The Honorary Patronage is the highest award that the Society can bestow on a non-member. The earliest councils selected leading minds from Irish and British society, and made them into Honorary Patrons, charging them with protecting the Society and using their good names to ensure its continued survival.

In modern times, suggestions for Honoary Patrons are submitted at the end of every Session and approved by Council. These potential patrons are then informed of their nomination by the President and accept the award with a speech or interview. More recently, Honorary Patrons are selected from the fields of Politics, Business, Academia and Arts, and only those guests whose contribution within their sphere is considered exceptional are made into Honoary Patrons...

Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern was Ireland’s Taoiseach for nearly eleven years from 1997 to 2008, leading the country through the glory years of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economic boom. During his time in office, Ahern was heavily involved in the Northern Irish peace process, and helped negotiate 1998’s Good Friday Agreement. He resigned as Taoiseach and leader of the governing Fianna Fail party in 2008, with four electoral successes behind him. He was named an Honorary Patron of the Society in 2004.

François Bourguignon
Bourguignon was the Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2003-2007. As Chief Economist, he contributed to placing economic growth and its relationship with inequalities, and evaluation of the development impact of programs and policies at the centre of the Bank’s research agenda. He is currently Director of the Paris School of Economics. Upon his visit to The University Philosophical Society, he was named an Honorary Patron.

Lord Mark Malloch Brown 
An accomplished diplomat and economist, Mark Malloch Brown served as Vice President of the World Bank between 1994 and 1999. He has also occupied several high offices in the United Nations, including Human Rights Commissioner and Deputy Secretary-General, and is currently a Minister of State in the British Foreign Office. A key architect of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, he was given the title Baron Malloch-Brown in 2007, and took his seat as a life peer in the House of Lords. He was named an honorary patron of the Society in 2005.

Gabriel Byrne
Byrne is an Irish actor, author, film director and producer. A graduate of University College Dublin, Byrne began his career as a playwright, often writing in Irish; he did not start acting until the age of 29, when he appeared at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. Later, he would work with the National Theatre in London before making his screen debut in 1981’s Excalibur. Appearances in films like The Usual Suspects, Enemy of the State and Vanity Fairled him to international success, and he was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Society in 2007.

The Edge
Born David Evans, The Edge has been U2’s guitarist for over thirty years, and is considered one of the greatest guitarists of the contemporary era. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine placed him 23rd in their Top 100 Guitarists of All Time issue. The Edge also plays keyboard, and provides backing vocals. Although born in London, The Edge was raised in north Dublin. His hat-wearing image has led him to become one of the most recognisable faces in modern rock and for his outstanding contribution to the music industry, he received the Honorary Patronage of the Society.

Mohamed ElBaradei 
Mohamed ElBaradei is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He has held this position since 1997, and during that time has worked tirelessly for international diplomacy with regimes engaged in nuclear development; in recognition of his efforts, he and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. ElBaradei accompanied Hans Blix in his UN inspection of weapon facilities in Iraq in 2003. He was made an Honorary Patron in 2007. 

Niall Ferguson 
Niall Ferguson, the world-renowned academic and historian, was awarded the honorary patronage of the University Philosophical Society. With a career that includes fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge, Ferguson is one of the world’s most highly regarded counter factualists, specializing in the history of colonialism and imperialism. His books have included Empire and War of the World, both of which were accompanied by Channel 4 documentary series. Ferguson is currently the Laurence A Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a position he has held since 2004. 

Sir Bob Geldof
Geldof, a native of Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, first achieved fame in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, one of the most successful bands in the punk movement. He is best-known, however, for his political activism. Since the great success of 1985’s Live Aid concert, Geldof has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of global poverty. He was a member of Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa, and currently sits on the Africa Progress Panel. In 2005, Geldof organised the Live 8 concerts.

Newt Gingrich
Gingrich served as the 58th Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1995-1999. He is recognised for his role as leader of the so-called “Republican Revolution” in the House, which ended over forty years of a continuous Democrat majority. During his tenure as Speaker, Gingrich was the public face of the Republican opposition to the then-President Bill Clinton. Gingrich visited the University Philosophical Society and was made an Honorary Patron.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
When appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice by Bill Clinton in 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg made history by becoming the second woman, and first Jewish woman, to serve on the bench. Regarded as the most liberal of the current Supreme Court judges, Ginsburg has consistently supported abortion, environmentalism, and equal rights for women and minorities. She visited Dublin in 2005 to receive her Honorary Patronage.

John Hume
One of the most important figures in the modern political history of Northern Ireland, John Hume was one of the key architects of the 1990s Peace Process. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, which he led from 1979 to 2001. During his political career, Hume dedicated much of his time to the cause of nationalists in Northern Ireland; his “secret talks” with the British government in the 1980s are believed to have led to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. He and David Trimble, leader of the UUP, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. Hume was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society in 2004.

FW de Klerk 
Frederik Willem de Klerk was the President of South Africa from 1989 to 1994. He was instrumental in radically reforming the country, and for engineering the end of Apartheid. In recognition of his work, de Klerk was in 1993 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade he shared with his successor, Nelson Mandela. De Klerk served as Mandela’s Vice President until 1996, ensuring a peaceful transition to South Africa’s new system.  

Senator John McCain
John McCain, a United States Senator for Arizona and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, is the Republican Party presidential candidate for 2008. As a naval aviator, McCain was captured by the North Vietnamese in 1967 and held as a Prisoner of War for six years. He received seventeen medals for his service, eventually retiring in 1981 to pursue a career in politics. McCain has served in the Senate since 1986, and was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Society in 2005.

Dame Helen Mirren
The multi-award-winning British actress Dame Helen Mirren is highly regarded and respected throughout her profession. Throughout her lengthy and prolific career, Mirren has appeared in a number of challenging roles on stage and screen. She won three consecutive BAFTA Awards for her starring role in Prime Suspect, the long-running British TV series, and had two Oscar nominations under her belt before winning the coveted Best Actress award for her appearance in the titular role of Stephen Frears’ The Queen. In 2007, she received the Society’s Honorary Patronage.

Joseph Nye
Joseph Nye is the co-founder of the international relations theory of neoliberalism, which was defined in his 1977 work Power and Interdependence, written with Robert Keohane. Having studied at Princeton, Harvard and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Nye is well-known among political commentators and academics for his exploration of transnational interdependence and world politics. He is also a pioneer of the modern soft power theory. Nye is currently a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, having previously served as its dean. He visited the Trinity in 2005 and was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Society.

Al Pacino
Regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, Pacino first achieved widespread recognition for his breakthrough performance in 1972’s The Godfather, which earned him the first of seven Oscar nominations (he would finally win the coveted Best Actor award in 1992, for Scent of a Woman). In a career spanning five decades, Pacino has divided his time between the stage and screen, and was awarded the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2006; a month later, he was recognised by the University Philosophical Society as an Honorary Patron.

George Ritzer
One of the world’s leading sociologists, George Ritzer wrote the massively influential The McDonaldization of Society in 1993. He is largely self-taught, and is well-known in the academic world for his distinctive contributions to the study of consumption, globalization, metatheory, and modern and postmodern social theory. Ritzer was made an Honorary Patron of the Society during his 2006 visit to Dublin.

Sir Salman Rushdie
Sir Salman Rushdie is a widely acclaimed British-Indian novelist whose works include The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown and Midnight's Children, for which he was awarded the 1981 Booker Prize. He caused controversy with his 1988 work, The Satanic Verses; following allegations that it was blasphemous against Islam, a fatwa was issued against Rushdie. This led to the United Kingdom breaking diplomatic relations with Iran, and the author lived under police protection for several years. For his unique contribution to the world of literature, he received his honorary patronage during the 319th session in 2004.

Edward Said
Edward Saïd (1935 – 2003) was a Palestinian-American philosopher and political activist. His theory of Orientalism, outlined in his 1978 book of the same name, dealt with what he saw as prejudiced Western attitudes towards the Middle East. It is widely recognised as one of the most important post-colonial theories of the 20th century. As controversial an activist as he was a philosopher, Saïd was an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights, and took part in protests in Lebanon in Palestine. He received his Honorary Patronage shortly before his death in 2003. 

Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone is an American director and screenwriter who has won Academy Awards for Midnight Express, Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. Stone is well-known for his series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he served as an infantry soldier, as well as works like Wall Street, JFK and Any Given Sunday. He is known for his outspoken views on cultural and political issues, particularly war. Stone was made an Honorary Patron of The University Philosophical Society in 2006.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Tutu is the South African cleric and activist who rose to fame in the 1980s as one of the most vehement opponents of apartheid. He became the first black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, and Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Throughout his lifetime, Tutu has focused on drawing the world’s attention to issues in the Third World, such as poverty, AIDS and undemocratic governments. A vocal opponent of both the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe and the Chinese activities in Tibet, Tutu has been recognised throughout the world for his dedication to the cause of peace. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007, and was appointed an Honorary Patron upon his visit to the University Philosophical Society in 2006.


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