Our GSD finalists were awarded their degrees on Monday 12 July 2021. The past two years have been particularly challenging and we are so proud of everyone who has graduated this year. We hope to congratulate our graduates in person when it is safe to do so.

To celebrate our graduates, we held a virtual graduation event on Wednesday 14 July 2021. During the celebration, the following prizes were awarded:

• Citizenship/Leadership Throughout the Years: Beth Disdel and Akshaya Shekaran
• Best Dissertation: Joe Gosney
• Best Overall Mark: Anoushka Freeman

Many congratulations Akshaya, Anoushka, Beth, and Joe!

"My dissertation sought to understand the impact that a marine protected area has had on a shallow-water coral reef in the Philippines and determine its effectiveness as a marine conservation tool. I am elated to have won this prize and am excited to see how my research can further conservation efforts within marine habitats around the world. I couldn't have done this without the support and guidance from my professors and peers and I would like to wish everyone graduating this year the best of luck in the future."

Joe Gosney, 'Best Dissertation' Prize Winner

Akshaya and Beth were awarded the 'Citizen/Leadership throughout the years' prize for "the amazing work they have done for the Warwick Sutton Scholars Widening Participation (WP) programme this year. In their capacity as GSD Student Ambassadors, their role was mainly to support the GSD staff during live presentations, but they went above and beyond this. One of the big challenges this year was how to adapt the programme to online-only delivery. On their own initiative, Akshaya and Beth contributed many valuable ideas of what we could do – for example, they came up with the ‘letter to your future self’ idea to fit the ‘Future Foods’ theme, which the participants really loved! Furthermore, they both volunteered to step in to cover for (wider-university) team members who couldn’t join live events because of wifi issues on the day, often at very short notice. They supported the central WP Team, the young people, and each other, demonstrating a level of solidarity that we can all be proud of.”

Charlotte Flechet, Tori Keene, and Luke Netherclift were nominated for the 'Citizenship/Leadership Throughout the Years' prize. Charlotte was put forward for her work as Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) Course Representative and as Chair of the SSLC, "serving as a bridge between the student body and the department in a particularly difficult year". Tori was nominated for her work with GLOBUS, running the student-led online publication as the first woman editor: "she can leave feeling really proud of what she is leaving behind". Luke was nominated for "consistently applying his learning to his citizenship, using his learning to drive changes and programmes for social enterprise at the university".

Above: Staff and students during the virtual graduation event

Hear from some of our graduates!