been carried out with integrity, and that allegations of deliberate misrepresentation and unjustified selection of data are not valid." Critics asserted Oxburgh's ties with businesses that stood to profit from the decision created a conflict of interest. The University of East Anglia did not see any conflict of interest, stating, "The choice of scientists is sure to be the subject of discussion, and experience would suggest that it is impossible to find a group of eminent scientists to look at this issue who are acceptable to every interest group which has expressed a view in the last few months. Similarly it is unlikely that a group of people who have the necessary experience to assess the science, but have formed no view of their own on global warming, could be found. Personal life While at Princeton, Oxburgh was joined by his fiancée, Ursula, whom he married in the university chapel. They have three children. An outdoorsman, Oxburgh enjoyed orienteering and running marathons until knee surgery limited him to mountain hikes with his wife. Awards and honors He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours and made a Life Peer as Baron Oxburgh, of Liverpool in the County of Merseyside on 27 July 1999, where he sits as a crossbencher on the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology and is an officer of the All-Parliamentary Group for Earth Sciences. He is an honorary fellow of St Edmund Hall and University College, Oxford. He received the 2007 Platts Life Time Achievement Award. He is a fellow of the Royal Society. He is a Corresponding fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences as well as the Australian Academy of Science and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He is an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University. Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from Leeds University conferred 21 July 2009 Singapore Honorary Citizenship, from the President Tony Tan Keng Yam of Singapore, conferred 2 October 2012. He was awarded the Melchett Medal by the British Energy Institute on 2 December 2014 Selected bibliography Oxburgh, E.R. (1968) The Geology of the eastern Alps, London: Geologists' Association, 127 p. Oxburgh, E R. (1974) The plain man's guide to plate