Karamjit Singh receives honorary doctorate for public service

A GRADUATE from the early days of Warwick Business School has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Warwick.

Karamjit Singh CBE, who began his career in 1971 as a research associate in the Industrial Relations Research Unit, now part of Warwick Business School, was named an honorary doctor of laws for his contributions to public service. His administrative work includes roles within the NHS in the UK and medical camps in India.

Singh's career began with research work and a Master’s in Industrial Relations in 1976. He has served in local government, community work, and chaired NHS mental health and acute hospital trusts.

“As a Coventrian and child of migrants who has always lived in the city, it is a privilege to be awarded this honorary degree by Warwick University,” Singh, 74, said.

Singh’s parents were among the first South Asian settlers in Coventry during the 1940s. He has served as a trustee of the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash, the oldest Sikh temple in the city, and funded medical camps in the North Indian village of his parents’ birth.

His career has spanned different public service sectors, addressing race equality, potential police misconduct, miscarriages of justice, and reviewing welfare decisions by the Social Fund.

In 1990, he was awarded a 12-month residential Harkness Fellowship to study public policy in the US. In 2000, he received a CBE for services to the administration of justice.

“Since I graduated with an MA in Industrial Relations, my career has taken me across various parts of the public sector at local, regional, and national levels,” Singh said.

“I have also continued to take an interest in the University of Warwick, and over the past decades, I have watched how the University and WBS have established profiles and reputations for quality recognised globally. I was a member of the WBS Alumni Board and the University Council, and I appreciate the leadership and achievements of WBS and the University, as well as the global diversity of the alumni body.”

Singh is currently a board member of the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and chair of the Warwickshire libraries advisory committee. He is also a member of the Companions Board of the Chartered Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.