Yet another award for Mary Robinson. The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce, which was founded in 1754, is presenting the Society's 2001 Albert Medal to our former president on Thursday in Buckingham Palace. The Duke of Edinburgh, the Society's president will do the honours - which is fitting, since it was instituted in 1863 as a memorial to the Prince Consort in recognition of his 18-year presidency of the RSA. Recent recipients include Princess Anne, Prof Stephen Hawking, Baroness Warnock and Sir Simon Rattle.
The RSA recently conducted a review to align the presentation of medals with issues in which significant problems confront humanity in areas linked to the Society's programme. Accordingly, the topic selected by the RSA Council for this year's award was "Outstanding work to advance corporate social responsibility in the global economy". Robinson was chosen as the 2001 Albert Medallist for her work as the main architect of the Global Compact on Corporate Social Responsibility.