Stormzy nominated for honorary degree at Cambridge University

British rapper and singer-songwriter Michael Omari Owuo Junior, better known as Stormzy, has been nominated for a honorary degree by the University of Cambridge.

Stormzy will receive an honorary Doctorate in Law in “recognition of his philanthropic work and impact in a number of fields, including education, music, sport, and literature.”

The special Congregation ceremony to award the Doctorate is due to take place on Wednesday 25th June at Senate House, with seven other nominees to also receive honorary degrees.

In 2018, Stormzy launched a Scholarship programme at Cambridge, covering the tuition fees and maintenance costs for two Black British students.

The scholarship programme was expanded in 2021, with HSBC UK agreeing to “fund a further ten students per year.”

The programme was further expanded in 2023, with HSBC UK pledging a further £2 million in funding to support 30 Stormzy Scholarships over a three-year period from 2024-2026.

Since the programme’s launch in 2018, the Stormzy Scholarship has supported 55 Black British students at Cambridge.

The university has credited the ‘Stormzy effect’ for contributing to “an increase in applications to Cambridge from Black students across the UK.” Over the last three years, more than 500 Black British Students have begun their studies at Cambridge.

This is not Stormzy’s first honorary degree, as the rapper was also awarded one by the University of Exeter in 2022, in recognition of his “remarkable contribution to society and extraordinary talent.”

Other nominees for honorary degrees from Cambridge are: actor Sir Simon Russell Beale, political activist and author Professor Angela Davis, former UK Supreme Court Justice Lady Arden of Heswall, former Olympic rower Dame Katherine Grainger, Nobel-prize winning economist Sir Oliver Hart, biologist Professor Maria Leptin and composer and conductor Sir John Rutter.