Nottingham’s Jermaine Jenas to collect honorary degree from Nottingham Trent University

Collecting an honorary degree:

Jermaine Jenas is a successful television presenter, football pundit and former professional footballer.

Born in Nottingham and raised in Clifton, it was with local club Nottingham Forest he began his professional footballing career, making his debut at the age of just 17. He moved to the Premier League with Newcastle United just a year later and earned his first senior England cap at 19. 

Jermaine turned his attention to media work as a pundit while recovering from a knee injury and became a regular on BBC Match of the Day, as well as BT Sport. He has been presenting The One Show for the BBC since 2020, stating live television provides a similar sense of pressure as performing on the pitch.

Away from the television screens, Jermaine is passionate about working with children and retains strong connections to his home city. He and a friend set up the Aquinas Foundation to help incentivise and raise the aspirations of young people in schools across Nottingham.

The University’s Awards for Outstanding Alumni will be awarded to:

Dr Michael Auer is a statistician and psychologist. He completed Masters degrees in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University and Statistics at the University of Vienna, Austria.

He then undertook a PhD in Psychology with Professor Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University.

Dr Auer has published more than fifty peer-reviewed articles in the area of online gambling on topics such as limit setting, personalised feedback, self-exclusion and pop-up messages.

This academic background, combined with Dr Auer’s commercial experience of more than fifteen years in the gambling industry led to the development of a player tracking tool called ‘mentor’, which is currently used by dozens of online gambling operators across the world.

Amdani Juma is chair of Nottingham Sports Group and a public health specialist. 

Amdani came to the UK from Rwanda where he fled the genocide and spent several years volunteering for organisations such as Refugee Action and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum. 

His passion to improve the health and lives of others led him to leave his work as an engineer to gain experience working for organisations which supported refugees before setting up his own projects. 

These include the African Institute for Social Development (AISD) which is an HIV awareness and research project, the Nottingham Sports Group, and Sanctuary Nottingham, a self-help group for LGBT+ refugees. 

Amdani set up Nottingham Sports Group to ensure there would be a lasting legacy from the 2012 Olympics. The group uses sports to improve health, wellbeing, fitness and relationships of the community in Nottingham and surrounding areas.

Dr Jane Rigbye is currently CEO of Ygam, an award-winning charity working to prevent children and young people from experiencing gaming and gambling harm.

She graduated from her BSc (Hons) Psychology degree at Nottingham Trent University in 2004.

In 2006, Jane Rigbye began PhD studies into Barriers to Treatment Access for Young Problem Gamblers. Working with GamCare to collect data for her studies, she was offered a position at the charity in 2010 and set up the youth service BigDeal – the foundation for numerous services set up across the UK offering education in youth settings. 

Jane achieved chartered psychologist status in 2013, and started work with GambleAware, where she was responsible for commissioning national treatment and education services to reduce gambling harms, including inclusions on the national PSHE curriculum. 

In 2019 Jane was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, and in 2022 she became the CEO of Ygam, where she continues to work to prevent children and young people from experiencing gaming and gambling harms through awareness raising, education and research.

As Offender Manager Probation Service Learner for the National Probation Service in Nottingham, Lillian Malama was awarded the Order of the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to volunteering and the rehabilitation of offenders in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2022.

Lillian graduated from NTU in 2013 with a 2:1 in Criminology. Following graduation she completed the tough, 21-month training process and qualified as a Probation Officer in April 2022. 

Her role is to also help family and friends of offenders when they visit them in prison as well as providing practical and emotional support. 

Lillian has also identified offenders who need support with literacy and has set up writing sessions as well as providing one to one support for those leaving the prison system with issues such as housing.

Isabelle Alexander is the creative talent and brain behind swim and beachwear brand In Capri.

She studied International Fashion Management at Nottingham Trent University, graduating in 2013. During her studies, Isabelle completed a successful internship at Curve New York, in a role which focused on lingerie and swimwear. 

After graduating, she secured a role at Next as Fashion Buyer where her passion for sustainable fashion grew following her involvement in a project aimed at decreasing Next’s use of non-recyclable polyester. 

It was while on holiday that Isabelle had the idea for In Capri – a luxurious yet sustainable resortwear brand, inspired by how things should fit the body. 

She left Next and officially launched In Capri in 2020. It has since grown in popularity, receiving 100% five-star reviews, selling globally, featuring in lifestyle and fashion magazines and winning the Sustainable Business award by the Women’s Business Club while also being voted Drapers Sustainable Fashion ‘Ones to Watch’.

Christian Weaver is a Barrister and founder of The Law in 60 Seconds, an initiative that aims to provide practical legal knowledge to the public. 

He completed both his undergraduate law degree and Bar Professional Training Course at Nottingham Law School, finishing the latter in 2016. 

He has acted on high-profile legal cases and public inquiries and is ranked in both the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

He recently represented the family of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, whose untimely death resulted from prolonged exposure to mould in his home. The case has led to significant changes within social housing, most notably the creation of 'Awaab's Law,' aimed at fortifying tenant protections within social housing.

He was also instructed on the Manchester Arena bombing public inquiry, and is currently instructed on the COVID-19 public inquiry. 

Christian was the UK's Youth Delegate to the Congress of the Council of Europe, where he led the internal human rights working group. In recognition of these exceptional contributions to the legal field, he was awarded Newcomer of the Year at the 2023 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards.

The University’s Awards for Outstanding Alumni Fellows will be awarded to:

Rebecca Cassidy is a creative and solution focused practitioner providing personalised mental health support for children, young people and adults in both an online and face to face settings across the voluntary, charitable and business sectors for the past 13 years. Rebecca was a recipient of the Philip Lawrence National Award in 2012.

Rebecca is currently an emotional wellbeing practitioner at Kooth PLC where she is a wellbeing champion, contributing to published research around assisted moderation and working across the business to provide organisational improvements. Rebecca graduated with a BA (Hons) in Youth Studies from NTU in 2015 and received the Outstanding Contribution to the Wider Community Award.

Brian Fairchild has over twenty-five years of experience in the training industry.

He is currently a Business and Career Coach at The Beeston Coach, providing training and coaching services to individual and corporate clients.

Brian has worked in a variety of roles in the private sector, civil service, voluntary sector and for both Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. Since 2015, he has been an Alumni Fellow at NTU and is an active volunteer with a number of community organisations in Nottingham.

Brian studied Social Science Politics at the University of Leicester, an MA in International Relations at the University of Kent, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Personnel Management at NTU.

Steve McKeown worked in civil engineering for more than 40 years, including 17 years as Managing Director of Whitehouse Construction. 

During his career he has worked for major organisations on incredible projects such as the Channel Tunnel. 

Steve studied Mining Engineering at Nottingham Trent University in the early 1980s and returned to the university around 15 years ago when he decided to study for his MBA. 

He became involved in the Alumni Fellowship scheme and began mentoring Masters students by sharing his own experiences of studying and working. Through this work, Steve has helped students with their studies, securing rich employment opportunities and supporting their self-development. 


Duncan Hicks is the Evolution Team Lead at Alstom and has spent his career in the fast-paced and ever-changing rail industry. 

Duncan started his career in finance at British Rail and, following its privatisation, studied formal qualifications on day release to progress his career. 

At just 22, he became a member of the finance management team lead in his division and continued to learn and adapt through subsequent changes as the company was taken over a further four times.  

Duncan is an advocate of lifelong learning. As a previous student of NTU, gaining his MBA from Nottingham Business School in 2003, Duncan now shares his experience working with students through mentoring, taking part in the Thinkubator challenge and supporting the Communication and Leadership module.

Julian Bond is Head of IT at what was Hillarys Blinds, now the Hillarys brand within the global Hunter Douglas group, where he has been developing award-winning IT infrastructure and support since 2006. 

He moved to Nottingham in 1984 to study mechanical engineering, becoming a chartered engineer and working for Rolls-Royce. But his passion for computing technology led him to take up a role as Systems Analyst for the company. 

He went on to work for several large companies in the East Midlands in IT roles. 

He returned to university in 1996, choosing to study his MBA in Business Information Management here at Nottingham Trent University.  

Julian joined the first cohort of the NTU’s Alumni Fellow scheme to enhance the student experience and to help prepare them for the world of work and continues to contribute as a guest lecturer, as well as chairing Nottingham Business School’s postgraduate advisory board.

Professor Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor and President of Nottingham Trent University, said: “This year, as every year, we celebrate individuals with extraordinary contributions to knowledge, society, and humanity. May these distinguished award winners inspire our graduates to reach new heights, embrace challenges, and leave a lasting mark on the world with passion and purpose."