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WATCH: University marks its Foundation Day

10 Oct 2018

Scientist and businessman, Dr Gerald Chan will deliver the University’s prestigious annual Foundation Day lecture today

Foundation Day

Along with scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and CNR Rao, architect Rachel Haugh and actor Sarah Lancashire, Dr Chan will also be awarded with an honorary degree. 

Dr Chan will talk about ‘Biotechnology and the Conflation of Science, Business and Ethics’ for his speech, the centrepiece of Foundation Day, which the University holds each year to mark the bringing together of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 2004.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: "This year's five honorary graduates share with the University a fundamental commitment to improving lives through science, medicine, industry, the built environment and the creative arts.

"Foundation Day marks an important annual milestone in our history and highlights our identity as a global institution anchored in the city of Manchester. We are delighted to award these honorary doctorates to such inspirational individuals on this special day."

Honorary doctorates will be awarded to the following:

  • Dr Gerald Chan is the co-founder of Morningside, a private investment group with venture capital, private equity and property investments. He has led the start-up of many biotechnology companies, enabling pioneering technologies in oncology, infectious disease and many other areas.
  • Widely recognised for her innovative research that laid the foundation for the ground-breaking CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering technology, Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier is founding and Acting Director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology and Honorary Professor at Humboldt University, Berlin.
  • After graduating from the University of Bath, architect Rachel Haugh returned to the northwest, co-founding SimpsonHaugh in 1987. Having spearheaded the masterplan for the rebuilding of the city centre after the 1996 IRA bomb, notable Manchester projects include Urbis (The National Football Museum), No 1 Deansgate, Beetham Hilton Tower, the Town Hall Extension, Two St Peter’s Square and No 1 Spinningfields.
  • Sarah Lancashire was born in Manchester and trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.   Sarah was awarded a Guildhall Fellowship in 2010. She has received numerous industry awards both here and abroad in recognition of her work across television, theatre and film.  Her 33 year career has taken her from the Library Theatre in Manchester via the West End in London, along a certain cobbled ‘Street’ in Weatherfield and onto countless other dramatic landscapes.
  • Professor CNR Rao's research interests are mainly in the chemistry of materials. He obtained his PhD degree from Purdue University (1958) and DSc degree from the University of Mysore (1961). He is Linus Pauling Research Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Science (both at Bangalore).

You can watch the Foundation Day celebrations on our video.