To celebrate their artistic contributions, the following were granted honorary fellowships by our Institute of the Arts.
Pre-2009
November 2007
Dr Andrew Humphries MBE
In recognition for his contribution to agricultural education, upland and community development and the Commoners movement (awarded pre-August 2007).
Andrew Humphries worked as a shepherd in the early days of his working life. He is a former lecturer, Assistant Director (Academic) and Director of the Newton Rigg College hill farm. Andrew played a pivotal role in supporting the farming community during the 2001 Foot and Mouth epidemic and as a member of the Foot and Mouth Enquiry panel. In 2000 he served as a member of the Government Hills Task Force. As chairman of the Cumbria Upland Management Group, he led the establishment of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners and as the Founder Trustee of the Foundation for Common Land, a charity devoted to sustaining pastoralism as a public good. In 2006 The Herdwick Sheep Breeders nominated Andrew for the NSA George Hedley Award for services to the British Sheep Industry. He received the T.I. Allison award for lifetime contribution to sheep farming in North England and the Blamire Medal. He is a Fellow of The Royal Agricultural Societies of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Andrew has worked with writers and artists including Andy Goldsworthy, Fay Godwin, Ian Lawson, and Marie Elsa Bragg. Publications and contributions include Sheepfolds (Goldsworthy) and Hill Sheep Husbandry, a guide for non-farming professionals. Currently he is working on the evolution and development of sheep breeds, focussing on a Cumbrian case study and serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group to the Lake District World Heritage Site.
Andrew is an honorary member of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners and a Founding Panel member of the Hadfield Trust.
Mr Edwin Booth CBE DL
In recognition of his outstanding and lifelong contribution to business in the North West and for his outstanding commitment to supporting local & regional suppliers in the food industry (awarded November 2007)
Edwin Booth is Chairman of E.H.Booth & Co Ltd the proprietors of Booths, independent grocers in the North West since 1847.
While promoting the business’s reputation for excellent service and goods he worked to create an organisation with strong sustainability credentials and a focus on locally sourced food and drink. Edwin became an HRH the Prince of Wales Business Ambassador for the North West and when he chaired the North West advisory board for BITC, developing a program to engage schools with business. In 2010 Edwin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Lancaster University for his services to the region and his industry.
Edwin has significant experience of leading commercial, public sector and trust boards and has worked with North West Universities in the areas of leadership and business change. He is Chairman of the Harris Charity (Preston) which was co-founded by his forebear Edwin Henry Booth and was a founding trustee of the Royal Countryside Fund. In June 2011 he was appointed Chair of the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership), a post he held for over 7 years. In 2019 Edwin was appointed CBE in Her Late Majesty’s New Year Honours list for services to business and charity. He has been a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire since 2005.
In 2021/22 Edwin was appointed the High Sheriff of Lancashire and formed a group of Employment Advisory Boards at the Lancashire and Cumbria resettlement prisons. He also worked with the Community Foundation for Lancashire to found a business support arm – Lancashire Investors in Community.
Edwin has recently become a Trustee of the Eden Project and is helping the charity to deliver Eden Morecambe.
Professor David Vaughan
In recognition of his contribution to Art and Design education and higher education nationally and for major contributions to higher education and Arts education in the North-West and in Cumbria in particular. (awarded November 2007)
David was Principal and Chief Executive of Cumbria Institute of the Arts (CIA) from 1991, retiring in 2007 upon the successful creation of the University of Cumbria.
He Studied at the Central School of Art and Design, London; then at Bath Academy of Art. Held teaching and senior management roles at Universities in Lancaster, Liverpool, Brighton and Sheffield and was Associate Registrar at the Council for National Academic Awards, later undertaking QAA quality reviews. A Director and Vice-Chair of UCAS until 2009 – also co-chairing Government established Delivery Partnership, making significant changes to UCAS application procedures; Vice-Chair of GuildHE until 2007; first Chair of Higher Education Academy – Art Design Media Subject Centre, 1999 to 2007. Established the Group for Learning in Art and Design (GLADHE) - UK wide HE learning and teaching forum - in 1989, being Chair until 2007. Chaired the Higher Education Art and Design Trust 1996 to 2005, now co-chairing and leading the HEAD Trust Project - supporting advocacy of Creative Arts in Schools to HE. Chaired the CHEAD Subject Associations Alliance until 2019. Locally - Chair of Governors of Shankhill School 2005 to 2012 and Vice-Chair since; Governor at both Richard Rose Central and Morton Academies, being Chair at the later. Was a Non-Executive Director of Milan based HE fashion school - Istituto Marangoni London until 2022, then Visiting Professor; was Advisor to Futureworks HEP in Manchester until 2025; continues as PhD External Examiner at various Universities.
Professor Mick Waters
In recognition of his contribution to education nationally. (awarded November 2007)
Mick Waters works with the schools in UK and abroad. Mick was a teacher and head teacher before working at senior levels in Birmingham and Manchester Local Authorities. He worked at a national level with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority where he was Director of Curriculum. He has worked in many countries with national governments or directly with schools on policy and practice for leadership, governance and classroom teaching.
Lately, Mick has worked at national policy level with the Welsh Government. Mick chaired an Independent Review of School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions for the Welsh Government which followed on from helping to produce new Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership. He has also carried out a review on the induction of newly qualified teachers and how best to support their professional learning. Most recently, Mick has provided a government review on preparation for headship called ‘Learning to be a headteacher for Wales’.
He has written and contributed to many books on the curriculum, teaching and learning and leadership, and spoken at numerous national and international conferences. He is also the author of many books on schooling, focused upon curriculum, teaching and leadership.
November 2007
The Right Honourable Baroness Estelle Morris (of Yardley)
In recognition of her outstanding contribution to education in the United Kingdom. (awarded 2007)
Estelle Morris was born in Manchester into a political family. She is a graduate of the Coventry College of Education, where she gained a BEd in 1974. Morris was a humanities teacher at the inner-city Sidney Stringer School in Coventry from 1974–92, becoming Head of Sixth Form Studies and a member of Warwick District Council from 1979 to 1991. Morris was elected to Parliament in 1992 for Birmingham Yardley. She became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment in 1997 and was promoted to Secretary for State for Education and Skills in 2001. She was the first former comprehensive schoolteacher to have the position. She resigned her post in October 2002. She rejoined the Government in 2003 as Minister for the Arts in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. She stepped down as a Member of Parliament at the 2005 general election and in the same year was created a life peer and conferred as Baroness Morris of Yardley, in the County of West Midlands. Between 2005 and 2009, she was Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sunderland. Between 2005 and 2008 she was Chair of the Children’s Workforce Development Council, and from 2007 to its closure in 2020 was Chair of the Executive Group of the Institute for Effective Education. From September 2005 until August 2018, she was a member of the Council of Goldsmiths, University of London, and Chair until August 2018. She also Chairs the Birmingham Education Partnership. She has been a trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the National Children’s Bureau, and the National Coal-mining Museum. She is currently a trustee of the Sunderland Football Club Foundation, the medical charity, APSUK and the Royal Institution.
November 2006
Professor Conrad Atkinson OBE
Professor Conrad Atkinson
In recognition of his valuable contribution in the field of art and education in Cumbria and in the wider world (awarded November 2006 Cumbria Institute of the Arts).
Born in Cleator Moor in West Cumbria, Conrad Atkinson studied at the Brampton Road campus from 1957-1961 when it was known as Carlisle College of Art. He is today an artist of international standing. Conrad has been a distinguished visiting professor at many of the major arts schools and universities throughout the world. Professor Atkinson has exhibited at major galleries throughout Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and Russia and is represented in many public and private collections throughout the world. Although Conrad splits his time between his studios in California, New York and Cumbria he has never distanced himself from his birthplace, Cumbria, its people and issues.
(November 2005 Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Deceased July 2009)
In recognition of his significant contribution to Cumbria Institute of the Arts and service as Chair of Governors.
Ed Hill
(November 2005 Cumbria Institute of the Arts) (deceased 2018)
In recognition of his contribution to the development of Cumbria Institute of the Arts and service as Deputy Chair of Governors.
Miss Mary Burkett OBE
(November 2005 Cumbria Institute of the Arts) (1924 - 12 November 2014)
In recognition of her valuable contribution in the field of art and education in Cumbria and in the wider world.
November 2004
John Fox MBE
In recognition of his lifelong contribution to innovation & creativity in contemporary vernacular art culture & for increasing community participation in art culture and secular ceremonies (awarded November 2004, Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Deceased 18 March 2025).
Sue Gill
In recognition of her lifelong commitment to education & celebratory theatre within communities, for an innovative & inclusive approach to creating secular ceremonies & for services to Cumbria Arts in Education (awarded November 2004, Cumbria Institute of the Arts)
Sue Gill has a lifelong commitment to education and began her professional life as Headteacher in remote rural primary schools. Sue is co-founder of Welfare State International and coordinated its education and training programme, leading summer schools and workshops on Celebratory Theatre in the UK, Denmark, Portugal, Australia, Canada and the USA. She was Course Leader for the innovative MA in Cultural Performance in partnership with the University of Bristol Department of Theatre Studies concluding in 2006. The Welcome Trust gave generous funding to digitise and catalogue the WSI archive housed at the Theatre Collection. Sue is an Independent Secular Celebrant creating bespokeceremonies to mark birth, marriage, and death. Along with Gilly Adams she currently runs their annual UK programme of Rites of Passage residential workshops. She is co-author, with John Fox, of Dead Good Guides publications. In 2017 she and John Fox received the Cumbria Life Special Award: The Mary Burkett Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Cumbria. In 2019 Sue was awarded Companionship to LIPA Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. In 2021 she published her memoir In all My Born Days (ISBN 978-0-9568583-7-5) illustrated with John Fox’s woodcuts. Sue Gill & John Fox were commissioned by LEEDS 2023 to collaborate on a new book Eighty-Something a lifetime of conversation [ ISBN 978-0-9568583-4-4] for 1001 STORIES Takeover of Leeds Playhouse.
(November 2003 Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Deceased April 2004)
In recognition of his significant contribution to the work of the Institute and in the wider world in the fields of media and culture.
Eric Robson OBE DL
In recognition of his significant contribution to the work of the Institute and in the wider world in the fields of media and culture (awarded November 2003, Cumbria Institute of the Arts)
Eric Robson began his television career as a writer and broadcaster with Border Television in Carlisle. Eric has been freelance for more than forty years presenting, producing and directing programmes for all the major UK networks. Until 2019 Eric was chairman of BBC Radio 4’s “Gardeners’ Question Time”, a position he held for 30 years. His books include “Great Railway Journeys of the World” and “After Wainwright” - the journal of a 190-mile adventure through the mountains of remote Lakeland. He is President of Cumbria Tourism, Chairman of The Wainwright Society and a Deputy Lieutenant for Cumbria.
In recognition of his significant contribution to the development of Cumbria Institute of the Arts over a period of 28 years.
Peter joined Carlisle College of Art in 1979 and together with the Principal Adrian Turner, established an excellent working partnership, quickly recognising what needed to be achieved if the college was to establish a national status as a College of Art and Design.
Peter was soon appointed to the role of Vice Principal and was well qualified to make a significant impact on the growth of the FE programmes from National Diplomas and HND with support and the cooperation of the staff. The college was very successful which later enabled UCLan to validate its degree courses. This was further enhanced by a major grant for computer hardware and software and access to HEFC networks. At this time, the college was funded as the leading member of a European multimedia project with a share of two million pounds, and access to several EU countries for recruitment. Peter set up a staff/student exchange with Urbino in Italy which continued for many years and was highly successful. Peters’ grand finale was overseeing the new building redevelopment over four phases 1998 to 2002. This included the planning, purchase of equipment and design liaison for the major project at a cost of approx. £12million. When Peter retired in August 2002 there were 1200 full time and part time degree students all making a significant impact to the local and national economy. From 2002, Peter spent 12 years as a JP on the Carlisle Bench.
November 2002
Adrian Turner
(November 2002 Cumbria Institute of the Arts | Deceased October 2015)
In recognition of his contribution to the development of Cumbria College of Art and Design and the support he has given to the Institution since that time. (Principal 1976-1991)
