Professor Paul Collier is to be knighted by the Queen in recognition for his services to promoting research and policy change in Africa. The news came as part of the UK government's formal announcement of the 2014 New Year's Honours List, which marks the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the United Kingdom.
Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government; a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College; and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford. From 1998–2003 he took a five-year Public Service leave during which he was Director of the Research Development Department of the World Bank. He is currently a Professeur invité at Sciences Po, and at Paris 1. In 2008 he was awarded a CBE ‘for services to scholarship and development’.
The knighthood provides a crowning of recognition for Collier's achievements, which have been celebrated throughout the past year. In June 2013, the British Prime Minister praised his work as he had been acting as an informal adviser to the government on its agenda for the G8 meetings held in the summer. In October, he was awarded the prestigious 2013 A.SK Social Science Prize. And, since the publication of his latest book, Exodus: How Migration is Changing Our World, late last year, he has stirred public debate and prompted widespread international commentary on the critical issue of migration in a globalised world.
The Blavatnik School of Government is delighted to congratulate Professor Sir Paul Collier on receiving this latest honour in recognition of his achievements in research and policy development.
