Laureation address: Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science
Laureation by Professor Garry Taylor, School of Biology
Friday 28 June 2019
Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow.
Julia Goodfellow is no stranger to degree ceremonies. In July 2017, after ten years as the first female Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Kent, she presided at her final graduation ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral. Twenty-two former honorary graduates of the University of Kent returned to help celebrate her retirement from a successful period in office. Dame Julia’s legacy is a flourishing, highly-rated university of 20,000 students that operates over two main UK campuses with additional centres in Brussels, Paris, Rome and Athens, leading to its strapline: The UK’s European University. Retirement is a misnomer though, as in 2018 Dame Julia was appointed Chair of Public Health England and President of the Royal Society of Biology. She is also in her eighth year as a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.
Julia graduated with a BSc in Physics from Bristol University, followed by a PhD in Biophysics from the Open University’s Oxford Research Unit. She was interdisciplinary long before that word became part of every university’s lexicon. Her research used computational methods to study the folding of proteins, the motion of DNA and helped define the critical importance of water molecules in macromolecular structure and biomolecular interactions. Following her PhD, she spent two years as a NATO Fellow at Stanford University, before joining the famous Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck College, London. At Birkbeck, her outstanding research, captured in over 120 publications and in the training of over 20 PhD students, saw Julia rise quickly up the academic ladder. Her obvious leadership skills led to her appointment as Chair of the Department in 1996, and as Vice-Master of Birkbeck two years later, positions she held until 2002 when she was appointed as Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (or BBSRC). She was the first woman to lead a UK research council.
During her five years at the BBSRC, Julia oversaw an annual budget of close to £400 million and led the sector in developing a post-genomics strategy, obtaining substantial funding from government for so-called systems biology: a more holistic view of biology than the traditional reductionist approach. She also radically changed the BBSRC’s research institutes, integrating them within universities.
And so, in 2007, to Kent, where as well as running the university, Julia served on many national bodies. She was the first female President of Universities UK and became a highly effective spokesperson for the higher education sector following the EU referendum in 2016. Her passion for making science an integral part of the nation’s culture is reflected in her appointment as Chair of the British Science Association, and as a trustee of the Institute for Research in Schools.
Julia has received many honours, including a CBE in 2001 and DBE in 2010, and is a Fellow of several national academies, including the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Chancellor, in recognition of her major contributions to science, health, academic leadership and for achieving several firsts for women, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, on Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow.
Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow's response
Well good morning everybody, soon to be good afternoon. Most honourable Chancellor, most honourable Principal. thank you and the whole University for this honour. I'm really, very, very, grateful. It is a real privilege. And thank you, Professor Taylor, Garry, who was also in the Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck College. Thank you for your very kind words. And it's amazing what you've done with my very dry CV, so thank you very much indeed. People have been talking, I know.
But obviously here today, we are here to celebrate you. I was going to call you graduands, but you're now graduates. To you and your families and friends, it is an honour to be with you. Today is about you, and it is great to be able to join in your celebration. As Garry said, I have been to a lot of graduation ceremonies, and they are wonderfully great occasions. So congratulations to you all.
Now, as an academic, I'm used to the 50-minute lecture, but today I have very strict instructions: two minutes. You have graduated from an ancient and great university, and nobody has said it yet, but congratulations on being second in the Guardian league tables. But of course, we don't believe in league tables, but nevermind.
You're a university which has put social responsibility at the heart of its current strategy, and that's absolutely wonderful. But the one message I wanted to say, one thing I want to ask you to do, is please remember the values of this institution and many UK universities as you go forth in your careers. And these values are the values of the Enlightenment: the importance of reason and logic, of learning and scholarship, of law and democracy, and the importance of tolerance. Please take these with you wherever you go, wherever you are in the world, whatever you're doing.
Congratulations again, and thank you all very much indeed.