This summer, Royal Holloway, University of London, awarded three new Honorary Doctorates.
Shadrack Frimpong has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Royal Holloway, University of London – the latest recognition of his contribution to global health and community engagement in Africa.
Born the son of a cocoa farmer and charcoal seller, he grew up without running water and electricity in rural Ghana but went on to become the first person from his village to attend university in the USA. Shadrack graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015 with a $150,000 President’s Prize.
With this cash prize, he started the ‘Cocoa360’ project in Ghana and pioneered the ‘farm-for-impact’ engagement model, a tuition-free school and community hospital sustained by proceeds from a cocoa farm. To date, Cocoa360 has served over 18,000 patients, treated more than 9,000 malaria cases, and educated 270 girls.
Frimpong has received acclaim from former President Bill Clinton, and the late UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan who described him as an “embodiment of youth leadership.” Not satisfied with his achievements as a public health scholar and leader – Shadrack is also an aspiring physician.
Shadrack holds masters degrees from Pennsylvania and Yale University, as well as a PhD in Public Health and Primary Care from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. In August 2023 he begins a Medical Doctorate at the Yale School of Medicine.
Shadrack’s research focuses on healthcare quality, financing, and community engagement in global health in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has provided expertise on public health to esteemed organisations such as UNICEF and the World Health Organisation. In 2018, Shadrack was awarded the Queen’s Young Leader award by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Royal Holloway, University of London, recognising her award-winning work in encouraging the next generation of women in STEM.
Something of a child prodigy, she passed two GCSEs before finishing primary school and, at just 11 years old, Anne-Marie was the youngest girl to attain an A-Level Computing qualification in the UK. She went on to receive a master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford aged just 20.
Anne-Marie is an Honorary Fellow at Keble College, Oxford, as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland. She also sits on the Council of Research England. Anne-Marie is also the current President of the British Science Association, having been appointed in September June of 2022 – the same year that she released her book, ‘She’s in CTRL: How women can take back tech’.
Anne-Marie is also a trustee at the Institute for the Future of Work and host of the hugely popular Evening Standard’s Women Tech Charge podcast, where she discusses the effects of technology on everything from fashion to finance.
With this wealth of experience and pioneering spirit, Anne-Marie went on to co-found ‘Stemettes’ in 2013, an award-winning social initiative dedicated to inspiring and promoting the next generation of young women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) sectors.
Since its inception, ‘Stemettes’ has exposed 60,000 young people across Europe to Anne-Marie’s vision for a more diverse and balanced science and tech community. The social enterprise was named as European Digital Impact Organisation of the Year in October 2014 by the Digital Leadership Institute.
Her Honour Anne Molyneux MBE has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Royal Holloway, University of London, recognising her remarkable career in law at a degree ceremony for the School of Law and Social Sciences on 12 July 2023.
Molyneux has had an exemplary legal career, culminating in her appointment as a Senior Circuit Judge at the Central Criminal Court, otherwise known as the Old Bailey, in 2017.
First seeking a legal career when she was just five years old, Anne was admitted as a solicitor in 1983, going on to become a partner and Head of Department in an international law firm based in central London, where she practised property litigation and competition law.
Determined to break down barriers – Anne was the first woman at her firm to give birth and return to her legal career following maternity leave.
She made further strides in her legal career when she was appointed as a Recorder in 2000, a Member of the Parole Board from 2000-2007 and a Circuit Judge in 2007. Anne was a Diversity Community Relations Judge from 2009-2022; as well as a Judicial Member of the Parole Board from 2010-2019.
After recognition for her judicial skill, Anne was elevated to the Senior Courts. First as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013; followed by her appointment as an Additional Judge of the Court of Appeal – dealing with criminal cases - from 2016-2021 and Senior Circuit Judge at the Old Bailey in 2017.
She specialised in the trial of serious criminal cases at the Old Bailey and passed on her knowledge as a Director of Training for the Judicial College in the trial of serious sexual offences. She is a member of the Law Society, an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple, where she serves as a member of the Education and Training Committee, and, since 2020, is founding Chair of the Royal Holloway School of Law and Social Sciences Advisory Board.
