University professor honoured by Queen

A former Lisburn man has been honoured by the Queen in her Birthday Honours List.

Professor Roy Crawford moved from Lisburn to New Zealand ten years ago but still has close family ties in the city.

He has just received the fourth highest honour, a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for his work in tertiary education.

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Professor Crawford,, who now lives in Sunnyhills in East Auckland, has been the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato since 2005.

During his tenure at the University of Waikato, Professor Crawford’s key achievements include leading the University to be world ranked, implementing a research excellence agenda that significantly improved the University’s research capability, modernising the campus, and continuing a tradition of innovation.

Before moving to New Zealand, Professor Crawford Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at Queens University Belfast. He has published eight books and over 300 papers and has been a member of numerous government panels and research grant committees in the UK.

His particular expertise is associated with the rotational moulding of plastics. He is widely recognised as a world leader in this field and has given keynote lectures, courses and seminars on this subject all over the world.