Professor Dame Magdalene Odundo OBE is an internationally acclaimed ceramic artist, who received her early education in India and Kenya before moving to England in 1971. After completing her undergraduate at the West Surrey College of Art Design (now known as the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham) in 1976, she undertook a teaching post at the Commonwealth Institute, London, in Museum Education before completing her masters at the Royal College of Art, London. She returned to teach at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in 1997, becoming Professor of Ceramics in 2000 and inaugurated as a Professor Emerita in 2016 in recognition of her contribution to the University's research culture. Magdalene is the Chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts. Magdalene's best-known works are hand built using similar techniques as the ancient Greeks and Romans - such as the coiling technique. Many of these are now part of the permanent collections of nearly 50 international museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, The British Museum in London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC. She has held workshops, lectures and residences, solo exhibitions and been part of group exhibitions in various locations across the world for over 40 years. For her work she has been awarded the African Art Recognition Award by the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2008 and the African Heritage Outstanding Achievement in the Arts Award in 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Florida (2014) and University of the Arts London (2016). In 2008 she was awarded an OBE for services to the Arts and Art Education and was made a Dame in the 2020 New Year Honours. At present, Magdalene is also a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, The Art Workers Guild and Chelsea Arts Club. She is a Patron of the National Society for Education and Design (NSEAD) and a Trustee of the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. Magdalene sits on the Collections and Exhibitions Committee and the Nominations Committee and is a member of the Board Diversity and Inclusion working group.