PhD graduation

Those who know me well have known that I absolutely love graduation - and that this one, for my PhD, would be particularly special because I would finally achieve the "floppy hat" that I'd been working towards for so long.

Outside the Old Building

There's just something about graduation - you spend so much of your time during a degree stressing about your work and whether it's good enough, and so to finally have the occasion to step back and really celebrate what you've achieved is really special. The fact that this graduation would be my last (I cannot see myself doing another PhD!) and that Mum and Dad had made the big trip over from New Zealand for it also made it one that I was really looking forward to.

Proud family!

We had a really lovely day - lunch with my supervisor Richard and some uni friends in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the actual ceremony itself which was great (especially the bit where they read out your thesis title), then cocktails up the Shard and dinner at the Oxo Tower. It was all quite fancy!

The big moment!

I loved my floppy hat and was pretty pleased to have been able to find a maternity dress that would go with my purple robes - not an easy task I tell you! Another special highlight was having Jon from LSE Sustainability open up the Connaught House roof for us so that Mum and Dad could see the beehives that I'd talked so much about! I really miss my bees and so it was lovely to be able to go visit them.

Saying hello to the bees!

All in all a fantastic day - totally made all the hard graft of the PhD worthwhile!

Dr Sharman!