In 2007, he was a judge on the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize[21] for non-fiction and has been a celebrity judge at the National Science & Engineering Competition Finals at The Big Bang Fair. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[22] In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (DSc) from the University of London.[3] Al-Khalili was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018.[24]