This list of Honorary Graduates of the University of Leeds is a year-by-year list of people recognized by the University of Leeds for their achievements in their given field with an honorary award.
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa (Latin: 'for the sake of the honour') is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived the usual requirements (such as matriculation, residence, study and the passing of examinations). The degree itself is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution.
2020s
2023
Anita Rani (DLitt) Ondrej Krivanek (DSc)
2022
Nina Gualinga (LLD) Mark Tucker (LLD) Brenda Hale (LLD) David Grey (LLD) Eleanor Dodson (DSc) Alison Lowe (LLD) Rachel Skinner (LLD) Gillian Leng (DSc)
No honorary degrees were awarded in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2010s
2019
Peter Dhillon (LLD) Jane Featherstone (DLitt) Richard Henderson (DSc) Lubaina Himid (DLitt) Michael Pepper (DEng) Norman Williams (DSc)
2018
Kenton Cool (LLD) Mary Fowler (DSc) Peter Gibbs (LLD) Gabriele Hegerl (DSc) Alice Roberts (DSc) Jane Rumble (DSc) Clare Marx (DSc) Wendy Burn (DM) Robert Mair, Baron Mair (DEng) Iain Mattaj (DSc) David Olusoga (DLitt) Anne Owers (LLD) Christopher Senyonjo (LLD) Leslie Valiant (DEng)
2017
Malcolm Brown (LLD) Anne Chamberlain (DSc) Grace Clough (LLD) Barry Cryer (DLitt) Karen Darke (LLD) Richard Farnes (DMus) John Hardy (DSc) Colin Low (Baron Low of Dalston) (LLD) Nicola Mendelsohn (LLD) Helen Rappaport (DLitt) Martin Rees (Baron Rees of Ludlow) (DSc) Andrew Shovlin (DEng) Paul Workman (DSc)
2016
Athene Donald (DSc) John Fisher (DEng) Anne-Marie Hutchinson (LLD) Steve Jackson (DSc) Vivien Jones (DLitt) Wayne McGregor (DLitt) Peter Morgan (DLitt) Isobel Pollock-Hulf (DEng) Julia Slingo (DSc) John Stoddart-Scott (LLD) Andrea Sutcliffe (DSc)
2015
Nicola Adams (LLD) Simon Armitage (DLitt) David Baulcombe (DSc) Margaret Jull Costa (DLitt) Ann Dowling (DEng) Arthur France (LLD) Peter Hendy (LLD) Howard Morris (DSc) Michelle Pinggera (LLD) John Tooke (DSc)
2014
Michael Arthur (LLD) John Dyson, Lord Dyson (LLD) Jane Francis (DSc) Andras Schiff (DMus) Patrick Stewart (DLitt)
2013
Alistair Brownlee (LLD) Jonathan Brownlee (LLD) Claire Cashmore (LLD) Stephanie Flanders (DLitt) Samuel Kargbo (DSc) Linda Pollard (LLD) Susan Solomon (DSc) Martin Wainwright (DLitt)
2012
Onora O’Neill (LLD) Eliza Manningham-Buller (LLD) Keir Starmer QC (LLD) Ian Kershaw (DLitt)
2011
David Stuart (DSc) Corinne Bailey Rae (DMus) Jonathan Wild (LLD) Sally Davies (DM) Peter Blake (DMus) Keith Howard (LLD)
2010
Alan Yentob (LLD) José Ángel Gurría (LLD) Elaine Surick Oran (DSc) Ingrid Roscoe (LLD) John Sentamu (LLD) John Simpson (LLD) Lesley Dixon (LLD) Sir Stuart Rose (LLD)
2000s
2009
Sayyid Saud bin Ibrahim Al-Busaidi (LLD) Yahya bin Saud bin Mansoor Al-Sulaimi (LLD) Nicola Brewer (LLD) Malcolm Chaikin (DSc) Bekele Geleta (LLD) Simon Mason (LLD) Sunil Bharti Mittal (LLD) Richard Mantle (DMus) Michael Nyman (DMus) Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool (DSc) Peter Robinson (DLitt)
2008
Mark Byford (LLD) Albert Fert (DSc) Baroness Flather (LLD) David Hessayon (DSc) Sir Christopher Rose (LLD) Martin Scicluna (LLD) Polly Toynbee (LLD)
2007
David Ansbro (LLD) Dame Josephine Barstow (DMus) Steve Bell (DLitt) Dr Sydney Brenner (DM) Arthur Cockcroft (LLD) Anita Desai (DLitt) Ruth Errington (LLD) Al Garthwaite (LLD) Mabel Parris (LLD) Harold Pinter (DLitt) Dr Piers Sellers (DSc) Professor Janet Thornton (DSc) Fiona Wood (DM) Tony Wren (DEng)
2006
Lynne Brindley (DLitt) Gurinder Chadha (DLitt) Sara Courtneidge (DSc) John Elderfield (DLitt) Alexander Markham (DSc) Arthur Stone (LLD)
2005
Bill Bryson (DLitt) Sir David Cox (DSc) Andy Kershaw (DMus) Dame Nancy Rothwell (DSc) Marjorie Ziff (LLD)
2004
Zygmunt Bauman (Emeritus Professor) Maurice Beresford (Emeritus Professor) Jack Charlton (LLD) Duncan Dowson (Emeritus Professor) Tony Harrison (DLitt) Professor Dame Julia Higgins (DSc) Sir Ian McKellen (DLitt) Sir Kenneth Morrison (LLD) Baroness Usha Prashar (LLD) Professor David Rhodes (DEng) Ngugi wa Thiong'o (DLitt) Professor Sir Alan Wilson (LLD)
2003
Anthony Hunt (DEng) Caryl Phillips (DLitt)
2002
Dame Judi Dench (DLitt) Roderic Lyne (LLD) Paul Nurse (DSc)
2001
Dame Betty Boothroyd (LLD) Susan Greenfield (DSc) Seamus Heaney (DLitt) Craig Jordan (DMed)