Meet the new High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire

Professor Harminder Singh Dua CBE, from the University of Nottingham, has been appointed the top role.

Professor Dua was officially installed as High Sheriff at a ceremony on March 13 after his name was approved by the Queen at a traditional ceremony held at a meeting of the Privy Council on March 10.

Professor Dua, who will remain in the post for a year, said: "Being High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire is a high honour and rare privilege, I will work to support charities and local voluntary organisations and focus on community health and religion and the environment - CARE.

"To care for those who serve us and for those who we serve."

Professor Dua has been chairman and Professor of Ophthalmology in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham since 1994.

He is Honorary Professor of Universita della Svizze, Lugano Switzerland and has just completed a term of three years as joint head-of-service in the department of Ophthalmology at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

He was made a CBE by The Queen in her 2019 Birthday Honours list.

Professor Dua’s most famous contribution to ophthalmology was his research group’s discovery of a previously undetected layer of the human cornea in 2013.

His work to develop our understanding of this pre-decemet’s layer – also dubbed Dua’s Layer - has already informed three new surgical techniques and made lamellar corneal transplantation safer.

The High Sheriff is one of the oldest roles in the country going back over a thousand years, and pre-dating Robin Hood by several hundred years.

The High Sheriff plays an increasingly active and supportive role within the county both in relation to the police and emergency services and in lending encouragement to public sector agencies.

The principal formal duties of High Sheriffs today include attendance at royal visits in the county and support for Her Majesty’s High Court Judges when on circuit.

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