The British Tamil vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester, Nishan Canagarajah, has been awarded a knighthood in the 2026 New Year Honours, in recognition of his services to higher education.
Canagarajah, who has served as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Leicester since November 2019, was among a number of senior academics recognised in this year’s honours list. In addition, three professors from UK universities were awarded damehoods.
Born and educated in Jaffna, Canagarajah later moved to Britain to pursue higher education at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a BA (Hons) degree in electronics and information sciences in 1989, followed by a PhD in digital signal processing in 1993. He was educated at St. John’s College, Jaffna, where he served as head prefect in 1985 and was active in several sports, including cricket, football, volleyball and hockey.
After completing his doctoral studies, Canagarajah joined the University of Bristol as a research assistant in 1993 and went on to hold a range of senior academic leadership roles. These included Faculty of Engineering Research Director, Head of the Department of Computer Science, Head of the Merchant Venturers School of Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. In August 2014, he became Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise.
He is internationally recognised for his research on signal processing and texture classification and has served on national and international research funding, governance and postgraduate education panels.
During his tenure at the University of Leicester, Canagarajah has overseen several major initiatives, including the establishment of the Leicester Institute for Inclusion in Higher Education, which was founded in response to the race awarding gap across the higher education sector.
Commenting on the New Year Honours list, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said: “This year’s Honours list celebrates the very best of Britain – people who put the common good ahead of themselves to strengthen communities and change lives.
“Their quiet dedication speaks to the decent, compassionate country we are proud to be. On behalf of the whole nation, thank you – and congratulations to everyone recognised today.”