Emeritus Fellow, Professor Zbigniew Pelczynski OBE, receives Honorary Fellowship from Blind Veterans UK

NEWS |

Pembroke recently played host to Blind Veterans UK, who held a special ceremony at College to award Emeritus Fellow, Professor Zbigniew Pelczynski OBE, with the first Honorary Fellowship within the charity. His Fellowship was awarded for the ‘outstanding contributions to research and innovation within welfare and social sciences’. Blind Veterans UK has supported Professor Pelczynski since he lost his sight.

As a young man, Pelczynski fought in the Polish resistance against Nazi occupiers in Warsaw, was taken to Germany as a prisoner of war, and eventually sent to Britain as a member of the British commanded Polish army. He studied Politics at St. Andrews and Oxford University, teaching Politics at Oxford for 40 years. From 1957 – 1992, Professor Pelczynski was a Fellow here at Pembroke. He became an internationally renowned Hegelian scholar, and widely sought after politics tutor. His students included seven future government ministers, a US Senator, and former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

After he retired from teaching at Pembroke, he served as an advisor to the Polish government in shepherding democracy back to his native country. He also led the efforts to provide opportunities for qualified scholars from Poland and other post-communist countries to study at British universities, especially at Oxford and Cambridge.

After the demise of communism in Poland, he established the School for Young Leaders in Warsaw which has provided practical training in politics and public administration to scores of current and former Polish public servants and politicians.

As an Honorary Fellow, Professor Pelczynski will contribute to the development of research relevant to blind veterans and wider society. He commented:

“It’s a great honour to have received this Honorary Fellowship from Blind Veterans UK at this late stage in my life. I’ve benefited a lot from the support from the charity so I’m delighted to be able to give something back. The guidance I’ve had from the Rehabilitation Officers on adapting my home to make sure I can continue to live there has been invaluable.”

Blind Veterans UK is at the forefront of adaptive technologies. Established in 1915, they endeavour to invent, adapt and develop resources to aid in making their beneficiaries lives better. Blind Veterans UK are currently developing resources to effectively reverse the effects of blindness, focusing on biomedical research, social and welfare related research, and innovations.