Tech entrepreneur awarded Honorary Doctorate

Richard Howells OBE with Rt Hon Dame Nicola Davies DBE, Chancellor of Aberystwyth University

Richard Howells OBE with Rt Hon Dame Nicola Davies DBE, Chancellor of Aberystwyth University

15 July 2026

Technology company CEO Richard Howells OBE has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by Aberystwyth University.

Richard Howells is CEO of Bronze Software Labs Ltd, an applied research and development company whose work spans Formula 1, defence, big data and ‘tech for good’ initiatives powered by AI. The business is one of the country’s highest growth tech companies and he has represented the UK on 13 international trade missions.

He also founded The Tribe Project, which uses AI to predict how to care for an ageing population in left behind communities.

Richard Howells was presented with an Honorary Doctorate by Professor Chris Price on 15 July.

The full conferral presentation is available below, in the language in which it was delivered.

Technology company CEO Richard Howells OBE has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by Aberystwyth University.

Richard Howells is CEO of Bronze Software Labs Ltd, an applied research and development company whose work spans Formula 1, defence, big data and ‘tech for good’ initiatives powered by AI. The business is one of the country’s highest growth tech companies and he has represented the UK on 13 international trade missions.

He also founded The Tribe Project, which uses AI to predict how to care for an ageing population in left behind communities.

Richard Howells was presented with an Honorary Doctorate by Professor Chris Price on 15 July.

The full conferral presentation is available below, in the language in which it was delivered.

Presentation of Richard Howells OBE by Professor Chris Price

Canghellor, Is-Ganghellor, graddedigion, gyfeillion. Pleser o’r mwyaf yw cyflwyno Richard Howells i dderbyn gradd Doethur er Anrhydedd, Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, graduates and supporters. It is an honour and a privilege to present Richard Howells with an Honorary Doctorate of Aberystwyth University.

Today belongs to the students sitting in front of me. So it is fitting that the person we honour is someone who once sat exactly where they are sitting now: a computer science graduate of this university, who left here with the very degree many of you are collecting today.

His name is Richard Howells.

In a computer science department, you spend your career teaching people things and hoping they'll do something worthwhile with them. You teach them to build systems, to solve problems, to think clearly about difficult things. And then they graduate, they disappear into the world, and most of the time you never find out what became of them.

With Richard, we did find out.

Fifteen years ago, Richard founded a software company, Bronze Software Labs, and built it into a genuine success — building technology for everyone from government and the military to museums and schools. But the thing that tells you who he is isn't the variety of the work, or the success of the company - it's what he chose to do with that success. He kept in contact with the Computer Science department here. He gave many of our industrial-year students their first real experience of industry, he employed our graduates, he provided sponsorship for industrial conferences that we ran.

He didn't simply take what the university gave him and move on. He spent years giving it back.

And then he did something harder than building a company. He took everything he had learned and pointed it at one of the most stubborn problems this country has - how we care for people who need help and support. The Tribe Project grew out of his own search for care for his family.

It has now restored care to more than half a million people, created 317 new care businesses delivering tens of thousands of hours of support every week, and has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as one of the finest innovations of its kind anywhere in the world.

Last year, he was awarded an OBE for his work with The Tribe Project.

In the Computer Science Department, we teach people to develop software. What graduates choose to do with those skills is entirely up to them. Some build things that make money. Richard built things that make money and make lives better.

To those of you graduating today: some of you will go on to build companies, write software, and design systems we cannot yet imagine. The question Richard's life puts to you is not whether you can build something successful. It is whether you will make a positive impact in the world.

Richard has made people's lives better by building innovative software systems, and we are recognising that contribution today.

Canghellor mae’n bleser gen i gyflwyno Richard Howells i dderbyn gradd Doethur er Anrhydedd, Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Chancellor it is my absolute pleasure to present Richard Howells to you with an Honorary Doctorate of Aberystwyth University.

Aberystwyth University Honours 2026

Each year, Aberystwyth University confers Honorary Awards on a small number of distinguished individuals in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contribution to their fields. More information about Aberystwyth University Honours 2026.