Paralympic gold medallist James Roberts MBE has praised the support he has received from Coventry University after being presented with an Honorary Doctorate this week.
James, who was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science on Tuesday, said he was honoured to have been given the award.
“It’s absolutely brilliant, it’s a real honour, it’s something that I’d never really thought or expected, but to have this from Coventry University, who welcomed me back after I got bacterial meningitis and had basically three years out of university, is brilliant,” he said.
James competed as part of the Paralympics GB Wheelchair Rugby Team, who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, and was awarded an MBE in 2022 for Services to Wheelchair Rugby.
James’s life changed forever after his first year at university in 2007 when he returned home to work with the family business over the summer.
After contracting bacterial meningitis, James was forced to undergo a life-changing double amputation, spending around two-and-a-half years in hospital.
Determined to continue his studies when he recovered, James returned to Coventry University to complete his degree in Architectural Design Technology, earning first-class honours and outstanding student of the year from the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologies.
A keen rugby player before his amputations, James never lost his passion for sport and when a nurse in hospital suggested he might have the potential to succeed in wheelchair rugby, he set his mind to competing.
Taking inspiration from Team GB at the 2012 Paralympic Games and supported by Coventry University’s Sports Scholarship Programme, he worked extremely hard to get into the Team GB wheelchair rugby development squad.
Honing his game through competing in the US, James went on to be an integral part of the team, scoring an astounding 105 tries across Great Britain’s five matches at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Since graduating in 2013, alongside his sporting achievements, James has pursued a successful career in architecture and now works as a Senior Chartered Architectural Technologist.
He added: “The whole university looks really good, you can see a lot of investment has gone in and I’ve had a great welcome here today. Coventry University has given me that absolute grounding in architectural design technology, I was lucky enough to get a placement here that was supported by the university. I’ve gone on to become a chartered architectural technologist and now a passive house designer as well.”
To find out more about Sports Scholarships at Coventry University, visit https://www.coventry.ac.uk/life-on-campus/student-life/sport-coventry/sports-scholarships/
About Coventry University
Coventry University is a global, modern university with a mission of creating better futures. We were founded by entrepreneurs and industrialists in 1843 as the Coventry School of Design and we continue to work with businesses to ensure we provide job-ready graduates with the skills and creative thinking to improve their communities.
With a proud tradition of innovative teaching and learning, Coventry University is now one of the largest in the UK and has world-class campus facilities, the UK’s first standalone 5G network and a digital community of learning. Our students are part of a global network that has 50,000 learners studying Coventry University degrees in more than 40 different countries and partnerships with 150 higher education providers worldwide.
Over two centuries, we have flourished in our home city and Coventry University Group now also delivers access to our range of high-quality services and partnerships through bases in London, Scarborough, Belgium, Poland, Egypt, Dubai, Singapore and Africa. From September 2023, we will be teaching students at a new campus in China in a joint institution with Communication University of China.
We have greatly increased our research capacity and capability with a focus on impactful research, delivered for and with partners to address real-world challenges and support the sustainable growth of business and communities. The depth and breadth of our rapidly growing research portfolio was validated by the latest UK research assessment, which saw us jump 22 places in the research power rankings.
We were awarded a Gold rating in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework, proving we deliver excellence in what students care most about – teaching, learning and achieving positive outcomes from their studies. In 2022, we were honoured with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade, the UK’s most prestigious business award. In recent years, we have won many awards and vastly improved our rankings in the league tables that matter to students – but what matters to us is delivering transformational change for our students, partners and communities around the world as we continue to evolve into a global education group.
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