor of Stochastic Operations Research, Eindhoven University of Technology
• Professor Sir John McCanny: Regius Professor (Emeritus) of Electronics and Computer Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast
• Sir Bob Reid (1 May 1934 – 28 May 2025): Board of Directors of Diligenta Limited, Belltree Group UK and EEA Helicopter Operations
• Sir Ian Lamont Boyd