HRH Prince of Wales visits the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Lampeter Campus

Today, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales visited the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s campus in Lampeter to take part in a special University ceremony celebrating the Prince’s commitment to sustainability  and harmony.

Welcoming his Royal Highness to the University, Vice-Chancellor Professor Medwin Hughes, DL said: “For more than forty years, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, has been actively engaged in crafting a narrative which has transformed our society.

“The leadership and clarity of thought demonstrated in his speeches and articles signifies a deep sense of duty and a readiness to speak out in order to instigate cultural, social, environmental and economic change. His words can be considered as a call to action to challenge our own understanding of stewardship and to be counted for our own engagement in securing a sustainable future.

“His Royal Highness has successfully crafted a narrative which calls upon us to critically reflect and review the nature of this “disconnected world”.  His philosophy of placing Nature and Harmony at the heart of our understanding has produced thought provoking analysis on a global “crisis of perception”.

“Harmony and sustainability is at the heart of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.  Our graduates need to be able to critique and reflect upon the need of ensuring greater harmony in this world.  The University has developed an institute focussed upon harmony; we are awarding five harmony professors today and we are launching a new exhibition which includes excerpts of His Royal Highness’s inspirational speeches and articles,” he adds.

As Royal Patron of the University, His Royal Highness presented Honorary Doctorates to two world renowned individuals– the Venerable Master Chin Kung, Founder of the Chin King Multi-Cultural Educational Foundation and Mr Richard Roberts OBE, Chief Optometric Adviser to the Welsh Government.

The Venerable Master, Chin Kung received an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa).  Chin Kung is a Buddhist monk from the Mahayana tradition. He is the founder of the Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, a global organisation based on the teachings of Pure Land Buddhism. He speaks regularly with various Heads of State and religious leaders, and is a keynote speaker at UNESCO annual multi-faith symposium.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David recently announced an historic strategic accord with the Chin Kung Multi-Cultural Educational Foundation, to develop a range of postgraduate programmes on the Lampeter campus, to be jointly delivered through the joinly-established Academy of Sinology.  The Academy’s mission is to Open the Path to Peace and is grounded in Master Chin Kung’s  core belief  that all religions share a common, universal element of shared values, toleration, compassion and a respect for the views and beliefs of others.

Richard Roberts, CBE, OBE has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science).  In 2009 he helped establish the Wales Optometric Postgraduate Education Centre. He has Life Fellowship of the College of Optometrists and an Honorary Life Membership of the Association of Dispensing Opticians.

During his visit, His Royal Highness also conferred five Harmony Professor of Practice upon highly regarded individuals who’ve made a significant contribution to sustainability in the UK – David Cadman, Juliet Davenport, Peter Davies, Tony Juniper, and John Sauven.

Professor David Cadman is an urban land economist and writer. He is interested in ways in which language and values shape our lives and has explored these themes through a study of myths, teachings of the Buddha, and other sacred texts, looking at how we can dwell more lightly on the land. He is the joint editor of HRH’s Speeches and Articles, 1968 – 2012, published by the University of Wales Press

Juliet Davenport is the founder and CEO of Chippenham-based Good Energy, one of the UK’s first 100% renewable electricity supply and generator companies. A founding member of the Social Stock Exchange, Good Energy has set the energy market standard for ethically and socially responsible companies.

Peter Davies was appointed Commissioner for Wales and Vice Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2005. Welsh Government appointed him as Wales’ first Sustainable Futures Commissioner in April 2011. He was appointed to be the first independent chair of the Climate Change Commission for Wales in 2011.

John Sauven is the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK. He co-ordinated the international campaign to secure a moratorium on further destruction of the Amazon by soya producers. It was one of Greenpeace’s most successful campaigns to protect large areas of the world’s last intact rainforests providing both climate and biodiversity protection.

Tony Juniper is an independent sustainability and environment adviser, including as Special Advisor with the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, Fellow with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and as cofounder of sustainability consultancy group Robertsbridge.

After being awarded Professor of Practice, Tony Juniper said: “It’s wonderful that he Harmony idea is being placed at the heart of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.  I hope that the powerful ideas can help a new generation of thinkers and doers to make the world a better place.”

Tenor, Dennis O’Neill, Director of UWTSD’s Wales International Academy of Voice performed during the ceremony prior to being made a Professor of Practice in a later graduation ceremony.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales also met students from the University’s campus in Lampeter who today graduated with Masters degrees in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology.

School children from Ysgol Bro Pedr in Lampeter gathered to welcome His Royal Highness to the campus along with members of the community.