Inspirational figures to be awarded Honorary Doctorates by University

The awards are in recognition of their outstanding achievements within their fields and their positive impact within society.

Joining more than 1200 students at the University’s graduation ceremonies taking place in September at Canterbury Cathedral will be BAFTA award winning actress Jessica Hynes, Kent and England cricketer Tammy Beaumont MBE, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, one of the most influential women in tech, BBC news presenter Ben Brown and the successful and influential business and NHS leader Cedi Frederick.

Professor Rama Thirunamachandran OBE DL, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Canterbury Christ Church University, said: “Our graduation ceremonies provide us with an opportunity to celebrate the remarkable success and hard work of our students, as well as to confer honorary awards to people who have achieved so much in their careers.

“We are delighted to welcome our new Honorary Doctorates to our University community; to recognise their successes, as well as their role as inspirational figures embodying our values and ambition to enrich our communities.”

Jessica Hynes

Jessica Hynes is an award-winning English actress, director and writer, committed to raising the importance of drama and arts within schools and communities.

Alongside creating and co-writing the cult television sitcom Spaced with Simon Pegg for which she won British Comedy Awards, she has also won BAFTAs for Best Female Comedy Performance for W1A and There She Goes, as well as a Northern Royal Television Society award for her role in Years and Years.

Jessica has also been nominated for many prestigious awards, including a Tony award winning play The Norman Conquests on Broadway and The Night Heron. Her other TV and film roles include The Royle Family, Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Paddington 2.

Jessica’s writing and directing credits include ‘he Fight, a Welsh BAFTA nominated feature film made in Kent, where she lives, and Up The Women about Suffragettes.

Tammy Beaumont MBE

Born and raised in Dover, Tammy is a world-class batter breaking records across the sport.

She made her debut for Kent in 2007 and was named as Kent Women Captain from 2017 to 2024. She made her debut for England in 2009 and in 2017 she was part of England's winning 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup team, where she became the leading run-scorer in the tournament and named player of the tournament. In 2018, she scored the first century in a Women's One Day International by an England cricketer in the Women's Ashes and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2019.

She is also one of only three women in history to score a century in all three international formats and holds the record for the highest individual score by an English woman in Test cricket (208), becoming the first to score a double century.

 

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon is recognised as one of the most influential women in tech.

Aged 11, she was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level computing, and was just 20 years old when she received her Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford.

She is the CEO and co-founder of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise working to engage, inform and connect the next generation of women and non-binary people into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths. Since its inception 11 years ago, it has engaged more than 65,000 young people across Europe supporting Anne-Marie’s vision for a more diverse and balanced science and tech community.

She was also the temporary Arithmetician for 60 episodes on Channel 4’s Countdown, the world’s longest-running game show.

Her first book She’s In CTRL was published in September 2022 and is a guidebook for women to take back tech.

Ben Brown

Ben Brown joined the BBC in 1988 and has reported on pivotal events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Rwanda genocide, 9/11and the Asian Tsunami. As an award-winning war correspondent, he has covered conflicts across the world and was embedded with British troops when they invaded Iraq in 2003.

He is now a presenter on BBC News and can currently be seen on BBC One bulletins such as the News at One, Six and Ten where he is the news anchor for live and breaking news.

Ben, who was born in Ashford, has also written several books, including Sandstealers, a novel about war correspondents, and a history of the first Gulf war.

Cedi Frederick

In a career spanning over 40 years in the public, Not-for-Profit and private sectors, Cedi has supported and inspired thousands of people. It has led him to be described as an “...unsung hero of the third sector, who has changed as many lives in his life outside work as he has in his job” and named four times as one of Britain's 100 most influential black people.

Cedi has held a series of senior positions, including over 20 years at Chief Executive level in the housing association and social care sectors, with over five years as Chief Executive of a Kent based Not-For-Profit social care provider that cared for and supported over 3000 people.

For over three decades he has given his time and expertise serving as a Non-Executive Director for many organisations, including eight years as a Governor of Canterbury Christ Church University.

Cedi is currently Chair of NHS Kent and Medway, Chair of The Health and Europe Centre, Co-Chair of ‘Inspire for Black Londoners’ and is also a Kent Ambassador.