Historian Catherine Corless is to be conferred with an honorary degree from NUI Galway next month.
Ms Corless published research in 2014, revealing that hundreds of babies and toddlers had been buried in unmarked graves at a former mother and baby home in Tuam.
The home operated between 1925 and 1961 in the Galway town.
Ms Corless is also known for her advocacy work on behalf of the survivors and the children who lost their lives.
She has been awarded the Bar of Ireland Human Rights Award in recognition of 'exceptional humanitarian service', and a Rehab Group People of the Year Award in 2018.
Other NUIG recipients include musician Sharon Shannon and activist for rights of people with dementia Helen Rochford Brennan.
They will be conferred with their degrees, along with biodiversity campaigner Brendan Dunford, on October 15th.
NUIG president, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said: "NUI Galway is fortunate to be associated with many outstanding honorary graduates throughout its history and those being honoured this year form a particularly distinguished group.
"Each one has made an outstanding and distinctive contribution in their field.
Catherine Corless is pictured at the gate to grounds where the unmarked mass grave containing the remains of nearly 800 infants, who died at the Bon Secours mother-and-baby home from 1925-1961, rests | Image:Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie
"In honouring these exceptional individuals, we signal what we value in areas that matter to us and to our society - local history, disability rights, music and environmental sustainability.
"NUI Galway is very pleased to be in a position to recognise these exceptional individuals."
Sharon Shannon is a renowned traditional Irish musician from Co Clare, based in Galway, who has influenced a generation of musicians.
With over 10 multi-award winning albums she has received many awards - including Hot Press and Meteor Awards, and was the youngest ever recipient of the Meteor Lifetime Achievement Award.
Helen Rochford Brennan has been at the forefront of developing new ideas and human rights strategies for people with dementia in Ireland since her diagnosis with dementia in 2012.
Currently chair of the EWGPWD in Alzheimer Europe, she has an international track record as activist for people with dementia.
While Brendan Dunford has been instrumental in re-invigorating biodiversity within the Burren through his initiative around Burren LIFE and the Burren programme.
He has applied science to a societal problem of biodiversity and heritage loss, working with communities to produce more sustainable food systems.
