Honorary Fellowship for Human Rights Law Professor Conor Gearty

Honorary Fellowships are an esteemed honour, conferred by the Governing Body on persons of distinction whom the College holds in high standing.

A Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Professor Conor Gearty has four honorary degrees from three different countries, including one from University College Dublin, and is an Honorary Bencher of the Irish barristers’ Inn of Court (The King’s Inn) as well as a Bencher at Middle Temple. He is an Honorary KC.

“I would be none of these things without Wolfson College," says Conor, "it is where I studied for my LLB, as the Masters in Law was called in those long-gone days. My Phd at Wolfson was made possible by being awarded the Ribband Studentship, the only doctoral scholarship that was awarded by Wolfson in those days, and even then only once every three years.”

Returning to Wolfson

Conor went on to a fellowship at Emmanuel College but stayed on as Director of Studies in Law for Wolfson for many years. He left Cambridge for London in 1991 but a large part of his heart has remained with Wolfson. He met his late wife Diane Wales here and has been back frequently over the years.