University of Suffolk makes Dr Helen Pankhurst chancellor

Dr Helen Pankhurst is the new chancellor of the University of Suffolk

The great-granddaughter of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst - who led the movement to win the right for women to vote - has been named chancellor of the University of Suffolk.

Dr Helen Pankhurst is a writer, academic and women's rights activist.

Her appointment at the university comes 100 years after women over 30 were able to vote for the first time under the 1918 Representation of the People Act.

Dr Pankhurst said she was "delighted" to accept the role.

She will be the university's first chancellor since it became independent in 2016.

It was formerly known as University Campus Suffolk and had only awarded degrees on behalf of the University of East Anglia and University of Essex.

Earlier this year, Dr Pankhurst - who is also a senior advisor at humanitarian agency, CARE International - released a book called Deeds Not Words: The Story of Women's Rights, Then and Now.

Prof Helen Langton, the university's vice-chancellor, said: "We are really excited Dr Helen Pankhurst is to become our chancellor.

"Her academic profile alongside her passion for empowerment and change resonates so well with our values at the University of Suffolk."

The University of Suffolk's main campus is on the waterfront in Ipswich