Will Hutton, author, journalist and Director of The Work Foundation will be honoured with the degree of Doctor of Laws at the 11.15am ceremony.

Will Hutton graduated from the University of Bristol in 1971 with a degree in Economics and Sociology. After working in the City for seven years as an investment analyst and Senior Account Executive, he studied for an MBA at Insead, the Business School at Fontainebleu.

In 1978, he began his career as a broadcaster and journalist with the BBC, working initially for Radio 4's The Financial World Tonight and Moneybox. In 1981, he made the transition to television, spending two years as producer and director of The Money Programme, and six as Economics Editor for Newsnight and as a reporter for Panorama. During this time, he covered such stories as the miners' strike, the potential privatisation of the telecommunications industry and the lack of effective regulation in the City. He then spent two years based in Switzerland as Editor in Chief of the European Business Channel.

In 1990, he became Economics Editor of The Guardian and in 1995, came back to Bristol as a Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor, delivering three stimulating lectures which coincided with the publication of his major book, The State We're In, an incisive analysis of the peculiarities of British capitalism and its social consequences. The book describes the emergence of the '30:30:40' society, with 30 per cent of the population suffering poverty and social exclusion, 30 per cent subject to insecure pay and conditions, and only 40 per cent in well-paid, stable, pensionable employment. It sold 250,000 copies and established Hutton as one of the most influential thinkers of our time. The paperback edition was the only work of sociology, politics, economics or social policy in the top 100 paperbacks of the year.

He worked as Economics Editor and Assistant Editor of The Guardian, and then as Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Observer until 1999. During this time, he produced three more books, The State to Come, The Stakeholding Society, and On the Edge (with Anthony Giddens).

In 2000, he became Chief Executive of the Industrial Society which was re-launched in 2002 as The Work Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit think-tank dedicated to improving productivity and the quality of working life in the UK.

He also chaired the Commission on Accountability in the National Health Service and has been involved in discussions about a possible constitution for the European Union. His most recent book, The World We're In, a defence of Britain's role in Europe, looks set to match the sales of The State We're In.

Father Edward Crouzet, author and Former Chaplain to Roman Catholic students at the University, and Jill White, Former Director of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, will be honoured with the degrees of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Music respectively at the 2.30pm ceremony.

Father Edward Crouzet is a Benedictine monk, a member of the community of Downside Abbey in Somerset.

Educated at Downside School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he read Modern and Mediaeval Languages, he returned to Downside as a novice in 1957, made his Solemn Profession in 1961 and was ordained priest in 1964. During this period he also spent four years studying theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Between 1964 and 1969 he taught theology and modern languages at Downside, and then became a member of the Worth Abbey Mission in the Apurimac Valley, Peru between 1969 and 1971. Here, in addition to pastoral work, he set up a trading co-operative which enabled local farmers to transport their produce out of this remote jungle area and market it in the larger centres of population, thereby gaining a fair price.

He returned to his Community at Downside in 1972, once again teaching in the school and running a 'house' of between 80 and 90 old boys.

In 1984, he took up temporary residence at the Catholic Chaplaincy here in Bristol and, after two terms as assistant to the previous Chaplain, became Catholic Chaplain at the University in 1985, offering support, guidance and a listening ear to students.

In 1993 Father Edward entered parish ministry in Bungay, Suffolk. During this time, he wrote a book about the priest, Michael Woodward who was tortured and died in custody shortly after the military coup in Chile in 1973. Blood on the Esmeralda (named after the prison ship on which Woodward was held) was published in 2001 to widespread critical acclaim, particularly in Latin America. Its contents have led to moves to bring those responsible for Woodward's death to trial.

Jill White's talent for singing was recognised at an early age. As a schoolgirl, she toured Scandinavia in Gluck's opera The Drunkard Reformed and then won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

After a further period of study in Vienna, she returned to London to work as an archivist at the BBC, sifting broadcasts and recordings for those that should be permanently preserved.

In 1975 she became a music producer at BBC Birmingham's Pebble Mill Studios. There she produced more than 2,000 programmes, including complete cycles of the songs of Brahms and the keyboard works of Haydn. She devised a series on cathedrals and their musical resources, produced broadcasts from the festivals of the Midlands and was involved in the beginnings of 'Young Musician of the Year'.

In 1986 she became the Senior BBC Music Producer for the South West, based in Bristol. In addition to her BBC duties, she instituted the course on radio and CD production at the Birmingham Conservatoire and joined the management committees of the Cheltenham and Bournemouth Festivals.

In 1992 she became Director of the National Youth Orchestra where her innovations included chamber music concerts embracing new works by young composers, more frequent broadcasts and commissions for world premières, and a series of regional open days aimed at raising the aspirations of young people who might not think of themselves as potential members of the orchestra.

She has been honoured by the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music, by the Birmingham Conservatoire, the Royal Society of Arts, the Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Polish Composers' Union. She is also a Freeman of the City of London.