Distinguished nurse and humanitarian Sylvia Wright OBE to be awarded honorary doctorate by Leeds Beckett University

Having taught at the university, Sylvia has spent the last four decades providing healthcare in India through the Sylvia Wright Trust. She retired in 2023 aged 85 and has since returned to her hometown of Leeds.

Sylvia's nursing career took her from Community Health for an area of inner-city Leeds to Senior Tutor in General Nursing, District Nursing and Health Visiting at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University).

In 1982, Sylvia felt a calling to serve the poor. She sold her house and car, cashed in her NHS pension and set off to India alone. Over the last four decades, Sylvia established mobile clinics and medical support for some of the poorest regions, developed a modern 180-bed hospital, a boarding school for 200 profoundly deaf children, a day centre for up to 100 severely disabled children and a nursing college for up to 120 students.

For her outstanding career and humanitarian activity, Sylvia received an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 and later an OBE from Prince Charles.

On receiving an honorary doctorate from Leeds Beckett University, Sylvia Wright OBE said: "I am greatly honoured by the award of this honorary degree from the university where I worked.

"I am now 86 and have spent the first 46 years of my life in the UK and the next 40 in Tamil Nadu, India. Most of those 40 years were dedicated to serving people who are poor, sick or who have disabilities.

"It has been far from easy. Without the generous, regular financial help and support from the Sylvia Wright Trust, it would not have been possible. Together we have done our best to help, serve, improve and develop the lives of the people God has made known to us. It is humbling constantly to meet people whose life has been transformed in so many ways by the services of our organisation."

Leeds Beckett University Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Slee said: "Sylvia Wright's life and career is an example of everything this university hopes for its graduates. Sylvia devoted the first part of her career to excellence, developing her practice and teaching others to do the same. After receiving her calling, she then spent over 40 years using her determination, resolve and considerable knowledge to offer expert care to those in the world who needed it most.

"Sylvia joins over 2,200 students graduating from the School of Health this year. These include nurses, therapists and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines who will follow in Sylvia's footsteps to meet the healthcare needs of those they encounter in the UK and beyond."

Sylvia Wright OBE will receive her honorary doctorate during Leeds Beckett's graduation week in July, where over 7,500 students and nearly 29,000 guests will attend ceremonies. Over 11,000 students will graduate from the university this summer.