University news

Four female professors at the University of Glasgow have received awards in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Professors Sally Macintyre, Mona Siddiqui, Noreen Burrows and Sheila Rowan all received honours as part of the Queen’s official 85th birthday celebrations.

Professor Sally Macintyre, Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing and Director of the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, has received a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

Prof Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Prof Noreen Burrows, Jean Monnet Professor of European Law, are awarded OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).

Prof Sheila Rowan, an experimental physicist in the School of Physics, was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire).

Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal & Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “We are very proud that so many of our academics have received honours from Her Majesty The Queen. The awards recognise the huge contribution each has made to their field and to education in Scotland and the UK as a whole. As it says on the Government’s website, anyone can be nominated for an award but only exceptional people receive one. This is certainly true of our worthy recipients and I warmly congratulate them all.”

Responding to the news of her award Prof Macintyre said: “I’m delighted that the importance of research on social determinants of health and illness, and on social inequalities in health, has been recognised in this fashion.”

Prof Siddiqui said: “It was a complete surprise to receive this accolade. It’s very humbling and it also bears witness to the importance of staying engaged with religion.”

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Notes to Editors

Professor Sally Macintyre OBE CBE is Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing and Director of the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.

Prof Macintyre has researched socioeconomic and spatial inequalities in health across time and over the life course, using data from individuals, households and areas to improve understanding of the significance of the social and physical environment for health. Current interests include the potential of area-based health promotion initiatives, the role of neighbourhood barriers and facilitators for health, and developing an evidence-base for health improvement and reducing health inequalities. She is also interested in perceptions of risk, and the understandings and use of public health research by the public, policymakers, practitioners, and the press.
Sally is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  She has an honorary professorship in the Department of Sport, Culture and the Arts at the University of Strathclyde, and an Honorary DSc from the University of Aberdeen.  She was awarded an OBE for services to Medical Sociology in 1998, and a CBE for services to Social Science in 2006.  From 1995 - 2004 she was Editor-in-Chief of Social Science & Medicine. She was Chair of the Society for Social Medicine in 2005, and in 2006 - 2007 was a member of the Nuffield Council of Bioethics Working Party on Public Health Ethics. Among other committees, currently she is a member of MRC Council and the Advisory Panel for the Foresight Programme.

Professor Mona Siddiqui is Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow. Prof Siddiqui started her academic life with a BA in Arabic and French, which led eventually to a PhD in Classical Islamic Law.  She came to the University of Glasgow in 1996 and two years later founded the Centre for the Study of Islam, which she directs.  She provides invaluable consultancy work to institutions such as museums, local government and educational institutions, and also provides advice in legal cases, including anti-terrorism cases.  Professor Siddiqui is well known for her broadcasting work, including regular radio appearances, and writes frequently for the Scottish and British press.  She has also travelled the world at the invitation of diverse institutions to talk about her life and work.  In 2008 she was the Jantina Tammes Visiting Professor at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Theology.  

Prof Siddiqui is currently Chair of the BBC’s Scottish Religious Advisory Committee, a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolution, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Islam-West Dialogue, Chair in Island and Citizenship at the Universities of Tilburg and Utrecht 2010-2012 and Visiting Professor at the Angelicum University in Rome 2011.

Professor Noreen Burrows studied law at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Edinburgh. She joined the School of Law in 1979 and was appointed to the Chair of European Law in 1990. In 1990 she was appointed to an ad personam Jean Monnet Chair in European Law by the European Commission in recognition of her teaching and research in European Law. Her publications span a wide range of research interests including books and articles on Scottish devolution, the role of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice and European Social Law. Her research interests are in European Union law, particularly social law and discrimination and women’s rights.

Professor Sheila Rowan is an experimental physicist at the forefront of the search for gravitational waves – the hitherto undetected phenomenon which scientists hope will shed light on the mysterious force of gravity.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Royal Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics and recipient of a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award (2010-2015), Prof Rowan is currently Deputy Chair of the Science Committee for Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics of the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council.

She is deeply involved in current international efforts to search for gravitational waves from astrophysical objects, including the UK-German GEO project and US LIGO project. Prof Rowan is Chair of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration Elections and Membership Committee; a Member of the Executive Board of the Science Bridges Project, Member of the Governing Council of the Einstein Telescope Design Study (FP7), a Member of the LSC Publications and Presentations Committee, Member of the LSC Advanced Detector Committee and Member of ILIAS Governing Council.

For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 4831 or email stuart.forsyth@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 11 June 2011