The Chancellor Sir Christian Bonington presented the fellowships at a dinner hosted by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark E. Smith.

Professor Peter Checkland

Following a successful career with ICI, Professor Checkland became Professor of Commercial Systems at Lancaster in 1969. He pioneered impact-led research, and with colleagues developed Soft Systems Methodology which enables managers to engage with real life situations. His SSM based approach to problem solving in organisations is now taught around the world, in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

An eminent scholar, his publications are now classic texts and the International Council for Systems Engineering named him as one of the most influential people in the field. He also served as Chairman of Lancaster University Management School.

Ian Miller MBE

Awarded an MBE in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List, Ian Miller is one of the world’s leading low temperature technicians and has contributed greatly to the success of Lancaster’s Ultralow Temperature project. He worked in the Microkelvin Group in the Department of Physics with Professor George Pickett FRS who said that Ian’s contribution had been vital to the success of the group and to his own award of Fellow of the Royal Society.

He has helped other low temperature groups around the world by providing Lancaster experience and technology which can now be found productively operating across Europe, North America and the Middle East.

His services to physics were recognised in 2010 when he received a Royal Society Hauksbee Award created to reward the unsung heroes of scientific research.