former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland the Very Rev Professor Iain Torrance and world-renowned scientist Sir Philip Cohen, of Dundee University, were among five people to receive honorary doctorates from St Andrews University yesterday.

Professor Cohen received an honorary degree of doctor of science in recognition of his major contributions to science, health and the economic development of Scotland.

In his laureation address, Professor Garry Taylor, of the school of biology, said, “It is no exaggeration to say that Sir Philip is one of the world’s top scientists.

“He arrived in Dundee as a new lecturer in 1971, working in what was then thought to be a narrow field of protein phosphorylation.

“History now shows that the addition and removal of phosphate groups by a large family of specific enzymes is fundamental to how cells interact with and respond to their environment.

“Abnormalities in protein phosphorylation can be related to many diseases such as cancer, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, and Sir Philip has made many seminal discoveries.”

His research has won him many prizes and awards, including the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine and the Datta Medal of the European Federation of Biochemical Societies. He is a fellow of the Royal Societies of both London and Edinburgh, holds several other fellowships and honorary degrees, and in 1998 was knighted for his services to science.

Professor Taylor added, “Sir Philip has helped to put Dundee back on the world map. The remarkable development of life sciences at Dundee has brought into that city a large number of well qualified, moderately well-paid scientists who are contributing to the city’s economy and culture.

“It has also led to Dundee being the centre of a growing Scottish biotechnology industry. The benefits to Dundee and Scotland, in prestige, economics and knowledge transfer that have occurred are clear.”

Aberdeen-born Dr Iain Torrance, who was presented with an honorary degree of doctor of divinity, is a former graduate of St Andrews and also Edinburgh and Oxford universities.

Within the past year, he has been appointed president of Princeton Theological Seminary, USA, one of the most prestigious and important institutions in the world of theological scholarship.

In 2001 he was appointed a chaplain to the Queen in Scotland, the same year that he became dean of the faculty of arts and divinity at Aberdeen University, having also held a personal chair in patristics and Christian ethics.

In his laureation address, Professor Ronald Piper, vice-principal of learning and teaching, said, “The balance that he achieved between his service to the academic community and his service to the church, however, was recognised in 2003 when he was selected to be moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

“Iain Torrance is far from the end of his career, even though he has already achieved more than sufficient distinction as a scholar, church leader and academic leader to merit the recognition that we are about to offer to him.”

Emeritus professor of natural history at Edinburgh University, Professor Aubrey Manning, a former chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, received an honorary degree of doctor of science in recognition of his major contributions to behavioural research, conservation and the public understanding of science.

Renowned as a superb communicator, he has in his retirement built up a second career in the media, with both television and radio series and his BBC2 television geology series Earth Story.

He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, has won prestigious awards and medals from the Behaviour Genetics Association, the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and the Zoological Society of London, and received honorary degrees from other universities.

An honorary degree of doctor of science was conferred on Professor Sir Alasdair Breckenridge in recognition of his major contribution to medical science, particularly the study and use of medicines.

Born in Fife and educated at Bell Baxter School, Cupar, he read medicine at St Andrews University. He undertook much of his postgraduate training at the Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London.

In 1974 he was awarded his doctorate in medicine with honours by Dundee University. In the same year, he was appointed chair of clinical pharmacology at Liverpool University, where he built up an exceptional department.

He is a fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of both London and Edinburgh, a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a founding fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, while internationally he has been a central figure in the World Health Organisation in relation to the drug treatment of malaria and HIV infection.

He was awarded the CBE in 1995 and knighted for services to medicine in 2003 and is chairman of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

In his laureation address, Professor Simon Herrington, of the Bute Medical School, said, “In the current climate, when academic medicine is under increasing pressure, he serves as a shining example of what can be achieved by someone who focuses on the application of science to the safe practice of medicine.”

Finally, an honorary degree of doctor of letters was presented to Professor Quentin Skinner, who successively held the chair of political science and the regius chair of modern history at Cambridge.