A leading researcher and advocate for the rights of the donor conceived was awarded an MBE in the latest round of Queen's Birthday honours.

Dr Alexina Mary McWhinnie, a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Work at the University of Dundee before her retirement, was awarded the honour for her services to adoption, fostering and assisted reproduction.  She is known for her work on the effects of donor insemination and for calling for adopted adults to gain the right to access their birth records. Other research interests include fertility counselling.

Her books include: Who Am I?: Experiences of Donor Conception; Families Following Assisted Conception: What Do We Tell Our Child?; A DI Adult and Her Quest for Her Donor Father: Who Was My Biological Father?; and Adopted Children: How They Grow Up.

Dr McWhinnie is a long-standing supporter of the Progress Educational Trust (PET).