 He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University in 2011 for "Services to the University" and "Academic and scholarly distinction".He was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts in 1998, and served as President of that Society from 2002 until 2005 and again from 2014 until 2017.He also served as President of the Westmorland Geological Society (1994–2005) and of the Edinburgh Geological Society (2005–2007).