Honorary doctorates

Honorary doctor

About Honorary Doctorates

Honorary doctorates are the highest academic accolade that the University confers without the recipient first having defended a doctoral thesis in Denmark.

The vast majority of honorary doctorates are conferred on non-Danish scientists who, as visiting teachers or through international research collaboration, have played a significant role in research and researcher training at the University of Copenhagen.

Researchers and research environments at the University of Copenhagen nominate candidates for honorary doctorates. The academic councils of the faculties concerned then recommend selected nominees to the Rector for final approval.

To qualify for consideration, it is a prerequisite that the individual concerned has conducted extensive and significant research of high international quality.

Read more about the rules and nomination procedure

Honorary doctorates in 2021

At the Annual Commemoration on 12 November 2021, the University of Copenhagen conferred honorary doctorates on:

Professor
Emanuel Tov
Bible Department
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Theology

Supreme Court Justice, jur.dr.
Johnny Herre
Supreme Court (Högsta Domstolen)
Stockholm, Sweden
Law

Professor
Richard B. Stewart
Guarini Center on Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law
School of Law, New York University, USA
Law

Professor
Steven Bernstein
Department of Political Science
University of Toronto, Canada
Political Science

Professor
Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Oslo, Norway
Anthropology

Professor
Andrew Jonathan Carr
Department of Orthopedic Surgery
University of Oxford, UK
Medicine

Professor
Mary Sheppard
St George’s
University of London, UK
Medicine

Professor
Inger Furseth
Department of Sociology and Human Geography
University of Oslo, Norway
Philosophy

Professor
Shaun Gallagher
Department of Philosophy
University of Memphis, USA
Philosophy

Professor
Birgit Hegner Satir
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Yeshiva University, New York, USA
Science

Professor
Paul O. Wennberg
Division of Geological and Planetary Science
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
Science