Introducing Mansfield’s new Honorary Fellows Dr Maggie AderinPocock MBE
In 2020 we were delighted to announce our seven new Honorary Fellows from the fields of science, culture, law, defence and finance.
General Sir Chris Deverell KCB MBE (PPE, 1979)
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, presenting the BBC’s The Sky at Night among other programmes. She was a lead scientist at Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, where she led the optical instrumentation group. She is currently working on and managing the observation instruments for the Aeolus satellite, which will measure wind speeds to help the investigation of climate change.
After Oxford, General Sir Chris Deverell joined the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, stationed on the inner German border during the Cold War. He spent the first half of his army service on regimental duty in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Belize, and Germany, interspersed with staff appointments at the head office of the Ministry of Defence and education at staff college and the Royal Military College of Science. This period included service as a Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence, and as the Commanding Officer of the Joint Nuclear Biological and Chemical Regiment.
Maggie is a pioneering figure in communicating science to the public, specifically school children. She founded and is the Managing Director of Science Innovation Ltd, a company that engages children and adults all over the world with the wonders of space science. She was awarded an MBE in 2009 for services to science and science education.
Promoted to General in 2016, Chris became one of the UK Chiefs of Staff, as Commander Joint Forces Command, with responsibility for Special Forces, Intelligence, Cyber, UK Defence use of Space, Information Systems and Services, Operational Command and Control, Education, Medical Services, and the UK’s military operating bases overseas. He was awarded an MBE in 1990 and appointed Knight Commander of the Order of Bath in 2015. He also has a Diploma from the International Olympic Committee for services to winter sports (bobsleigh and skeleton).
In 2019 Maggie won Vodafone’s Woman of the Year Innovation Award, and she also sits on the advisory committee for the Young Audience Content Fund at the British Film Institute.
Sir Ian Blatchford (Jurisprudence, 1983)
Since retiring from the Army in 2019, Chris has founded Deverell Innovation Ventures to help complex organisations to innovate. He is a Venture Partner in a San Francisco Cybersecurity Platform; a mentor in a seed-stage programme for science-based start-ups at the Saïd Business School; and an External Member of the Council of Oxford University.
Sir Ian Blatchford has been Deputy Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Deputy Finance Director at the Arts Council, and Director of Finance at the Royal Academy of Arts. He was later Director and Chief Executive at the Science Museum Group and combined this with the role of Director of the Science Museum.
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Dingemans (Jurisprudence, 1983)
Sarah Harkness (PPE, 1980) Sarah Harkness is an experienced finance professional who has worked at the highest level in a range of roles and organisations. She began her executive career in banking and in 1992 was appointed Corporate Finance Director of NatWest Markets. Six years later she moved to Arthur Andersen, where she remained until 2002. Sarah then launched the corporate division of Directorbank Executive Search Ltd, which specialised in non-executive recruitment.
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Dingemans is a serving judge. He was appointed a High Court judge in 2013 and assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division, receiving a knighthood in the 2014 Special Honours. In October 2019, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal as a Lord Justice of Appeal. James has a longstanding interest in encouraging a strong and diverse entry to the legal profession and was in charge of pupillage in Chambers at 3 Hare Court from 1993 to 2002. He was Chairman of the Outreach and Recruitment Committee for Inner Temple from 2009 to 2014.
While there, Sarah took on several non-executive roles in the private sector: as Director on the board of Homestyle Group PLC, a retailer with an annual turnover of £400m; as Trustee of Sheffield Theatres Trust; and as Chair of McInnes Corporate Finance.
James has also been Chairman of the International Committee of the Bar Council of England and Wales (2008-10) and Chairman of the Commonwealth in England Bar Association (CEBA) (2009-11). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association and is now a member of Council of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association. He was made a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 2006.
She has been Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit at JRI Orthopaedics Ltd and was appointed Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield. She served as a lay member of the Audit Committee of the University of Birmingham and is now a Non-Executive Director of Card Geotechnics Ltd, and a Trustee of Orthopaedic Research UK and of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE PC LLD FBA
Sarah has also served as a non-executive director on various boards within the NHS, including NHS North of England Strategic Health Authority, the Trust Development Authority and NHS Improvement. She now chairs the Audit Committee of Oriel College, Oxford.
Baroness Hale has just retired as the United Kingdom’s most senior judge. She became the first, and the only, woman ‘Lord of Appeal in Ordinary’ in 2004, after a varied career as an academic lawyer, law reformer and judge. She was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1969. She taught Law at Manchester University for 18 years, specialising in family and social welfare law, and also practised at the Manchester Bar.
Admiral Sir Philip Jones GCB DL (Geography, 1978) Admiral Sir Philip Jones saw active service in the South Atlantic in 1982 in the Amphibious Assault Ship HMS Fearless, and also served in HM Yacht Brittania. He has commanded the frigates HMS Beaver (as a Commander) and HMS Coventry (as a Captain), the Amphibious Task Group (as a Commodore), UK Maritime Forces (as a Rear Admiral) and the Fleet (as a Vice Admiral). He was Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, in the Ministry of Defence, for the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
In 1984 Brenda became the first woman to serve on the Law Commission. There she led the work of the family law team, resulting (among others) in the Children Act 1989 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She was also a founder member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and chair of its Code of Practice Committee from 1990 to 1994, when she was appointed a Judge of the Family Division of the High Court. She was promoted to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in 1999 and in 2004 to the House of Lords. She became Deputy President of the Court in 2013 and its President in 2017.
On promotion to Vice Admiral in 2011, Philip served as Deputy Fleet Commander and Chief of Staff Navy Command Headquarters, and then in 2012 he became the Fleet Commander and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.
Brenda was a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation from 1987 to 2002 and Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 2004 to 2016. She also helped to establish the United Kingdom Association of Women Judges in 2004 and from 2010 to 2012 served as President of the International Association of Women Judges, a worldwide body of both men and women judges committed to equality and human rights for all.
Ian was awarded the Pushkin Medal by the Russian Government in 2015, and received a Knighthood in the 2019 New Year’s Honours for services to Cultural Education. He is currently Chairman of the National Museum Directors’ Council and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
8
Philip was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 2012, promoted to Knight Commander in 2014 and Knight Grand Cross in 2020. In 2016 he became First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, the professional head of the Royal Navy. He retired from the navy in 2019.
9
