THE grandson of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi is to be honoured with an award from Liverpool Hope University.

Professor Rajmohan Gandhi is a distinguished academic, author, journalist and politician in his own right.

Among his many activities, he has worked consistently for India-Pakistan and Hindu-Muslim reconciliation. He has also tried to address the divide between the West and the world of Islam.

He will receive a Doctorate of Letters at Liverpool Hope’s graduation ceremony on July 13. He was last at the university in 2005, when he gave the second annual civic lecture at the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies.

He is currently a Research Professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.

Prof Gandhi is also a former member of the upper house of the Indian parliament, and led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Other figures to be honoured by the university include former Prime Minister’s wife Cherie Booth QC, who will receive her Doctorate of Laws which she was due to collect in 2009.

Ms Booth, who was brought up in Crosby, pulled out of the ceremony last year after coming down with a suspected case of swine flu.

The honorary degree is in recognition of her legal career as a leading barrister specialising in public law and human rights.

She has also set up a Foundation for Women, in response to her experiences meeting and talking to women around the world.

Also receiving awards during the series of graduation ceremonies at Liverpool’s RC Metropolitan Cathedral are the renowned Liverpool-born philosopher and writer, Sir Anthony Kenny, who is to be honoured with a Doctorate of Divinity.