Honorary degrees have been awarded to a trio of recipients by Queen Margaret University at Musselburgh.

Farmer’s son George Mackintosh, a serial entrepreneur, is currently working to develop Papple Steading in the foothills of the Lammermuirs near Garvald as a business and visitor destination, community centre and agricultural heritage museum.

He has managed and invested in IT and tech businesses across the world.

He founded TestPlant, now EggPlant, an automated software testing company that operated in 30 countries and which was named an EMEA 500 business.

Wafa Shaheen, head of services at the Scottish Refugee Centre (SRC), the leading refugee charity in Scotland, is a leading figure in the support and resettlement of refugees in Scotland.

Dame Louise Martin, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games, and the governing body of the Commonwealth Games associations, was described as “trailblazer” for women in the administration and management of sports.

The trio received Degree of Doctor of the university, Honoris Causa, during two-day graduation ceremonies at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, and were joined by Dame Prue Leith, chancellor of QMU.

Sir Paul Grice, principal of Queen Margaret University, paid tribute to the trio, saying: “Like other pioneering Scots who have influenced the world, George Mackintosh has built businesses which have contributed to the advancement of IT and tech on a global basis.

“Having achieved incredible success in the business sector, he has now rekindled his passion for farming by developing the beautiful Papple Steading in the heart of East Lothian as an agricultural tech-inspired heritage centre which pays homage to Scotland’s rich agricultural past.”

Having lived and worked in Baghdad, Wafa Shaheen has encountered the restrictions and hostility imposed by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Her husband was one of Iraq’s forcibly ‘disappeared’ – one of up to one million people in the country who have been detained without an arrest warrant, usually for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Following her husband’s return a month after he was taken, the couple knew they had to get their family out of the country. In 1996, they found themselves in Glasgow, and have since made Scotland their home.

Sir Paul said she was “a strong, compassionate and inspirational woman who has worked tirelessly to support and resettle refugees in Scotland and to help develop policies that recognise and respond to refugees’ resilience and capacities rather than their vulnerabilities”.

“She has been pivotal in the work of QMU’s Institute for Global Health and Development, where she has supported research into the importance of social connections,” he added.

Dame Louise was the first woman to chair Scotland’s Commonwealth Games Council, taking up her post in 1999. She was the first woman to join the executive board of the Commonwealth Games Federation, serving as secretary from 1999 to 2015, and the first female to be elected president of the federation in 2015.

Sir Paul said: “We are delighted that our students have the opportunity to learn about the career of a strong inspirational woman – Dame Louise Martin – who has broken the glass ceiling while improving the landscape for people in sports across the world.

“Through her accomplishments, she has made a difference to people’s lives and acted as a force for good.”