Broadcaster and film producer Emma Freud OBE has hailed Suffolk as "the greatest corner of England" with "magic inside it", after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Suffolk today.

Emma, who was raised on the Suffolk coast where she still lives today, was recognised for her exceptional career in movies, broadcasting and the charitable sector, and described the occasion as one which "means the world - I didn't know it was going to mean the world until it happened, and now it's happened it really means everything to me".

Joining graduating students in a ceremony on Ipswich waterfront on Saturday afternoon, Emma added: "I can't quite believe I am being given an honorary doctorate, but the thing about it that means the most to me is the fact that it's in Suffolk.

"I have spent my life in Suffolk, my father was brought up in Suffolk, my grandparents lived in Suffolk, we've been in the same village for five generations now, and it's the place that I am happiest - it is who I am, it defines me."

Emma's broadcasting career has included working for BBC Greater London Radio, hosting NTLive for seven years and presenting on BBC Radio 4 over a period of 40 years.

For the last two years she has been host of the BBC's The Archers Podcast, which celebrates the long-running radio drama.

Her work tackling poverty and inequality has included working as a Creative Director and Executive Producer of Comic Relief, which to date has raised more than £2 billion to support those living in poverty or disadvantage, as well as co-founding the Make Poverty History campaign with her husband Richard Curtis, U2's Bono and Sir Bob Geldof.

She played an instrumental role in producing the Live 8 series of concerts in 2005, which helped put pressure on world leaders to boost the aid given to some of the poorest nations on earth.

In addition, her film career has included working on 18 films with her husband, Richard Curtis, where she has been either a co-producer or script editor, including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, and two movies set in Suffolk - Yesterday, and That Christmas.

Her latest project alongside Richard has been to develop Yesterday into a West End musical.

Emma and Richard have been working on the script for a number of years, with original director Danny Boyle also returning to the fold to direct the stage production.

"Putting Yesterday onto the West End stage feels like the biggest project we have ever done," Emma said, adding: "It's very exciting, and a completely different way of working to film and television, it feels like creating a family rather than a piece of art."

Work on the production is continuing, and she is hoping to have Suffolk suppliers on board.

"We set Yesterday in Suffolk because you have to write about what you know, and what I know is Suffolk," Emma said.

"That Christmas was also set within the county as being somewhere that has magic inside it, and I do believe that Suffolk has magic inside it - it's made me who I am, it's given my children all their best qualities, it's a really remarkable, rare, beautiful, creative, independent, interesting county."

The 64-year-old is the great-granddaughter of Dr Sigmund Freud - known as the father of psychology - while her great-aunt Anna was the founder of child psychoanalysis. In addition, her uncle Lucian was one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century.

Addressing the graduating students, Emma urged them to "find your community" as it would help them overcome life's challenges and pressures, and in expressing her regret for never having attended her own university graduation at the age of 22, added: "I'm really sorry about that, but it means it feels really cool, that 42 years later, I am sharing this moment with a very generous Vice-Chancellor, and a gorgeous Chancellor, of a very community-based university in the greatest corner of England that there is, and in a room full of such very beautiful graduates."

To find out more about graduation at the University of Suffolk, visit the webpage here.