News

Nuffield College Warden Julia Black and Professorial Fellow Lucie Cluver have been included in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list, which marks the achievements and service of extraordinary people for their outstanding contributions.

The Warden, Julia Black, has been appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Julia is Professor at the University of Oxford and President of the British Academy, the UK’s national academy for humanities and social sciences.

Prior to becoming Warden, she was a Professor of Law and Regulation at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she also held a number of senior executive roles including Pro Vice Chancellor of Research from 2014 to 2019 and interim Vice Chancellor from 2016 to 2017, and Strategic Director of Innovation from 2019 to 2024. She was awarded a CBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for services to the study of law and regulation.

Julia Black said: 'I’m deeply honoured and utterly thrilled to have received this award. The social sciences, humanities and the arts are essential to our understanding and expression of what it is to be human, and integral to our ability to navigate our increasingly complex and volatile world.'

Lucie Cluver, Professorial Fellow, has been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2025. The honour recognises her services to children’s wellbeing and to global public health.

Lucie Cluver has led research to provide evidence to improve the lives of children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa for over 20 years.

From 2019-2024, she led the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub, a £20 million interdisciplinary research hub working to improve the lives of children and adolescents in resource-limited settings. In 2022, she became the co-Principal Investigator of the Global Parenting Initiative, a five-year collaboration of universities, foundations and charities which provides free support to parents to equip them with the knowledge and tools to prevent child sexual abuse, exploitation, and family violence.

During COVID-19, Lucie Cluver co-led the COVID-19 Emergency Parenting Response with DSPI’s Professor Jamie Lachman to develop emergency parenting resources for lockdowns and school closures. Working with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNODC, CDC, and PEPFAR, these resources reached over 210 million people in 198 countries and territories, and were used by 34 governments in their national COVID responses.

“In 2002, I was a social worker in South Africa, trying to help mothers and children who were dying of HIV/AIDS, in the days before life-changing initiatives like PEPFAR and the Global Fund. I asked local charities what they needed, and to my astonishment, they said ‘research’: they wanted to know what would be the most effective and affordable ways to protect children. Now we work with governments, UN agencies and donors to answer the same question, and find solutions for millions of children who deserve the best support,” commented Lucie Cluver.

“I am honoured and amazed at being given this award. Every impact that we have had is because of an incredible team – across Africa and the UK – who are dedicated to improving the lives of children. The University of Oxford gives us an amazing privilege: the academic freedom to pursue research that can directly help the most vulnerable. I’m lucky to be here.”

Her impact on children’s wellbeing is exceptional and in recent years, she has been selected as a winner of: the European Research Council Public Engagement with Research Award 2024; Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences 2023; the University of Oxford Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Award 2022; the International AIDS Society Excellence in Research with Children Award 2022; the UK Research and Innovation Impact Award 2021; and the European Union Horizon 2020 Impact Award. In 2019, she was recognised as one of UKRI’s 15 Women with Impact in Research.

To find out more about Lucie's OBE, read the full article.