Walsh will be awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Commerce at one of UWA’s 11 autumn graduation ceremonies on March 27, when he will also deliver the graduation address.

Walsh is Melbourne-born but spent many years living in Perth due to his tenure as CEO of Rio Tinto Iron Ore between 2004 and early last year, when he moved to London to take the top job.

UWA said it had a long and successful relationship with Walsh, including through the gravity gradiometer with the School of Physics, the Rio Tinto Chair of Rock Art Studies, the Rio Tinto Asset Management Development program with the Business School and the five-year Rio Tinto-UWA Education Partnership.

He was also a foundation board member of the Energy and Minerals Institute in 2010 and a strong supporter of the In the Zone conference series.

Walsh has a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University and has completed a Fellowship program at Kettering University, Michigan.

He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

In 2007, Walsh was named WA Citizen of the Year – Industry & Commerce and an Australian export here and in 2010, Walsh was made an officer in the general division of the Order of Australia and awarded an Honorary Doctor of Commerce by Edith Cowan University.

Other Western Australians to be recognised with honorary doctorates by UWA include AICD chairman Michael Smith, engineering corporate adviser David MacKinlay, and STA Travel founder and director Dick Porter.