Eight people, including five alumni and fellows, have been nominated for honorary degrees at the University of Cambridge.

Once confirmed, the recipients will receive their degrees on 24 June, in a ceremony led by chancellor Lord Smith, attended by staff, students and alumni.

Former Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, is nominated for a doctorate in law. She is being recognised for her domestic leadership, and her work to promote international collaboration and unity.

Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, is also a doctorate of law nominee. The first female head of the Judiciary and head of the Courts is a Trinity College alumna, an honorary fellow, and a visitor of Darwin College.

Professor Phillipe Sands, a barrister, academic, writer, and Corpus Christi alumnus, has also been nominated for a doctorate of law. A former fellow of St Catharine’s College, and visiting fellow at Jesus College, he has been put forward for his work at the International Courts, with a background in environmental, criminal and maritime law.

Professor Yuk-Ming Dennis Lo, alumnus and honorary fellow of Emmanuel College, is nominated for a doctorate in medical science. The current vice-chancellor and president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is best known for his contributions to developing non-invasive prenatal testing.

The twice-appointed director-general of CERN, Dr Fabiola Giannotti, has been recommended for a doctorate of science. Giannotti is known for her contributions to particle physics, as well as her leadership of the ATLAS experiment, which discovered the Higgs boson.

Sir Richard Eyre, a former artistic director of the National Theatre as well as an alumnus and honorary fellow of Peterhouse, has been put forward for a doctorate in letters. Eyre has received awards for directing plays, operas, films and television.

The first female recipient of the Turner Prize and an honorary fellow of Magdalene College, Dame Rachel Whiteread, has also been nominated for a doctorate of letters. Her artwork has been staged in Trafalgar Square and the Holocaust Memorial in Vienna.

The King’s alumnus and honorary fellow Sir George Benjamin has been nominated for a doctorate in music. The Henry Purcell professor of composition at King’s College London has won many awards, and his works have been performed by orchestras around the world.

The University’s tradition of honorary degrees stretches back 500 years, to figures such as the poet John Skelton in 1493. The first woman to receive an honorary degree was the Queen Mother in 1948.

More recent recipients have included the rapper Stormzy, who was given a doctorate in law in 2025 for his Cambridge scholarship programme, aimed at increasing the number of black UK students in higher education.

A special congregation was held in 2021 to award the UN secretary António Guterres a doctorate of law for his work on climate change. In his acceptance speech, Guterres said: “Cambridge students do not only learn. They learn how to […] harness their intellectual curiosity for the common good […] we need that Cambridge spirit today more than ever.”