Nesbitt is installed as new Chancellor

Joining the new Chancellor on Tuesday were four new honorary graduates –actor Conleth Hill, and business leaders Tony Hopkins, Peter Fitzgerald and Bro McFerran.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard Barnett, said: "It is fitting that this ceremony will take place in the Riverside Theatre, since it is here that our new Chancellor spent his formative years as an actor.

"While he has gone on to achieve national and international acclaim, he has never forgotten his roots and remains deeply committed to this theatre and to this region.

"And it is this characteristic that singled out James as the ideal person to be the University's Chancellor: acknowledged for his excellence nationally and internationally and deeply committed to his home region.

"There could be no better role model for our students or, indeed, for the University as whole."

Dr Nesbitt (who received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Ulster in 2003) is the fourth Chancellor of the University of Ulster, and the first to have been born in Northern Ireland.

His three distinguished predecessors were Lord Grey of Naunton (1984-1992), Baroness Dame Julia Neuberger (1993-2001) and Sir Richard Nichols (2002-2010).