Honorary Doctorate to strengthen ties with Armenian academic community

University of Southampton professor Alexey Kavokin has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan, becoming only the second British physicist to receive the prize in the institution’s distinguished history. He was presented with the award by Yerevan’s Faculty of Physics and Technology, joining the University of Bristol’s Professor Sir Michael Berry who previously received the award in 2012.

Alexey, an expert in solid state optics and semiconductor physics, has built an international reputation across a 12-year career in Southampton and currently contributes to the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Quantum, Light and Matter division.

“It is a great honour to become only the second British physicist to receive such recognition from this significant institution,” Alexey says. “I deeply respect the scientific culture of our Armenian colleagues and hope I can contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between the UK and Armenia. I was delighted to first hear this news from Professor Hayk Sargsyan, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Technology, and am humbled to hear that my name was put forward by several members of their team.”

Alexey’s academic career has included spells at the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in Russia and the Blaise Pascal University in France. In 2010, he co-founded the Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics, and was later appointed Head of the Spin Optics Laboratory at the University of Saint Petersburg.

The Russian-Armenian University is an intergovernmental university under the joint authority of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. In 2017, it received the nation’s equal highest rating from the Academic Ranking of Work Universities – European Standard (ARES).