Bestselling crime writer Val McDermid will be awarded an honorary degree from Dundee University.
Mary Schwartz, director of a skin disease charity, and Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum in London, will also be honoured at the university’s summer graduations.
They will all receive an honorary doctor of laws at a ceremony in the Caird Hall later this month.
Professor Pete Downes, principal and vice-chancellor of the university, said: “In choosing our honorary graduates we are looking for the best possible role models for our students and staff, and we are mindful of excellence, inspirational quality and integrity.
“These are all qualities displayed in abundance by our distinguished guests.”
McDermid published her first crime novel in 1987 and has penned more than 30 books.
She was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award by the Crime Writers Association in 2010 for her work, which has also been adapted for television series Wire In The Blood.
She has worked closely with Sue Black, professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology at Dundee University, and backed the campaign to build a state-of-the-art morgue in the city.
Ms Schwartz is director of the charity PC Project, which focuses on the debilitating skin disease pachyonychia congenita.
She has worked with Professor Irwin McLean and Dr Frances Smith at Dundee University, who discovered four of the five genes that cause the disease.
Mr Sudjic has published numerous books on design and architecture and was made an OBE in 2000.
In 2004 he was awarded the Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for the promotion of design and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.