Queen Margaret awards its first honorary degrees as a university at July ceremony

Edinburgh July 20076: An actor, a social entrepreneur and a leading educationalist will be the recipients of the first honorary degrees to be conferred by Queen Margaret University (QMU) at its summer graduation ceremony.

On Friday 6 July 2007 at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh QMU’s founding chancellor, Sir Tom Farmer, will confer honorary doctorates on the Scottish born star of stage and screen, Brian Cox (D.Litt.); Dr Janet Lowe, former Principal of Lauder College, Dunfermline (D.Ed.), and Mel Young (D.Univ.), co-founder of the Big Issue and the Homeless World Cup.

The internationally acclaimed actor Brian Cox was born in Dundee, and began his acting career at 14 with the local Dundee Repertory Theatre. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1967, he made his first TV appearance as an extra in several episodes of The Prisoner, before going on to star in many TV dramas and concentrate on his stage career. His first film role was as Lenin in Nicholas and Alexandra; Rob Roy and Braveheart brought him Hollywood fame; and films such as The Ring, X2, Troy and The Bourne Supremacy and most recently The Flying Scotsman have brought critical acclaim, but perhaps his most famous role was his chilling portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter. He won an Emmy for his portrayal Hermann Goering in the TV mini-series, Nuremburg. A diabetic, he has worked to promote a diabetes research facility in Dundee, and is also patron of the city’s training facility for actors and dancers, The Space. He was awarded a CBE in 2002.

Dr Janet Lowe’s thirty-year career in further and higher education spanned posts at the University of Hull, Napier University and Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art, and culminated with ten years at the helm of Lauder College. She is currently a member of the Scottish Funding Council and a member of the Court of the University of Dundee. Previous public service roles have included membership of the Garrick Committee, the Court of Heriot-WattUniversity, and the boards of both the Scottish Further Education Unit and Scottish Enterprise. She was also a member of the independent Local Government Finance Review which reported to Scottish Ministers in 2006. She received the CBE in 2003 for services to further education.

In 1993, Mel Young and his co-founder, Tricia Hughes, launched the phenomenally successful Big Issue magazine, with its sharp focus on homelessness in Scotland and the rest of the UK. He is currently editor-in-chief of NewConsumer, the UK’s only Fair Trade magazine. Recognising the massive potential of football to raise the issue of homelessness on a global scale, he co-founded the Homeless World Cup in 2003. He is also co-founder of Senscot, the Social Entrepreneurs Network Scotland. In 2002, he was one of 40 social entrepreneurs from around the world who were marked as outstanding by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.