As part of the first Winter Conferring Ceremony at the University of Limerick, a number of Irish individuals will be recognised for their exceptional achievements and contributions to national and international culture and society.

The first conferring ceremony, set to take place on Monday January 14, will see Bob Geldof and Marian Keyes receiving their honorary doctorates.

Boomtown Rats frontman and humanitarian Bob Geldof, famed internationally for his work with Band Aid and Live Aid, was previously awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of his famine relief work by Trinity College Dublin in 2017. Geldof was also a previous recipient of the 'Man of Peace' award at the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome in 2005.

Limerick-born novelist and Irish Book Awards winner Marian Keyes will be recognised for her continued contributions to Irish literature. Her latest novel, ‘The Break’, was published in September 2017.

A second ceremony, to take place on Friday January 18, will honour the band members of The Cranberries. Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, and Fergal Lawlor will receive honorary doctorates, while a posthumous award will be made to the family of the late Dolores O’Riordan.

The band, who emerged in Limerick in the early ‘90s, are to release their final album ‘In the End’ later this year. The ceremony will come just three days after the first anniversary of lead singer O’Riordan’s tragic death.

The University of Limerick awards honorary doctorates to "individuals who have shown outstanding achievement, nationally or internationally, in the arts, sciences, business, industry, the professions, sport, social service or public service." Liam Clancy, Michael Flatley, Paul O’Connell, Mary Robinson, John Hume, Seamus Heaney, and Vicky Phelan are among the many extraordinary Irish people who have been honoured by UL over the years.