Safeguarding heritage: Dame Helen Ghosh awarded honorary degree
Release Date 06 July 2016
Dame Helen Ghosh will be presented for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters at the 2.30 pm ceremony on Wednesday 6 July 2016 by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, Research Dean.
Dame Helen is recognised for safeguarding national heritage and encouraging creativity in doing so.
On being awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters Professor, Dame Helen Ghosh, said: “It feels very ‘grown up’ to receive an honorary degree, it’s not something you ever expect to happen. To receive a degree from a University such as Reading is an honour."
Dame Helen Ghosh is Director-General of the National Trust. Formerly a member of the Civil Service, Helen joined the Trust in late 2012.
Helen entered the Civil Service from the University of Oxford, where she read modern history. During her career, Helen worked in a wide range of Government departments, including seven years as a Permanent Secretary in two departments, Defra and the Home Office. Helen worked on multiple social policy issues, including child poverty, asylum and immigration, and local community regeneration. She also worked on key environmental policies, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the protection of habitat for endangered species.
In 2012, Helen became Director-General of the National Trust, where her interest in history, people and places, and her commitment to the environment came together. Since joining the Trust, Helen has overseen an ambitious programme of work, including leading the development of the Trust’s 10-year strategy, ‘Playing Our Part’, and committing £2 million a week to the conservation of Britain’s landscapes, houses and coastline.
Helen is a long-term member of the Trust and of her local Wildlife Trust in Oxfordshire. She is married to an academic and has two grown-up children. To relax, Helen enjoys family life, looking after her allotment, walking and watching ballet.