Regent's University London's class of 2018 will graduate over two days on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 July at St Marylebone Parish, joining the family of over 19,500 Regent's alumni living and working in over 161 countries worldwide.
Joining the graduating students on the day will be 2018 Honorary Senior Fellows:
- Professor Vicky Pryce
- Dr Nicholas Bowen
- The Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC
- Professor Stephen Newstead
Professor Vicky Pryce
Vicky Pryce is chief economic adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). She was previously senior managing director at FTI Consulting, director general for economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and joint head of the UK Government Economic Service.
Prior to that she was partner at the accounting and consulting firm KPMG, following senior economic positions in banking and the oil sector. She holds a number of academic posts and is a fellow of the UK Academy for Social Sciences and of the Society of Professional Economists.
Professor Pryce sits on the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on the Advisory Board of the central banking think-tank OMFIF and on the Economic Advisory Group of the British Chambers of Commerce. Her books include Greekonomics: The Euro Crisis and Why Politicians Don't Get It, It's the Economy, Stupid – Economics for Voters, with Ross and Urwin, Redesigning Manufacturing, with Nielsen and Beverland, Prisonomics, and Why Women Need Quotas, with Stefan Stern.
She is also co-founder of GoodCorporation, a company set up to promote corporate social responsibility and is a freeman and liveryman of the City of London.
Dr Nicholas Bowen
Dr Nicholas Bowen was a longstanding member of the Regent’s family, who passed away on 17 September 2017. He is much missed by the many staff at the University who worked with him, the alumni of the BA (Hons) International Business, our international exchange partners and his friends and colleagues in many other fields.
Dr Bowen worked at Regent’s for more than 25 years. His enthusiasm for languages and internationalism made him the ideal person to lead the BA (Hons) International Business. Dr Bowen was absolutely devoted to creating the best experience for students, both while they were studying here and also helping them to develop their careers after graduating.
Dr Bowen retired from Regent’s a few years ago but stayed in contact, continuing to contribute in a number of ways. He authored a book about the history of the University, marking 100 years of higher education on the Regent’s Park campus. He represented Regent’s at meetings of the Ad Hoc Council across Europe and cultivated many fruitful relationships. He also maintained regular contact with alumni, meeting them on campus and around the world.
Nick Bowen was committed to language teaching and believed that acquiring additional languages helped people in many ways to develop their careers. He promoted languages in many ways throughout his career and was President of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
The University was pleased to be able to offer the award of Honorary Senior Fellow to Dr Bowen before he died, and he was very happy to accept. Regent’s has subsequently worked with his family and alumni to launch the Dr Nicholas Bowen Award for Excellence, which is given for outstanding performance on the BA (Hons) International Business.
The Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC
Malcolm Rifkind was born in Edinburgh in 1946. He was educated at George Watson’s College and Edinburgh University, where he studied law before taking a postgraduate degree in political science. From 1967 to 1968 he was an assistant lecturer at University College of Rhodesia in Salisbury (now Harare).
In 1970, he was called to the Bar in Scotland and practiced as an advocate until 1979. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1985. In 1974 Malcolm Rifkind was elected as MP for Pentlands and represented that constituency until 1997. He was appointed to the Front Bench in 1975, but resigned over devolution in 1977. In 1979, when the Conservatives were returned to power under Margaret Thatcher, he was appointed a parliamentary under-secretary of state, at first in the Scottish Office and then, at the time of the Falklands War, he was transferred to the Foreign and Commonwealth office, being promoted to minister of state in 1983.
Malcolm Rifkind became a member of the Cabinet in 1986 as Secretary of State for Scotland. In 1990 he became Secretary of State for Transport and in 1992 Secretary of State for Defence. From 1995-97 he was Foreign Secretary. He was one of only five ministers to serve for 18 years, throughout the prime ministerships of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major. This was the longest uninterrupted ministerial service in the United Kingdom since Lord Palmerston in the early 19th century. In 1997 he was knighted in recognition of his public service.
Sir Malcolm has served on the Court of Edinburgh University, was President of the Edinburgh University Development Trust and has been an Honorary Colonel in the Reserve Forces. He is a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard, the Royal Company of Archers. Sir Malcolm was re-elected as a Member of Parliament in May 2005 for Kensington and Chelsea. He was elected as MP for Kensington in May 2010 and remained in Parliament until 2015.
Sir Malcolm served as UK representative on the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group 2010-2011 and as chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, which provides oversight of the UK’s intelligence agencies, MI6, MI5 and GCHQ, from 2010 to 2015. He was a member of the OSCE’s Eminent Persons Group, which reported on relations between Russia and the West. He also serves on the Board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington DC.
He has been appointed a visiting professor at King’s College, London and is a senior associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). In 2017 he was invited by the British Government to become co-chairman of the Polish-British Belvedere Forum.
Professor Stephen Newstead
Stephen Newstead gained his first degree from the University of Oxford and his PhD from the University of Nottingham. He spent most of his career at the University of Plymouth, initially as a lecturer in psychology and subsequently as head of department, dean, deputy Vice Chancellor and acting Vice-Chancellor.
He is currently Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Plymouth. He has served as a member of several committees of the British Psychological Society, and was president of that organisation in the 1990s. He chaired the group that drew up the initial National Benchmark Statement for Psychology, has served on numerous Research Council committees, and was a member of the psychology panel for the Research Assessment Exercise (now the Research Excellence Framework) on two separate occasions.
Professor Newstead’s research interests include cognitive psychology (mainly thinking and reasoning) and the psychology of higher education (including academic dishonesty and biases in assessment). He retains a strong interest in education and since retiring has served as an academic consultant (mostly unpaid) to psychology programmes both in the UK and abroad.
He was a trustee at Regent’s University London for more than seven years, and currently holds a number of other trusteeships, including one at the Daphne Jackson Trust, a charity supporting scientific researchers returning to research careers following a career break.
