Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE, a south London mother whose tireless and inspiring campaigning led to the first legal recognition of London’s air pollution as the cause of her daughter’s death collected an Honorary Fellowship from Goldsmiths, University of London.
She was joined by Eclipse Theatre’s former artistic director Dawn Walton and former Goldsmiths Chair of Council Baroness Dinah Caine at a degree convocation ceremonies this week.
Since her daughter Ella’s death in 2013, Rosamund has become a leading figure in the global fight against air pollution with her advocacy recognised by the World Health Organisation who made her their BreatheLife Champion. She set up the Ella Roberta Foundation to spearhead the campaign to make unpolluted air a legal right.
Award winning director of film, radio and TV Dawn Walton OBE made a career move from the corporate world to arts via study for a degree in theatre and performance at Goldsmiths to later become the Founder of Eclipse Theatre, a Black-led touring theatre company.
Dinah Caine served 6 years as Goldsmiths Chair of Council, stepping down recently. Baroness Caine of Kentish Town CBE was appointed as a Labour Peer in 2025. Baroness Caine has been an advocate for UK creative industries.
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE FBSA
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is a clean air campaigner, the founder of the Ella Roberta Foundation, and a World Health Organization BreatheLife Champion.
She began her activism following the tragic death of her nine-year-old daughter, Ella, in 2013. After years of tireless campaigning, a landmark coroner’s ruling in 2020 found that air pollution had contributed to Ella’s death, the first time in the world this had been officially recorded as a cause of death.
Rosamund’s work continues through her Foundation, which campaigns for clean air policies and greater awareness of the links between pollution and public health. She has influenced local and national legislation, contributed to global forums including COP conferences and WHO summits, and is a leading voice for environmental and health justice.
She was appointed CBE in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to public health.
Baroness Caine of Kentish Town CBE
Dinah Caine was appointed as a Labour Peer in 2025. She recently completed a six-year term as Chair of Council at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is currently Chair of Camden Council’s STEAM Board. She also sits on several advisory boards focused on higher education policy.
Dinah was formerly Chief Executive and Chair of Creative Skillset and a member of the Creative Industries Council. Her wider public service includes roles on the Civic Universities Commission, the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value, and the London Skills and Employment Board, advising two Mayors of London.
She has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to the media and creative industries with both an OBE and a CBE, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of BAFTA, and a Fellow of the Royal Television Society.
Dawn Walton OBE
Born and raised in Crofton Park, South-east London, as the eldest of five children, Dawn Walton’s parents came from Barbados and Carriacou. After completing her formative education and spending 12 years in a commercial career, she returned to academic life, enrolling on Goldsmiths’ BA in Drama and Theatre Arts.
Dawn is now an award-winning director of theatre, film, radio and television, marking nearly three decades as an artist and cultural leader. She founded Eclipse Theatre Company in 2010—which became the UK’s principal Black-led national touring production company—and led it for ten transformative years before stepping down in 2019.
Her theatre work includes acclaimed productions such as The Death of a Black Man (Hampstead Theatre), Antigone (Mercury Theatre), The Gift (Theatre Royal Stratford East / Belgrade), Black Men Walking, Red Dust Road and salt (coproduced across Royal Court, Schaubühne, Public Theater and others). She also directed salt for BBC4—winner of the Grierson Award for Best Arts Documentary in 2022—and directed a notable series of short film dramas titled 10by10 for The Space/BBC.
She was appointed OBE in 2020 for her services to theatre and named by The Stage in 2019 as one of the top 100 most influential figures in British theatre and the performing arts.
About Goldsmiths, University of London
Goldsmiths, University of London is an institution with a rich academic history and known for its creative approach. With nearly four-fifths of our research rated internationally excellent or world-leading, our work shapes the future, changes lives and is at the forefront of creative practice.
Around 8,000 students are based on our single-site campus in the heart of Southeast London, studying undergraduate, postgraduate, and teacher training in the arts and humanities, social sciences, cultural studies, psychology, computing, entrepreneurial business, law, and management.
Celebrating 120 years after welcoming our first students as part of the University of London in 1905, Goldsmiths alumni include Booker Prize-winning writer Bernardine Evaristo, artist and filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen, artist Sir Antony Gormley, musician James Blake and the poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.
At Goldsmiths Different is what we do – From creating the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art and providing a community-focused cultural hub through one of London’s leading art galleries, to the Goldsmiths Prize, the only book prize rewarding new way of novel writing, Goldsmiths is driven by aligning pioneering research with critical perspectives and approaches.
