The Courtauld Institute of Art is proud to announce the conferment of Honorary Doctorate degrees (Doctor Honoris Causa) to two distinguished figures in the field of Art History: Professor Lubaina Himid CBE RA and Dr Helen C. Evans.
Professor Lubaina Himid CBE RA is an artist and curator who has dedicated her career to uncovering marginalised and silenced histories. Throughout a career spanning four decades, she has explored and expanded the possibilities of painting and storytelling to depict contemporary everyday life and to fill gaps in art history through the depiction and centering of Black figures and experiences.
Self-described as a painter, cultural activist, witness, storyteller, and historian, Lubaina was one of the first artists involved in the UK’s Black Art movement in the 1980s and continues to create activist art which is widely exhibited in galleries worldwide. She has been a consistent and trailblazing champion of women artists and has curated significant group exhibitions, including The Thin Black Line at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (1985), which was revisited in Thin Black Line(s) at Tate Britain (2011-12) and is currently being restaged at the ICA in Connecting Thin Black Lines 1985-2025.
Lubaina is Professor Emerita of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire. She was awarded the Turner Prize in 2017, was made a CBE for services to art in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, and was elected a Royal Academician the same year.
Dr Helen C. Evans is the Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator Emerita of Byzantine Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. She is a scholar, curator and a leading expert on the arts of Armenia and the wider Byzantine world.
At The Met, Helen oversaw the installation of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Byzantine Art, the first galleries devoted to Byzantine art in a major encyclopaedic museum. She also organised some of the most ambitious, compelling, and internationally award-winning exhibitions of medieval art that The Met has shown, including The Glory of Byzantium (1997), Byzantium: Faith and Power (2004), Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (2012), and Armenia! (2018).
Helen is a former Head of The Met’s Forum of Curators, Conservators and Research Scientists and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. She is a past President of both the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA) and the Association of Art Museum Curators. She is chair of the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture (MJCBAC).
The conferring of these Honorary Doctorates underscores The Courtauld’s dedication to recognising leaders in the fields of Art and Art History who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishments and inspire future generations. The honorary degrees were presented at The Courtauld’s Graduation Ceremony on 23 July 2025.
Acknowledging their outstanding support of the arts, The Courtauld also awarded an Honorary Fellowship to Sam Fogg and Dr Yan Huo.
Sam Fogg is one of the world’s preeminent dealers in medieval arts spanning from Western Europe to Islamic West Asia, and the Far East. Earning a BA in Art History from The Courtauld, he has been a keen supporter of research, major publications, collection building, and philanthropy, helping disseminate new knowledge and he has made discoveries that have been recognised and celebrated by academics, curators, and collectors.
Dr Yan Huo is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Capula Investment Management LLP. Prior to co-founding Capula in 2005, Yan spent most of his professional career at JP Morgan where he worked in its Derivatives Research and Proprietary Positioning business. Yan has made a profound impact on education and the arts through the Huo Family Foundation, which is amongst the most significant supporters of exhibitions in the United Kingdom.
