Glittering prizes

Sir Graeme Davies , principal of Glasgow University, has been appointed chair of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils .

Goldsmiths College, University of London, is to award honorary fellowships to: Alan Bevan , fellow of Queen Mary and the school of pharmacy, University of London; Michael Craig-Martin , emeritus professor of fine art at the college; Sir Paul Girolami , former chairman of Glaxo Holdings; Stanley Glasser , composer and first emeritus professor of music at the college; Dorothy Wedderburn , emeritus professor of industrial sociology and senior research fellow, Imperial College; Dame Cicely Saunders , founder and president of St Christopher's Hospice, South London.

Dame Cicely also receives an honorary degree from the University of Wales . Others go to: Sir John Daniel , assistant director-general for education at Unesco and former vice-chancellor of the Open University (LLD); Tanni Grey-Thomson , Olympic gold medallist and development officer of UK Athletics (LLD); David Trimble , leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (LLD); Dafydd Wigley , member of the Assembly of Wales, president of Mencap in Wales (LLD); Marcel Crochet , rector of the University of Louvain (DSc); Sir David Davies , former vice-chancellor of Loughborough University (DSc); Daniel Huws , former keeper of the National Library of Wales (MA); Dafydd Hughes , local historian and author (MA); Gwilym Humphreys , pioneer in bilingual education (MA); Alice Williams , lecturer in religious studies (MA); T. Gwynn Jones , musical director of the Gorsedd (MMus); Frederick Kingdom , vice-president of the University of Wales, Swansea (MA).

Nathan Efron , professor in optometry and neuroscience at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, has been awarded the Gold Medal of the British Contact Lens Association .

The Fonds National de la Recherche in Belgium has awarded a prize for research into common complications of pregnancy to Graham Burton , of the department of anatomy, University of Cambridge, and his collaborator, Eric Janiaux , reader at the Royal Free Hospital and University College London.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists has elected Ronald Jones , professor of veterinary anaesthesia in the University of Liverpool, to an honorary fellowship; he is the first veterinary anaesthetist to receive the award.

Tim Berners-Lee , inventor of the worldwide web has received the first Royal Academy of Engineering Whittle medal , named after Britain's jet engine genius Sir Frank Whittle.

Ronald Pethig , co-founder of Aura Systems Inc and scientist at the University of Wales, Bangor, has received the first Herman P. Schwan Award for achievement in bioimpedence.