Apple design chief Jony Ive awarded Stephen Hawking Fellowship

Apple CDO Jony Ive was this week awarded the Cambridge Union Society's Stephen Hawking Fellowship, becoming the second person to receive the honor created in 2017 in partnership with its namesake.

In an announcement ceremony on Tuesday at the Cambridge Union, Charles Connor, Cambridge Union Society President for Michaelmas 2018, called Ive one of the "most influential individuals in modern technology," reports Varsity.

The Hawking Fellowship is an honorary scholarship established that was established last year, just months prior to Hawking's death in March 2018. The honor identifies distinguished figures in the STEM fields, and recognizes their contributions to their respective crafts and industries.

For 2018, the Hawking Committee narrowed down potential recipients to a shortlist of 14 people, who were subsequently ranked by an external panel of three Cambridge academics.

Ive is expected to deliver a lecture at the Cambridge Union, which claims standing as the world's oldest debating society, during the Michaelmas term, or the first academic session of 2018. Connor believes the address will be a "reflection on his career, split with a more general reflection on technology and design as a whole."

Ive has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades during his time at Apple. He was knighted in 2011 for "services to design and enterprise," named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London, Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts and was last year designated as Chancellor of London's Royal College of Art.

At Apple, Ive is directly involved in the design and development of the company's popular consumer products, including iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac and more. Over more than 25 years, he carved out an increasingly prominent role at Apple. In Walter Isaacson's biography of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Ive is described as the tech guru's "spiritual partner" who was left with "more operational power" than anyone else at the company following Jobs' death in 2011.

Promoted to chief design officer in May 2015, Ive took a step back from day-to-day design duties to concentrate on a reworking of Apple's retail stores and the completion of the company's Apple Park campus. He returned to direct control of Apple's design team late last year.