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Honorary degrees awarded at the University of Bristol – Thursday 20 February

Mya-Rose Craig

Jasper Thompson

Luke Jerram

Press release issued: 20 February 2020

Today [20 February 2020], the University of Bristol is awarding honorary degrees to Mya-Rose Craig, Jasper Thompson and Luke Jerram.

Mya-Rose Craig, 17, today becomes the youngest Briton to receive an honorary degree. From Compton Martin near Bristol, Mya-Rose is being honoured for her activism and pioneering work, which includes campaigning for greater ethnic diversity in nature, conservation, environment and wildlife filmmaking.

The sixth-former, yet to sit her A-Levels, is British Bangladeshi and set-up Black2Nature, with the aim of giving Visible Minority Ethnic (VME) communities’ equal access to the natural environment, especially as their involvement in environmental action is ‘essential for saving our planet'.

Mya-Rose, who blogs as Birdgirl, is the youngest person in the world to see half of the world’s bird species – a passion which started at a young age and which has prompted an unprecedented love of nature.

Mya-Rose was nominated for the Doctor of Science honorary degree by Professor Rich Pancost, Head of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.

Jasper Thompson is awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, recognising his dedicated and innovative services to Bristol’s homeless community.

In 2017, after seeing first-hand some of the struggles of the homeless community, Jasper began handing out hot food and sleeping bags to the city’s homeless but felt that the problem of homelessness could be tackled with a housing-first solution.

He founded Help Bristol’s Homeless, a charity which converts shipping containers into micro-flats for the homeless community.

In just three years, Jasper has rapidly expanded the charity, raising more than £50,000 to relocate its headquarters to a new space not far from Bristol’s city centre, with over 20 shipping containers converted into micro flats, a shower block, a laundry, a kitchen and dining room and an office.

The site is also home to a converted double-decker bus, with 12 beds for single-stay nights, which has been used more than 4,300 times. It operates a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, and Jasper encourages residents to help on new projects, where they learn new skills and build their confidence.

Jasper was nominated for the honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Dr Penny Walters, a lecturer in Consumer Behaviour in the School of Management.

Luke Jerram, the internationally renowned artist famous for his contemporary live arts projects, was nominated for the Doctor of Letters honorary degree by Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost.

Luke, who hails from Bristol, specialises in large scale public artworks, which have been experienced by millions of people worldwide, including his famous ‘Museum of the Moon’ installation which saw him partner with NASA and BAFTA and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Dan Jones and his ‘Park and Slide’ project, in which he turned Bristol’s iconic Park Street into a giant water slide for one day.

Since 2008 his celebrated street pianos installation ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ has been presented in over 60 cities, including Bristol, and has been enjoyed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

The project triggered a global movement of pianos being installed in public places across the world by organisations and individuals, for people to play. 

Luke’s honorary degree follows on from his 2018 collaboration with the University’s Bristol Vision Institute, which resulted in the ‘Impossible Garden’ exhibition at the University Botanical Garden; and ‘Gaia’, which was created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council, and hosted by the University’s Cabot Institute in 2019. Gaia was one of 117 exhibitions in 22 separate countries which he oversaw last year.

Further information

The official photographs and speeches made at each ceremony are available to the media on request from the University's Media Team. Please email becky.davy@bristol.ac.uk.

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